COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio is seeing an increase in shooting deaths for children and teens, but state lawmakers refuse to put forward gun safety laws and won't let cities enact their own, either.
Across Ohio, big city leaders are pleading to state lawmakers.
"Do something about the guns flooding our streets," Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said during a press conference in late August.
Gun violence is up. The amount of children and teenagers being shot and killed has steadily increased over the past decade. This includes a Columbus 15-year-old who was shot and killed at the popular Easton Town Center shopping mall. Columbus police arrested two 13-year-olds for the crime.
Following the shooting, Ginther reignited the already heated debate on authority over firearm regulations.
“If the legislature won't take action — then get out of our way,” the mayor said.
Columbus is in a contentious lawsuit against the state, and so is Cincinnati.
Both have tried to put forward city-wide regulations to require gun owners to lock up their weapons to keep them away from children. The reason why it is in court, despite Ohio being a "home rule" state, is because the Revised Code has a preemption law that prevents municipalities from creating their own gun regulations.
RELATED: Cincinnati wants to require residents to lock up their guns and is suing the state to make it happen
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb has also asked for gun safety laws. After a mass shooting, he brought up an idea to put forward a constitutional amendment to change gun laws.
State Rep. Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria) completely shut down all three cities.
"A lot of times when there's a shooting, that's when everybody says, 'wait a minute... we need more gun restrictions,'" Creech said. "No, there was an idiot that picked up a gun."
Creech doesn’t believe in any laws impacting gun rights. Criminals will find a weapon anyway, so putting forward restrictions only hurts the law-abiding Ohioans, he said.
House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) disagreed, telling the cities that the Democrats and some Republicans are trying to help.
"We have a legislature that is, I think, very out of touch with where the public is and has frankly made it easier for people to get, guns — people who shouldn't have guns — including children," Russo said.
News 5 has consistently covered the state of gun legislation. Below are the current gun laws.
Current gun laws
Ohio laws are as follows, but not limited to:
- A person must be at least 18 years old to purchase a long gun
- A person must be at least 21 years old to purchase a handgun.
- Convicted felons are prohibited from purchasing, possessing or using firearms
- A person may not open-carry a firearm into a school, onto school grounds or school bus, or into a courthouse — however, approved adults can carry guns in schools
- No background checks for handgun purchases at point of sale
- No concealed carry permits needed (permitless carry)
- No extreme risk law to allow law enforcement or family members to petition for a court order to temporarily prevent someone from accessing a gun
- No secure storage requirement to prevent children or others from accessing guns or ammo
- No high-capacity magazines prohibited
- Does not allow municipalities to create their own gun safety laws
RELATED: Ohio GOP lawmakers want to make guns cheaper by exempting them from sales tax
Happening now
Across the General Assembly, the Democrats have put forward a dozen bills this year to tighten firearm safety — including one that allows cities to make their own gun laws.
"They know best about what is best for their communities," Russo added.
Creech fears this is a slippery slope and could lead to cities trying to force safety regulations on the rest of the state. But when asked if it was fair that rural lawmakers get to make decisions for metro areas, he said that is the way the government works.
"It says 'right to bear arms,' it doesn't say right to bear arms for training," Creech said. "It doesn't say right to bear arms if you lock them up, it doesn't say right to bear arms with a background check."
It is unlikely any piece of safety legislation will pass through the Statehouse this session. The best hope for safety laws is if Columbus or Cincinnati win their lawsuits.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
