Concerned citizens from across Ohio gathered yesterday on the Statehouse lawn to support the rally for common sense gun laws which was sponsored by the Ohio chapters of the Million Mom March and the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence.
Several speakers including doctors, politicians and survivors spent their Mother’s Day educating others on how to get involved in the fight for firearm regulations. There was also four entertainment groups and arts and crafts activities for children.
“I’m here today to ask you, mothers, to protect your children from a different kind of disease, and it is an epidemic. This disease epidemic is called firearm violence, firearm injury, or firearm death,” said Dr. Jonathan I. Groner, trauma medical director at Children’s Hospital.
According to Groner, this epidemic has killed more than 35,000 people, including 3,700 children and teenagers in 1997.
“It is a shame and an embarrassment to our country,” Groner said. “No other modern industrialized nation in the world loses as many children to firearms as we do. Please be brave. Ask your spouse. Check your house. Ask your neighbors. Write your legislators.”
The Million Mom March organization along with the support of State Sen. Eric Fingerhut are collecting signatures to put a gun safety initiative on the Ohio ballot this November.
“It is time to take the question of gun safety out of the halls of this legislature and bring it to the voting booth where every Ohioan can have their say,” Fingerhut said.
The gun safety initiative will require firearms to be safely locked in a manner which is inaccessible to children in private homes.
Groner said the sensible gun laws they are proposing are much like the regulations imposed on cars. These regulations include licensing of handgun owners, registration of all handguns, and consumer product safety standards for guns.
The Million Mom March was also collecting signatures for a letter to Gov. Bob Taft asking him to veto House Bill 225, which would allow the carrying of concealed weapons.
“There is, unfortunately, a majority of the members of the Ohio House and Ohio Senate that will pass that measure, but there is not likely a two-thirds majority to override the governor’s veto. The governor is the key to blocking the carrying and concealed weapon measure,” Fingerhut said.
Niki Guirnalda, president of the Dayton chapter of the Million Mom March, said, “We are here today because we really want to bring more awareness to the citizens of Ohio and let them know that there really is a problem with firearm safety.”
Guirnalda said a lot of people are not aware this is such a problem and said that making them aware makes it harder for them to ignore it and say it is not their problem.
Second Amendment Sisters also hosted a rally downtown on Mother’s Day in opposition of the proposed gun laws.
“The real purpose served by gun registration is the creation of a data base. Ask the people of every country and state that has instituted it. In spite of promises to the contrary — confiscation always follows,” said the sisters in a statement.
“The bad guys, of course, won’t register or bother to get a license. Neither of these policies have a success rate for lowering crime anywhere. Even though there is registration in Hawaii, Chicago and Washington, D.C., there has not been one case where these laws have been instrumental in identifying the culprit,” according to the sisters’ statement.
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