Trend – Guns
Opponents question harsher sentences for illegal gun possession in Ohio
An Ohio House measure aimed at increasing penalties for those who have a gun illegally is advancing in committee. But its opponents argue it won’t change the problems it sets out to fix. Ohio state Rep. Kyle Koehler’s HB 383 raises the penalty for illegally possessing a weapon from a third-degree to a second-degree felony […]
Ohio Democratic lawmakers push bill to reestablish local control on gun violence protection
Ohio Democratic lawmakers are pushing to reestablish local control over gun regulation as well as repeal so-called ‘stand your ground’ in Ohio, though neither bill is likely to become law considering Republican supermajorities. The two new Democrat-led bills hope to address gun violence happening in urban centers. With Republican supermajorities in the legislature, and bigger […]
Tim Ryan eschews party to find an “exhausted majority”
Tim Ryan has a problem. Gas and groceries are both spiking. Ongoing supply chain disruptions mean shelves are bare, and getting inflation under control with the Fed raising interest rates is going to sting as well. Consumers will pay more for everything from credit cards to mortgages. Homeowners looking to sell are going walk away […]
A Republic, if we can keep it: Now is not the time for despair, but renewed and relentless action
Most of us have heard the tale: As Benjamin Franklin walked out of Independence Hall after the Constitutional Convention in 1787, someone shouted out, “Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?” Franklin is said to have responded, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” This Independence Day, many Americans feel betrayed and […]
Sen. Brown touts bipartisan firearms bill, other legislative progress
Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown predicted quick passage for a bipartisan gun reform package negotiated by his colleagues in the wake of the Uvalde shooting. “We will pass the bill tonight or tomorrow,” Brown said Thursday. “We will get it. The House will pass it, I assume, quickly, and we will get it to the […]
J.D. Vance voices opposition to Senate gun reform framework
In Washington, a bipartisan group of Senators appears to be on the cusp of a gun reform deal. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has even given his blessing to the framework, but a bit closer to home, Ohio’s Republican U.S. Senate nominee J.D. Vance says he wouldn’t vote for it. “From what I’ve seen of […]
Gov. DeWine hands out third round of crime reduction grants
In Springfield Monday, Governor Mike DeWine announced the third round of funding in Ohio’s Violent Crime Reduction Grant program. The latest tranche amounts to $3.9 million of an eventual $58 million in grants. The lion’s share of the funding comes from the American Rescue Plan, passed by Congress early in the Biden administration. The Springfield […]
Ohio’s most powerful elected politicians are morally and ethically bankrupt
We aren’t living in the Ohio that most Ohioans want. We are living in the Ohio that corrupt politicians obsessed only with maintaining and maximizing their power, and enriching themselves and their donor friends, want us to live in. This week, the gerrymander-rigged Ohio General Assembly fast-tracked legislation to put more guns in Ohio public […]
GOP lawmakers pass bill allowing for armed teachers; DeWine signals support
Republican state lawmakers sent a bill to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday that empowers local boards of education to allow teachers to carry a gun in the classroom. Under current law, a teacher would need consent of a board plus more than 700 hours of training to bear arms in school. But under House […]