COLUMBUS – Ohio lawmakers want to make sure that no one takes your guns during a statewide emergency, such as a COVID-19 pandemic.
Bill proposed by Sen. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, and Rep. Scott Wiggam, R-Wooster, would prevent the state or local goverments from closing licensed firearm sellers during a statewide emergency declared by the governor. During such an emergency, Ohioans could hunt, fish, go to shooting ranges, transport and carry their firearms.
The proposal is backed by the National Rifle Association, which has introduced similar bills in states across the country. Lawmakers in the Ohio Senate passed a similar bill last year, but it never became law.
Is the change needed?
Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, never restricted access to firearms because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, gun sales rose nationwide during 2020.
“It’s creating a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist,” said Sen. Cecil Thomas, a Democrat from Cincinnati’s North Avondale neighborhood. “Why are we creating more legislation that encourages people to carry firearms?”
Kris Brown, president of the gun safety advocacy group Brady, argues that state leaders should have the ability to close businesses of any kind to keep their residents safe in an emergency; gun stores shouldn’t be exempt.
“Why it would be that you would carve out this kind of exception in an emergency situation?” Brown asked.
But Wiggam said Ohio must be prepared for the future.
“While Ohio is fortunate to have a governor and legislature that did not use these powers to infringe on Second Amendment rights,” Wiggam said. “It is critical to our future to define the limits of government’s power to prevent abuses that occurred in other states that could easily happen here in the state of Ohio as well.”
Take Michigan, where Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer deemed gun and ammunition stores “non-essential” during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NRA’s fear of gun seizures goes back to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina when police confiscated 552 firearms they said were stolen or found in abandoned homes. The firearms were later returned as part of a legal settlement.
Schaffer said Ohio hasn’t faced similar restrictions because “Ohio has a stronger reputation than Michigan of loving and protecting the Second Amendment of the Constitution.”
Ohio GOP’s focus on gun access
These bills are the latest effort from Republican lawmakers to improve or ensure access to firearms. Proposals to restrict firearms have seen little support in the GOP-controlled Legislature.
DeWine tried to stiffen penalties for those who use guns in violent crimes and who sell firearms to those banned from having them. But lawmakers removed those proposals from the state’s two-year budget.
Thomas questioned why Ohio lawmakers wouldn’t prioritize changes, such as universal background checks, red flag laws to remove guns from potentially dangerous individuals or closing loopholes on gun purchases.
“I wish we would be more focused on legislation that would make it more difficult for guns to get into the wrong hands,” he said.
Tuesday’s legislative announcement came days after 16-year-old Olivia Kurtz was fatally shot and five others were wounded at Columbus’ Bicentennial Park. On Monday afternoon, at least three people were killed in a Madison County shooting.
The Republican lawmakers expressed condolences for the victims but said the timing of their news conference was irrelevant.
“The answer should never be to disarm good citizens,” Wiggam said. “The individuals that are committing these crimes with these guns are not going to follow this law. They weren’t doing it when they committed these crimes.”