DeWine pushes for ignored gun safety law in aftermath of Beavercreek Walmart shooting

The shooter went on to successfully purchase a firearm days before opening fire at the Beavercreek Walmart, injuring four shoppers and turning the gun on himself.

During Friday’s annual Governor’s Breakfast outside Columbus, this news organization asked DeWine whether he believed the shooter should have been able to purchase a gun in Ohio, given his mental history, to which he responded, “What I do think is that we can have a better system.”

“As you know, a few years ago we proposed, and we still urge the legislature to act on … a bill that protected Second Amendment rights (that) basically … allows a family or anybody to go into court and say, ‘This is a person who is a danger to themselves and has professed to either kill themselves or hurt someone else,’” DeWine said.

DeWine said under his administration’s proposal, the defendant would get the full due process of the law. If a judge found the defendant to be unfit for gun ownership, the jurist would have the authority to revoke the defendant’s Second Amendment rights.

It’s a proposal that could potentially cover a gap in gun background checks, which ask if buyers have ever been adjudicated as mental defective or have ever been committed to a mental institution.

Federal and local police are looking into whether the Beavercreek Walmart shooter lied on his federal form, but this news organization found that it’s not clear whether the shooter’s mental health history technically meets either of those marks, despite having been intervened by police twice for suicidal ideation and taken to Soin Medical Center for mental health evaluations on each occasion.

Neither intervention resulted in a court case for the shooter, nor a commitment to a mental institution, our reporting found. As such, it’s unclear whether any record of the gunman’s suicidal ideations could have made its way into the federal background search database.

The proposal DeWine referenced on Friday would still require adjudication, but would make it easier for concerned friends or family to step in. He called it a “rational approach … that does not violate the Second Amendment.”

“We, again, think it would be a good law for the legislature to pass,” DeWine said. “The legislature, as you know, has not acted upon that.”

The proposal was a feature of DeWine’s STRONG Ohio gun bill introduced in 2019 to limit more mass shootings and gun violence as a whole by bolstering Ohio regulations on guns and mental health. The bill has largely been ignored. In the time since, the state legislature and DeWine have approved various bills expanding gun rights, including a “stand your ground” law, permit-less concealed carry bill, and an armed teacher measure.

Local police come out against another gun rights law

Also on Friday, Dayton police issued a statement outlining the department’s opposition to House Bill 51, a bill that local prosecutors and police worry could interfere with their ability to cooperate with federal agencies in certain joint task forces and investigations like the Beavercreek Walmart shooting.

The bill, known as the Second Amendment Preservation Act, has strong ties to Beavercreek’s Ohio Gun Owners, a “no compromise” gun advocacy organization that has lobbied for its passage. The bill asserts that no state or local police will be allowed to enforce federal gun regulations that don’t match Ohio’s, unless those regulations are ancillary, or secondary, to a bigger crime.

In its statement, the Dayton Police Department shared concerns previously voiced by Ohio’s leading prosecutors association that the bill will pose “significant challenges to our ability to maintain effective cooperation” and that the ancillary protection doesn’t provide enough clarity.

“The bill’s broad restrictions on enforcing federal firearm regulations and the potential financial penalties for violations create an environment that may hinder our officers’ ability to participate fully in joint investigations,” wrote James Rider, Dayton PD’s public information officer. “The ancillary exception provided in the bill, which allows for local and federal coordination in cases where federal gun crimes are considered secondary to the original offense, does not provide the clarity necessary to ensure seamless collaboration. The inherent ambiguity within the legislation could discourage our officers from actively participating in joint task forces and investigations, jeopardizing the effectiveness of our collective efforts in combating criminal activities.”

Lou Tobin, director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said the bill would likely preempt any future cooperation from law enforcement in federal gun crimes, including investigations similar to the one following the Beavercreek Walmart shooting, where federal and local law enforcement are looking into whether the gunman lied on a federal form.

Republican lawmakers who support the bill, which includes practicing attorneys who oversaw the bill in committee, have told this news organization that those fears are unfounded.

But, the law does open local police departments up to lawsuits and, potentially, $50,000 fines; two risks that Rider said “could deter local law enforcement agencies, like ours, from providing valuable information that might lead to federal gun indictments, even when such information is essential to addressing criminal activities within our jurisdiction.”

Despite being brought to the House floor by Republican leadership earlier this month, the a vote was stalled for two straight weeks. The bill now faces an uncertain future and awaits further consideration.