Today鈥檚 shootings at multiple locations in Northern California, including an elementary school, are prompting more conversations about gun control. The debate happens daily in nearly every part of the country and today, it was front and center as a gun bill was debated at the 爆料吃瓜. But can common ground be found?
The latest bill to expand gun rights would allow Ohioans to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public without permits or safety training. It would also make Ohio a Stand Your Ground state, changing the rules for guns being used in self-defense. Inside a Senate committee hearing room, Jim Irvine, the President of the Buckeye Firearms Association, testified for the bill, saying Ohio is an outlier when it comes to gun laws. 鈥淓very attorney I know that deals with self-defense and this stuff agrees Ohio鈥檚 law is different than the rest of the states. Ohio鈥檚 law is an embarrassment to our state. It needs to be fixed,鈥� Irvine explains.
As Irvine tells lawmakers why they should pass the bill, a group of women wearing matching red tee shirts with the slogan, 鈥淢oms Demand Action,鈥� sit quietly, shaking their heads in disagreement. Michele Mueller of Cincinnati is with that group. 鈥淚t just upends the traditional self-defense, the laws that have been working in Ohio, shifts the whole burden of proof to the prosecutor,鈥� Mueller explains.
This is the first hearing Ohio lawmakers have had on this particular bill and both sides say they will be trying to educate lawmakers about it. It鈥檚 another day in the hard-fought battle over gun rights and gun restrictions at the 爆料吃瓜. Gov. John Kasich recently wrote an op-ed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, saying he believes there could be common ground between the two sides. And in a recent interview on the Sunday morning show This Week on ABC, Kasich said,"But, look, here's what I'm trying to do. Ohio is a place where people want to solve problems. They're willing to listen to one another. So what I want to do is I want to get a group of reasonable people, pro-gun people and those who favor limits on gun ownership, and I want to put them in a room and see if we can find some common ground.鈥�
During his seven years in office, Kasich has signed several laws expanding gun rights, including a measure last year allowing daycares and college campuses to permit people to carry concealed weapons. But back at the 爆料吃瓜, Mueller says her group is embracing Kasich鈥檚 latest message. 鈥淲e want to work with him too. We were glad to hear that he believes there is common ground. Not only that, we are going to ask him to reject and oppose these bills,鈥� Mueller says.
鈥淲e have gun owners in Moms Demand Action. What we believe is you can respect the second amendment but with rights comes responsibilities,鈥� - Michele Mueller, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America
Irvine says there is common ground to be found here but it isn鈥檛 about guns.鈥淲hat there is agreement on is we don鈥檛 like crimes. We don鈥檛 like rape. We don鈥檛 like murder. We don鈥檛 like a five-year-old kid getting hold of a gun and shooting his brother or sister,鈥� he notes. Mueller says her group doesn鈥檛 oppose gun ownership. 鈥淲e have gun owners in Moms Demand Action. What we believe is you can respect the second amendment but with rights comes responsibilities,鈥� Mueller says.
鈥淚 want the victim to win the fight with the criminal and I think there鈥檚 almost universal agreement on that issue. Now the question is, what law gets us there?鈥� - Jim Irvine, Buckeye Firearms Association
Mueller says this latest gun bill Irvine is backing is irresponsible and dangerous. Irvine says it鈥檚 a matter of allowing Ohioans the opportunity to use and carry their weapons so they can be responsible for their own safety. He says, 鈥淚 want the victim to win the fight with the criminal and I think there鈥檚 almost universal agreement on that issue. Now the question is, what law gets us there?鈥�
It鈥檚 not so simple to answer that question. In his latest interviews and op-ed, Kasich didn鈥檛 propose a fix either.
