Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is in a really bad spot with the 2A community and there really is only one way for him to fix this relationship, pass the Constitutional Carry legislation sitting on his desk.
The Ohio State Legislature has passed a Constitutional Carry bill and the Ohio State Senate passed the same bill, in order for this bill to finally become law the governor has to do it. For one reason or another, Mike DeWine has not yet signed this legislation.
Governor Mike DeWine is a Republican who does not put a lot of weight into the Second Amendment. DeWine previously passed Stand Your Ground legislation and it went over like a lead balloon with the media and Democrats, no surprise there, but the measure was met with applause from Republicans and 2A activists in Ohio.
Governor DeWine also tried to push gun control measures in 2019. As reported in WKSU:
But DeWine has also said he doesn’t consider guns to be a high priority issue. He embraced some controls on guns, especially after the August 2019 mass shooting near Dayton that killed nine and injured 17 others. Just two months later, he stood alongside then Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a Democrat who is now running for governor in her party’s primary, when he announced his “Strong Ohio” gun reform plan.
House Democrats tried unsuccessfully to add amendments to this bill that would have put some controls on guns. One that was aimed at preventing people with certain criminal offenses on their records from being able to carry concealed guns. Another would have allowed family members or police agencies to ask a court to temporarily restrict a person’s access to firearms if they pose a danger to themselves or others. That last provision is similar to one DeWine himself proposed in his own gun reform measure.
Governor DeWine may very well learn a hard lesson in the near future, surrendering to gun control advocates as a Republican does not do much when election season rolls around. Mike DeWine is up for reelection and some of the very people he has worked with on gun control reforms may be running against him.
