Gubernatorial hopeful Dennis Kucinich is calling for cities across Ohio to lobby state lawmakers to ban assault rifles. The former Ohio congressman says public opinion about high-powered weapons is at a tipping point.
On Monday, supporters from across Ohio crowded into a hotel meeting room in downtown Cleveland, waving signs and chanting their support for Kucinich's plan to lobby the state legislature for a change in Ohio's gun laws.
Kucinich is calling for city councils across the state to pass resolutions demanding a ban on assault-style weapons with high-capacity magazines.
“Without regard to who's in the legislature, without regard as to who controls the legislature, banning assault weapons will be a major issue in the 2018 election, whether it's a Democrat or a Republican,” he said.
But, Doug Deekan of the gun rights group Ohioans for Concealed Carry says Kucinich is playing his own political game.
“Kucinich thinks this is an issue that plays well to him in a Democratic primary,” Deekan said. "And frankly, he's trying to print campaign literature with the blood of innocent victims. I find it repulsive.”
Kucinich followed the rally with a public meeting to plan next steps in the assault weapons campaign.
A 2006 state law bans Ohio cities from passing gun laws that go beyond state regulations. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld that law in 2010.
