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AG Rejects Language For Gun Background Checks Proposal

By Karen Kasler

Published June 21, 2019 at 5:40 AM EDT

The group pushing for a law to require federally licensed dealers and background checks for most gun purchases in Ohio got shot down by the state attorney general.

Attorney General Dave Yost has rejected the language that would be on the petitions that Ohioans for Gun Safety would circulate. They would need 132,000 registered voters’ signatures to put the proposal first before lawmakers and then potentially to voters.

Yost said in a statement that the summary doesn’t accurately reflect the gun sales or transfers that the proposed law would apply to, and it doesn’t include the number and extent of exceptions that would apply.

The group would have to change its language and gather 1,500 signatures to try again.