COLUMBUS — The cities of Columbus and Dayton have sued Ohio’s top law enforcement officer to force improvements in the state background check system for gun purchases.
The lawsuit wants a judge to order the Bureau of Criminal Investigation to address counties’ underreporting of people with criminal convictions. The lawsuit says the incomplete reporting could allow thousands to improperly buy guns.
It was filed Monday in Franklin County Court hours after Columbus recorded its 143rd homicide of the year, tying a record set in 2017.
“Roughly 70 percent of homicides in Columbus are committed with firearms, usually firearms that are illegally obtained. We should all be deeply concerned that background checks may be failing to keep firearms out of the hands of violent offenders, putting our residents in a dangerous position,” Mayor Andrew Ginther said.
The lawsuit against Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who oversees BCI, alleges many counties don’t report the full number of criminal dispositions to the state, creating the loophole.
The complaint seeks to have a judge order the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to fix the problem created by this underreporting.
Many counties don’t provide the full number of criminal dispositions to the state, creating a situation that means thousands of people could have access to gun purchases who shouldn’t, the lawsuit said.
Shooting incidents over the weekend in Columbus left one man dead and seven other people injured, but knives were the weapons used un two Monday morning slaying at an East Side trailer park.
Two men, whose names are being withheld pending notifications of next of kin, and due to the circumstances of this investigation, were killed and a third man was injured during the incident, according to Sgt. David Shimberg of the Columbus police Homicide Unit.
Columbus Patrol Officers originally dispatched to Mann’s Mobile Home Park, 755 Stelzer Rd, at 7:11 a.m. on a shooting found the three victims in a trailer.a
A 44-year-old man underwent surgery at a nearby hospital while the other two men, one age 32, were pronounced dead at the scene, Shimberg said.
These were the 142nd and 143rd homicides of 2020.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477).