Ohio Gov. DeWine urges gun sale background checks after shooting

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Facing pressure to take action after the latest mass shooting in the U.S., Ohio's Republican governor urged the GOP-led state Legislature today to pass laws requiring background checks for nearly all gun sales and allowing courts to restrict firearms access for people perceived as threats.

Gov. Mike DeWine said Ohio needs to do more while balancing people's rights to own firearms and have due process during a news conference. He outlined a series of legislative actions he wants the Legislature to take up to address mental health and gun violence.

"We can come together to do these things to save lives," DeWine said.

His calls for action could be an uphill battle for the Legislature, which has given little consideration this session to those and other gun-safety measures already introduced by Democrats. DeWine's Republican predecessor, John Kasich, also unsuccessfully pushed for a so-called red flag law on restricting firearms for people considered threats.

Police say there was nothing in the Dayton shooter's background to prevent him from buying the firearm used.

Dennis Williard, spokesman for Ohioans for Gun Safety, said: "We applaud Gov. Mike DeWine and we are calling on state lawmakers to follow his lead and pass common-sense background checks for gun safety."

The organization is collecting signatures to bring background checks for gun purchases to the ballot in Ohio in either 2020 or 2021.

The shooting outside a strip of nightclubs early Sunday and another mass shooting in El Paso, Texas , during the past weekend left a combined total of 31 people dead and more than 50 injured in less than 24 hours.

Police have said 24-year-old Connor Betts was wearing a mask and body armor when he opened fire with an AR-15 style gun. If all of the magazines he had with him were full, which hasn't been confirmed, he would have had a maximum of 250 rounds, said Police Chief Richard Biehl.

"To have that level of weaponry in a civilian environment is problematic," Biehl added.

Betts had no apparent criminal record as an adult and police said there was nothing that would have prevented him from buying a gun. Ohio law bars anyone convicted of a felony as an adult, or convicted of a juvenile charge that would have been a felony if they were 18 or older, from buying firearms.

Two former classmates told The Associated Press that Betts was suspended during their junior year at Bellbrook High School after a hit list was found scrawled in a school bathroom. That followed an earlier suspension after Betts came to school with a list of female students he wanted to sexually assault, according to the two classmates, a man and a woman who are both now 24 and spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern they might face harassment.

Others remembered how he tried to intimidate classmates.