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Ohio Capital Journal

Mike DeWine Made Ohio Less Safe 

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Ohio Capital Journal covered a new study that suggests Ohio will become less safe after Mike DeWine caved to his gun lobby donors and weakened Ohio’s gun laws. Earlier this year, DeWine ignored the pleas of law enforcement officers and signed permitless carry legislation into law. According to the study, states that relax concealed carry laws, which the permitless carry bill does, experience a spike in gun violence. It’s just the latest example of how Mike DeWine’s weakness is hurting our state. 

“[Johns Hopkins University scientist Mitchell] Doucette said the study suggests that Ohio may experience more gun crimes in the future by removing its ability to screen out people who have been convicted of violent assaults from carrying a concealed weapon.” writes the Ohio Capital Journal’s Jake Zuckerman. 

“Once again, Mike DeWine’s inability to stand up to his own party and campaign donors is hurting Ohioans. Even though law enforcement officers asked him not to, DeWine caved to the gun lobby and signed legislation that makes us all less safe. At a time when too many families are worried about keeping their loved ones safe, DeWine’s weakness is putting more Ohioans in danger,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.  

Read more from the Ohio Capital Journal here and below: 

  • Weakened concealed carry laws are associated with an estimated 9.5% increase in rates of criminal assaults with firearms, according to research published last week.
  • That relationship is most pronounced in places that allow people convicted of violent misdemeanor crimes to carry a concealed firearm. Those states are associated with an estimated 24% increase in assaults with a gun.
  • “What we saw was that prohibiting violent misdemeanors from obtaining a permit actually ended up mattering a lot,” said Mitchell Doucette, an assistant scientist at Johns Hopkins University Center for Gun Violence Solutions, the lead author on the research.
  • Additionally, Doucette said the research indicates that states removing a requirement that applicants complete live firearms training, like shooting at a gun range, are associated with an 18% increase in assaults with a firearm.
  • The study analyzes 34 states that relaxed their concealed carry programs between 1980 and 2019, and compares them against predicted crime rates based on data from “may issue” states. The research was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
  • This summer, Ohio joined a list of 24 other states that do not require any special permit to carry a concealed weapon. The law passed solely with Republican support. Now, any adults who can lawfully possess a weapon may carry it concealed on their persons.
  • The recent research focuses on states that loosen concealed carry programs, but not those that remove licensure as a requirement to carry a concealed weapon. However, Doucette said the study suggests that Ohio may experience more gun crimes in the future by removing its ability to screen out people who have been convicted of violent assaults from carrying a concealed weapon.
  • “I do think that losing that screening ability is important,” he said. “I think it’s meaningful.”
  • Ohio’s concealed carry program still exists, but it’s no longer required in order to carry in-state. Applying gun owners must complete eight hours of training and pass a criminal background check to obtain a permit. While state law allows those convicted of violent misdemeanors to possess a weapon, it does not allow them to obtain a concealed carry permit.
  • Doucette said the research indicates if states want to reduce gun crime, they should ensure their concealed carry laws prohibit those with violent misdemeanors from carrying a weapon.

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Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine Joins Fellow Republican Justices in Signaling That He’s Willing to Rip Away Abortion Rights

Abortion Rights are on the Ballot

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Ohio Capital Journal today reported on recent remarks from Republican Justice Pat DeWine, questioning how Ohioans’ due process rights should be applied based on the Ohio Constitution. With due process rights at the center of ongoing court cases on Republicans’ six-week abortion ban and proposed legislation to ban abortion entirely, Pat DeWine is once again signaling how he’ll rule should an abortion ban come before him on the court. 

“Whether the Ohio Constitution’s due-process protections prohibit enforcement of Ohio’s strict new abortion regulations is at the heart of a lawsuit filed in Cincinnati. That suit has temporarily stopped enforcement of the new law. But the dispute seems all but certain to be headed to the state Supreme Court, upon which DeWine sits. And, of course, it’s important context that Senate Bill 23 — the abortion law that is temporarily stopped — was signed by Justice DeWine’s father, Gov. Mike DeWine,” writes Marty Schladen for Ohio Capital Journal. 

Pat DeWine’s comments follow Justice Pat Fischer’s recent comments comparing abortion to slavery and giving his thoughts on Roe v. Wade, another sign that if Republicans retain the bench, they are ready to rule in favor of abortion bans, which Pat DeWine’s dad – Mike DeWine – has promised will “go as far as we can.”  

