U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has evidently cracked a proverbial code about violent crime and it went virtually unnoticed last week, overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address and his acquittal by the U.S. Senate in the impeachment trial, and the Iowa caucus debacle.
DeWine, speaking at the Associated Press Legislative Forum—according to Lima News columnist Jim Krumel—said this: “What we have is, repeat, violent offenders who have no legal right to have a gun, or not supposed to have a gun, who are showing up with guns, all the time. And so giving the prosecutors, the police and ultimately the judges, the authority to send that person away for a long time, will save lives.”
That logic can be applied to the case in New York City involving a repeat offender identified as Robert Williams, 45, of The Bronx. According to the New York Daily News, the suspect is no model citizen, having done a stretch in prison for attempted murder. He was released on parole in 2017. He was scheduled for a court appearance on Monday Feb. 10 on a drunk driving and resisting beef dating back to 2018.
As a convicted felon, Williams is not allowed by law to possess a firearm. Yet he’s now being held for opening fire in a police station where one police lieutenant was wounded, and he’s also suspected in a shooting involving two other police officers Saturday.
DeWine’s observation could also just as easily apply to the unfolding case in Seattle, where three suspects who engaged in a shootout that left a female bystander dead and seven other people injured all have criminal records that preclude them from having guns. Two of the suspects, William Tolliver and Marquise Latrelle, have 65 arrests and 35 convictions between them. Tolliver’s history includes 44 arrests, one felony conviction and 18 gross misdemeanors. Tolbert has been arrested 21 times, with three felony convictions and a dozen gross misdemeanors in his file. They traded rounds with Jamel Jackson in the Jan. 22 chaos outside a McDonald’s restaurant in downtown Seattle. Jackson was wounded and is now in custody facing gun charges. Tolliver and Tolbert were arrested in Las Vegas and are awaiting return to Seattle.
Conservative radio commentators in the state, echoing the thoughts of their listeners, are accusing prosecutors and judges of being soft on criminals, which has only emboldened them to the point of engaging in a deadly shootout.
All of this is unfolding against a backdrop of gun control politics in Washington, Oregon, Virginia and Florida, as well as on the presidential campaign trail in New Hampshire.
But DeWine—who some believe to be soft on gun control while others suggest he goes too far, and has a concealed carry license in Ohio, according to columnist Krumel’s narrative—reportedly has heard from police chiefs in the Buckeye State who told the governor “it is a small number of people responsible for the violence,” Krumel reported.
While gun control advocates in Oregon are pushing a so-called “safe storage” bill that is opposed by Beaver State gun owners, and several gun control laws are being considered in neighboring Washington State, DeWine’s observations are supported by laws adopted by Evergreen State citizens more than 25 years ago.
“Three Strikes and You’re Out,” followed by “Hard Time for Armed Crime.” Both of those measures were championed by the firearms community, and opposed by the liberal establishment for putting people behind bars for lengthy sentences, or for life.
Washington’s “Three Strikes” law was passed in 1993, via Initiative 593. Subsequently, several states adopted similar statutes. But Washington voters appear to have lost historical perspective, or been swayed over the years by the Seattle-based gun prohibition lobby as more people migrated to the state, drawn by the booming tech industry.
In a recent KING 5 News survey conducted by SurveyUSA in late January, 45 percent of respondents think the state needs stronger gun control laws. They are slightly outnumbered by 46 percent who believe the existing gun laws are adequate (27%) or are too strict (19%).The station—Seattle’s NBC affiliate—played up the gun control support, which many in the firearms community suggested was an example of media bias.
In Ohio, DeWine is pushing a proposal calling for “voluntary background checks” on private gun sales, a suggestion comparatively benign to the agendas being pushed in the Pacific Northwest and passed by the anti-gun majority Democrats in Richmond, VA.
All of these things bring the focus to New Hampshire, where socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders said during last Friday’s debate, “My view is right now, we need universal background checks, we end the gun show loophole, we end the so-called ‘straw man provision,’ we make certain that we end the sale and distribution of assault weapons in this country, and we go further.”
