YOUNGSTOWN Health officials urge council to act on banning assault-type firearms

Gun advocates want prosecution and prison for armed criminals, not new laws.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Nobody wants to see high-powered guns on the streets like the one used in an assault on Jiyen Dent's home eight weeks ago, killing the infant.
Top health officials are urging action to keep such weaponry from claiming other victims.
A board headed by Matthew Stefanak, Mahoning County health commissioner, and his city counterpart, Neil Altman, is asking city council to do something about assault-type firearms.
"The status quo isn't protecting children," Stefanak said.
Stefanak heads the county's Child Fatality Review Board, a state-mandated group of health professionals who monitor child deaths. Police told the board that the suspect used an assault gun.
Authorities don't have the gun, but evidence at the scene shows that the suspect used an AK-47 or a replica such as an SKS, said police spokesman Lt. Robin Lees. The gun fires a 7.62-caliber bullet and is categorized as a military weapon designed to pierce walls, car doors and body armor, Lees said.
Some of the 11 or 12 shots passed through the Dent home. One bullet hit Jiyen as he sat in a swing in the living room.
Police also told the board they are seeing criminals increasingly use such guns.
Innocent victims
Those firearms "serve no useful purpose other than in the hands of combatants engaged in deadly warfare," the board told city council in a letter. "The lethality of these weapons increases the likelihood that unintended victims like Jiyen will be killed when the weapons are fired indiscriminately in neighborhoods as an act of intimidation."
Compounding the tragedy, Stefanak said, was that Jiyen overcame complications from premature birth in December only to die weeks later by a high-powered gunshot.
Council won't have to start from scratch on the call to address such weapons. The lawmakers already have a local law before them that would ban possession or sale of assault-type guns. Police Chief Robert Bush is backing the proposal.
In January, gun advocates protested the legislation to council's safety committee. There has been no discussion of the item since.
Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st, safety committee chairman, said he intends to resurrect the debate soon. He cautioned that there will be no knee-jerk moves on the gun law.
Concerns about proposal
Gillam said he has concerns about the law as proposed and the issue needs a full airing. He won't endorse any proposal that might look good but doesn't produce any results.
"If we're going to do something ... let's make sure we do some good," he said.
Switching the focus from banning guns to banishing the criminals who use them is a good start, said Rick Kaleda of Youngstown.
Kaleda is among the gun advocates who first spoke against the proposed local law.
Using existing laws to fully prosecute criminals who use assault-type guns is the most effective way to get those guns off the street, Kaleda said. Too often, those who use high-powered firearms are criminals who already should be in jail, he said.
New gun laws only add restrictions to law-abiding firearm owners, Kaleda said. Criminals by their nature pay no attention to gun laws, he said.
Cities such as Washington, D.C., that have local gun bans aren't seeing a decrease in gun violence, he said. Cities such as Richmond, Va., which focuses on prosecuting criminals who use guns, are succeeding, he said.
"It's the only pursuit shown to be successful," Kaleda said.
Stefanak, Altman and Gillam say they are interested in talking with gun advocates to find a way to keep innocent people from being victims.
"There has to be a medium," Stefanak said.
rgsmith@vindy.com