Members of a bipartisan group of mayors from around the state of Ohio are actively lobbying state lawmakers to consider a package of changes to gun laws and mental health policy. That 17 point proposal was unveiled by Gov. Mike DeWine in the wake of the Dayton mass shooting earlier this month.
Mayor Nan Whaley (D-Dayton) is a founding member of the Ohio Mayors Alliance. She says she’d go further than DeWine’s plan.
“Recognizing that last year we were talking about guns in day care centers, I think we’re moving in a direction that’s more healthy for our state,” Whaley said.
That law Whaley refers to was signed in 2016 but remains controversial. Mayor David Scheffler (R-Lancaster) is also part of the Ohio Mayors Alliance. He admits a red flag law and background checks can be a hard sell in southeast Ohio, but he supports those proposals.
“I’m an NRA member and a gun owner myself, but I know that we need to make some progress on that,” Scheffler said.
State law prohibits local communities from passing their own gun control ordinances.
