Impact Ohio regional conferences such as this one supplement the post-election conferences held every two years in Columbus to assess elections and policy choices facing politicians and policymakers.
In the early hours of Aug. 4, a 24-year-old gunman, a Bellbrook resident, walked down East Fifth Street in the Oregon District with a modified AR-15-style pistol, killing nine people and wounding dozens more in less than a minute, Whaley reminded her audience.
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She also recalled recent killings at a local Dollar Store and on a West Dayton street.
“One of these shootings made the national news,” Whaley said. “The other two have become routine. All three represent a crisis of gun violence in our community.”
Dayton has faced and risen above a major crisis before, Whaley said, referring to the community’s response to the Great Flood of 1913, which swamped parts of the city in 20 feet of water, killing hundreds and making 65,000 people homeless. Leaders fanned support for a fundraising campaign that led to the building of a flood protection system that has protected the city ever since.
DeWine’s proposed gun legislation — introduced Monday and to be sponsored by State Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls — will expand “pink slip” laws by expanding 72 hours of involuntary commitments of those with severe mental health problems to include hospitalization for those suffering from drug dependency and alcoholism.
Provisions in the law would also let doctors decide if a person needs a longer commitment, with a probate court hearing the matter within five days of an initial commitment.
But the bill does not include proposed “red flag” or universal background check provisions DeWine had endorsed soon after the Aug. 4 shootings in Dayton.
DeWine has said this legislation has a better chance of passing the General Assembly than the ideas he endorsed earlier.
“I have no illusions about how difficult it will be to enact comprehensive gun reform here in Ohio,” Whaley said. “It will be difficult even to take small steps toward that.”
Whaley said the “STRONGOhio” bill “does not go as far as I would.”
But she added: “It is an important start. This is the first time in my career that I have witnessed our state government seriously consider restrictions on access to guns instead of allowing more dangerous weapons into our communities.
Added Whaley: “Turning the ship will take time.”
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted used his luncheon address at Impact Ohio to urge greater civility in public discourse.
“We need to develop the capacity to disagree constructively and to solve problems,” Husted said. “It’s super important that we do that as a culture, and it starts with all of us.”
“If you’re in this room, you’re a leader” he added. “Everybody here is a leader in some way. We’re all leaders to somebody. And we have to be examples.”
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