COLUMBUS, Ohio — Democratic legislators led the first Gun Violence Prevention Summit at the Ohio Statehouse on Thursday.
They hosted representatives from law enforcement, the judicial system and gun safety advocacy groups, discussing ways to tackle gun violence across the state.
Representative Jessica Miranda moderated the event.
“There is a need to address the issue of gun violence that is clearly evident in our nation, our communities, every day gun violence is hurting families and creating everlasting trauma that we could instead be preventing through gun safety legislation,” she said.
Miranda is also co-chair of the Ohio House Gun Violence Prevention Caucus.
Democrats introduced a package of five bills to tackle gun violence at the summit including Keeping Our Survivors Safe Act, declaring gun violence a public health crisis, commonsense concealed carry, universal background checks and creating an Ohio task force on gun violence.
Several groups were invited to the summit to share their perspectives on solutions to gun violence.
Lisa DeGeeter with the Ohio Domestic Violence Network said it is important to keep guns away from known abusers. She showed a map representing 85 domestic violence deaths in one year in Ohio related to gun violence.
“Everything that this conference is talking about safe storage laws, extreme risk protection orders, waiting periods, background checks all these things, we need to keep weapons out of the hands of people who have already proven that they don’t treat their family appropriately they are engaged in violent acts,” she said. “We need to take survivors seriously and listen to them and make sure our prosecutors, judges and cops have the tools they need to keep families safe.”
Michelle Heym, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action, is eager to see action on gun violence. She lived near Sandy Hook when 26 people were shot and killed in the tragic shooting in 2012.
“I always have faith, maybe I am a little naïve, but I feel like 80% of the people in our state want background checks. They want extreme risk protection orders, they want limits on guns, people possessing firearms who are going to be a danger to themselves or others,” Heym said.
The bill to declare gun violence a public health emergency and to create a gun task force have bipartisan support, but the others do not.
Republicans were not present at the event. Representatives for Ohio Republicans did not respond to a request for comment.