Northeast Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan says he’s not hopeful that Congress will make meaningful changes in gun laws, but has more faith that actions by private business will bring about reforms.
Ryan maintains the NRA continues to block what he calls even modest changes such as universal background-checks and raising the minimum age to buy assault weapons.
Ryan praised the announcement by Dick’s Sporting Goods that it will discontinue the sale of assault-style weapons.
“When you’re seeing what Dick's is doing and others who are taking these steps in the market to say we don’t want our fingerprints on it," Ryan said. "These companies, they don’t want their fingerprints on it."
Ryan also wrote a letter to Delta Airlines inviting it to move its headquarters to Ohio – after Georgia lawmakers threatened a company tax break when the airline cut ties with the NRA.
Ryan, who once had an A rating from the NRA, began separating himself from the group after the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012. Last year, he gave to gun control groups $20,000 in contributions he’d received over the years from the NRA.
