DeWine Catching Heat Over Supposedly Not Doing Enough on Gun Control

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine isn’t the most pro-gun Republican governor in the country. He has signed a number of pro-gun bills into law, sure, but he also tried to push his own gun control bill through following the Dayton shooting. It wasn’t the worst gun control bill I’ve ever seen, mind you, but since I’m no longer interested in playing nice with anti-gunners, any step backwards is unacceptable.

But DeWine is catching a little flak these days, and he’s not getting it because he wanted gun control. No, he’s getting it because of a random shooting at a festival in Toledo, Ohio, earlier this month that sent 12 people to the hospital. It seems that some don’t understand crime statistics.

 Governor Mike DeWine is responding to criticism from several Toledo city leaders who say Ohio’s gun laws are contributing to incidents like the deadly shooting at the Old West End Festival.

Speaking Wednesday during a visit to Bowling Green State University, DeWine addressed concerns raised by Toledo City Council members, including Nick Komives, Theresa Morris and Erin Kramer, who have publicly called for stronger action on gun violence in the wake of the shooting.

The shooting, which occurred during the Old West End Festival, left twelve people injured. Toledo police have arrested one suspect and continue searching for a second.

DeWine called the shooting a “great tragedy” and expressed confidence in the ongoing investigation.

“Well first of all it’s a great tragedy, it’s a horrible, horrible thing that has occurred,” said DeWine. “I have every confidence the police will find the individuals.”

In the days following the shooting, several Toledo council members have pointed to Ohio’s gun policies as part of the problem. Councilman Nick Komives issued a statement criticizing state leaders for what he described as a lack of meaningful action on gun violence since the 2019 mass shooting in Dayton.

Since the pandemic, Toledo’s homicide rate has dropped from a high of 72 in 2021 to 38 last year. That was the same as in 2024, but before that, the murder rate was dropping as it had in the rest of the nation. Throughout the rest of the state, crime is falling across the board, including homicides, as it has in the nation as a whole.

In other words, while this festival shooting is awful, it’s not indicative of literally anything else.

The one suspect from this shooting is 20, which is too young to lawfully buy a handgun, as is the one currently on the run as of this writing. They were involved in some kind of altercation, which was likely gang-related, and that erupted into something horrific.

But the problem isn’t the lack of gun control. If that were the case, why has Ohio seen homicides drop since embracing things like constitutional carry? Why did it become widespread after the Bruen decision ended “may issue” permitting?

I’m sorry, but if gun control were the answer, then why did the single biggest drop year-over-year happen during a time when massive gun control measures were struck down, putting more guns on the streets in the hands of lawful users?

No doubt, what happened at the festival is terrible, and I wish we’d never see another such incident.

That doesn’t mean that there was some failure to “do enough” after the Dayton shooting, since Toledo’s homicides are 52 percent of where they were just a few years ago. They’ve seen the results, and they can’t acknowledge them for some inane reason.

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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