Sen. Sanders on his proposed gun policy: "Under my administration, it will be the American people doing gun policy not dictated by the NRA….we need universal background checks." https://t.co/0GxKJz7e8Y #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/Q7huLTNuPa
— ABC News (@ABC) February 8, 2020
It’s the “further” that alarms gun owners who have been watching the Second Amendment “under siege,” as observed by Trump during his State of the Union address.
“Just as we believe in the First Amendment,” the president stated, “we also believe in another constitutional right that is under siege all across our country. So long as I am president, I will always protect your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.”
Perhaps one way to accomplish that will be to once again get tough on criminals. As DeWine and those unidentified Ohio police chiefs have clarified, getting recidivist criminals off the streets, including those in New York and Seattle, might be the most effective way to reduce violent crime while leaving the rights of millions of law-abiding citizens alone.
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About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Lock up criminals… that’s really not a bad idea. I hope it catches on.
Imagine that, using a jail for it’s INTENDED use !
you mean for it’s intended PURPOSE!
People who VICTIMIZE other people. You’re a criminal. Admit it. You’ve done many things in your life that would have caged you if you had been caught, but you may never have harmed anyone while doing it. Ever drive over the speed limit 20+ MPH? In some states that’s a FELONY.
Speed limit signs are just suggestions!!
but sometimes they can have paying paper attached to them.
In all states it’s government enforced fraud and unconstitutional. The states get away with it because the people are intimidated and refuse to fight these unjust laws!
Nickname, that would be one sure way to “drain the swamp”.
HC, yessir. Still patiently waiting for the indictments to come rolling forth. Maybe it’s a matter of having a place to put em all once they’re convicted.
Do you know why ships have rudders? It is so winds and currents do not decide the course of the ship. Without a rudder you will eventually end up on the rocks.
Zackley ! Drain the swamp…………..
Trump 2020 !
Actually, it is the keel that reduces the effects of wind drift on the hull, the rudder only helps point the ship in the intended direction – both are needed (aka, a strong backbone and proper direction) to get to where you intend on going.
but a rudder ONLY works when the vessel is MOVING.
24/7/365 because I am my own first responder.
To be commended if the scum is DOS
Locking up VIOLENT criminals reduces VIOLENT crime. Locking up people who smoke a plant, drive too fast, own a tool that the government doesn’t like…does not reduce VIOLENT crime. Crime should be on thing and one thing only. A victim has to be involved and it can’t be a victim that doesn’t exist, like the “state”, which is a FICTION. This State of Ohio vs Joe Blow is BULLSHIT.
You’re 100% correct. The state cannot be a victim considering a victim is “hurt” by a crime, when the state profits from their enforcement of unconstitutional “not”-law!
https://takebackthepower.us/Not-Laws.html
Hmm, the article leaves out Dewine is proposing Red / Pink flag laws that include someone drinking a beer and someone sees you and knows you have guns in the house are grounds fir gun confiscation. He’s trying to pass a bill that gives schools more power over the parents and can get kids to turn in their parent in for having “unsafe” guns in the homes. He wants UBC, and many many more. But hey, he wants to lock up violent criminal. Perhaps, but he wants to lock up gun owners who do not use or own guns the… Read more »
The article is solely about DeWine’s realization that locking up bad guys reduces crime. As noted, some believes he is soft on guns, others think he is too hard on guns.
Thanks for reading!
“But…but… that’s raciss!” They will say.
Sorry Dems, it’s NOT racist but is FACTUAL !
DeWine sorta reminds me of George Burns…
Violent felons who are cought in possesion of a gun should be immediately shot to death using the gun they were cought with! How bout 3 strikes and you die? Warehousing diftbags is not a answer!
Dewine is a RINO trying to figure out how to look tough on crime to help his reelection chances while trying to make outlaws of legal gun owners. Ohio voters took him out of the US senate for his anti 2nd amendment votes but unfortunately have a short memory.
I love it when a politician gets a taste of their own medicine. It has a certain fulfillment to it in the form of what goes “aground” comes back around. It’s like Kim Jong-un bragging that he’s going to nuke the world, and does, only to survive because now he has to plow the lower forty by hand in order to stay that way.
Soooo… even really old stupid politicians can finally come around to the truth. How refreshing
What’s so refreshing is that Cisco Kid was a friend of mine, but Mike he drink DeWine. And he finally got off that kool-aid!