“Justice DeWine’s comments are just the latest reminder that abortion rights are on the ballot this November. Pat DeWine joins Pat Fischer in making clear that they’re ready to rule to rip away reproductive rights if they remain on the court. We can’t let that happen,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Read more HERE and below: 

  • In a speech last Tuesday, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine said that since the Civil War, state constitutions “too often” have become “secondary.” 
  • In the same speech, he highlighted that due-process protections in the Ohio Constitution are different from those in the federal 14th Amendment, which was passed in the wake of the Civil War. That’s when the slaves were freed and the feds said states have to respect guarantees that the government won’t “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” 
  • However, whether the Ohio Constitution’s due-process protections prohibit enforcement of Ohio’s strict new abortion regulations is at the heart of a lawsuit filed in Cincinnati. 
  • That suit has temporarily stopped enforcement of the new law. But the dispute seems all but certain to be headed to the state Supreme Court, upon which DeWine sits.
  • Pat DeWine made his comments in a speech to law students at Ohio Northern University, where his father received his law degree. He prefaced them by voicing a judicial philosophy shared by the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court that on June 24 overturned Roe v. Wade — the 1973 decision that protected a woman’s right to abortion. The philosophy holds that judges’ understanding of the writers’ intentions in the text of laws and constitutions should guide their thinking.
  • Such “textualist” thinking has led some judges to discard decades and more of decided law, as the U.S. Supreme Court did when it overturned the 49-year-old Roe decision. 
  • “Since the Civil War, too often state constitutions have become secondary,” said DeWine, who is seeking re-election. “A lot of that is the fault of state supreme courts. State supreme courts have often said, ‘Well, we’re just going to interpret our state Constitution exactly like the federal Constitution if there’s a similar provision.’ 
  • “We’ve done that in Ohio in many cases. And I think it’s been a mistake. Often we’ve interpreted the state Constitution like the federal Constitution even though the state Constitution has very different language.”
  • Was he hinting that he would use due-process protections in the state Constitution to extend individual rights to unborn fetuses? 
  • The idea might not be far-fetched. SB 23, the law restricting abortions signed by his father, refers to a fetus as an “unborn human individual” 22 times.
  • In the likely event that the case goes before the Ohio Supreme Court, we might learn more about what Justice DeWine meant last week when he said that when it comes to due process, many state supreme courts have lost their way since the Civil War.

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DeWine Debate Watch: Day 10

Columbus, OH — As debate season starts to ramp up in the closing weeks and days of the election cycle, Mike DeWine has continued to duck committing to debates across Ohio with Mayor Nan Whaley, even as the Mayor has already publicly agreed and challenged DeWine to a number of debates. DeWine also dodged a debate with his primary opponents earlier this year, signaling that he is scared to defend his record to Ohioans, especially since he’s debated political opponents in the past. It’s ‘DeWine Debate Watch’ Day 10, reminding Ohioans that DeWine won’t even try to make his case to them as he seeks re-election to the highest statewide executive office. 

“Mike DeWine clearly knows his record over the last four years of selling out working families in favor of the wealthy and well-connected is not going to be popular with Ohio voters. If DeWine can’t even muster the political courage to tell Ohioans why they should re-elect him, he doesn’t deserve the job and should be held publicly accountable for his cowardice,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes. 

Ohioans deserve answers from DeWine on a number of key issues, including his promise to ‘go as far as we can’ to rip away reproductive rights, his broken promise to ‘do something’ to combat gun violence in Ohio, his connections to the largest public corruption scandal in state history and his role in the failed redistricting process that produced GOP-gerrymandered maps and cost Ohioans millions of dollars. 

Read more from Ohio Capital Journal here and below: 

Ohio Capital Journal: Gov. Mike DeWine’s Shifting Record On Debating 
Nick Evans
September 6, 2022

  • In about two months Ohioans will decide on their next governor. But so far, Gov. Mike DeWine has refused to debate his Democratic challenger, former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley.
  • In general, challengers are champing at the bit to get on the debate stage early and often. Incumbents meanwhile, tend to push for a limited debate schedule. DeWine has found himself on both sides of that argument.
  • Thanks to the archives of the Columbus Dispatch, it’s possible to track much of DeWine’s record.
  • Looking at DeWine’s overall record, he’s eagerly sought the debate stage and stubbornly avoided it whenever it has suited him. Sometimes he’s won and sometimes he’s lost, but it doesn’t appear he has paid a political price yet for ducking a debate.
  • If he holds out and refuses to debate Democratic nominee Nan Whaley, it won’t be unheard of, but DeWine will certainly be an outlier.

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