Gun violence claims the lives of far too many Ohio children, ripping apart families and leaving a trail of fear, trauma, and loss in our communities. In the last decade, 1,071 children age 19 and below lost their lives to gun violence – that’s nearly 66,000 years of life lost by our state’s children alone. This is completely unacceptable.
We need your help to tell the Ohio General Assembly enough is enough: It’s time to take action to protect Ohio’s children and families. We need General Assembly to:
- Make Governor DeWine’s Gun Safety Proposals the Law. Governor DeWine has put forth his 17-point gun violence prevention plan. Two of his most important proposals are Universal Background Checks and Safety Protection Orders that courts can issue to prohibit firearm access for high-risk individuals and connect them with treatment.
- Enact Child Access Prevention (CAP) Laws. In 1 in 5 homes with children and guns, there is at least one gun that’s unlocked and loaded. CAP laws – which require that guns be stored safely so children cannot access them unsupervised – can reduce child accidental deaths, injuries, and suicide by 54%.
- Ban Military-Style Weapons. We must limit access to assault weapons, high-capacity ammunition magazines, bump stocks and other devices that allow shooters to rapidly fire large amounts of ammunition.