Gov. John Kasich is taking his message for tougher gun control to the county level. A new executive order urges clerks of courts and other agencies to do a better job at entering criminal information into the background check system. Kasich says too many criminals are slipping through the cracks.
As Kasich points out, there have been several mass shootings where a person was supposed to be banned from buying a gun but their information was never put into the national database for background checks.
Kasich is ordering a coalition of state agencies to find out which counties aren’t complying and why.
“If they do not comply then we’re going to figure out what we can do to be more punitive. I’d rather start off with encouragement rather than punitive we’ll see how it goes,” said Kasich.
The group, Ohio Gun Owners, says this is just another step in Kasich’s political game to jumpstart his gun control legislation.
Kasich introduced a legislative agenda in March that would, in his words, implement common sense gun control. Those provisions include the so-called “red flag law,” strengthening prohibitions on third party purchases, and banning armor-piercing ammunition.
Republican Senate President Larry Obhof has indicated that it’s unlikely those measures would pass.
The agencies investigating problems with reporting include the Office of Criminal Justice Service (OCJS), Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS), Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and Ohio Supreme Court.
