Gov. Mike DeWine’s gun violence plan calls for using Ohio’s “pink slip” process to separate people thought to be dangerous from their guns. However, the Republican leader of the Ohio House says many in the party don’t agree with that approach.
Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) says many Republicans don’t think reducing gun access is necessarily going to deal with the gun violence problem.
“We really are going to focus on the human being side of it, those people who are potential killers, not so much the instrument they might use, whether it be an automobile, a firearm, a knife or a bomb," Householder says.
Householder says he’s focused on a bill already proposed by two Republican lawmakers that would add substance abuse to the “pink slip” law allowing people to be involuntarily hospitalized in psychiatric facilities. Unlike that plan, DeWine’s plan would also require those people to surrender any weapons they have.
August’s mass shooting in Dayton killed nine people and injured more than two dozen others, thrusting a spotlight on the issue of gun reform.
Democrats are pushing for even tougher legislative remedies, such as universal background checks for private gun purchases and a “red flag” gun seizure law, but those are unlikely to get much traction in the GOP-dominated legislature.
