Dayton City Commissioners call for stronger gun regulation

DAYTON — The city of Dayton held a press conference Wednesday afternoon where Dayton City Commissioners and the mayor called on Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for stronger gun regulations in the state.

Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims, Jr., started by giving statistics on the number of people who have been killed indicating that in 2021 more than 1200 Americans lost their lives to gunfire.

“Just cannot continue to standby and let this happen,” Mims Jr. said.

Commissioners spoke one-by-one and talked about a letter that they wrote and plan to send to Gov. DeWine about working to make stronger gun regulations in the state. City leaders said they are concerned about House Bill 99, which could be on the governor’s desk as early as Friday. That bill would allow teachers and staff to be armed with modified training hours.

They want DeWine to veto the bill and work with local communities and municipalities to create tougher gun regulations.

News Center 7 reached out to Gov. DeWine today and his office provided the following statement, “On Friday, at his gaggle on school safety, Governor DeWine stated he has asked the General Assembly to pass a bill that would realistically allow local school districts to designate armed staff if the district so chose. HB 99 would be such a bill, and our office has worked with legislators to improve the bill language regarding training requirements.”

Dayton city leaders said they felt compelled to talk about the issue publicly in light of the mass shootings in Uvalde, TX and Buffalo, NY in recent weeks and for the fact that they do not believe the state has done anything since the Oregon District shootings in 2019.

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