Gun control is on the agenda for the Ohio Senate on Tuesday.
An Ohio Senate Committee heard from Democrats and a Republican who is sponsoring legislation that would expand background checks for most firearm purchases. They would also create a red flag law aimed at keeping guns from people viewed as threats to themselves and others.
Senator Cecil Thomas, a Cincinnati Democrat and member of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee, said in an interview before Tuesday's hearing in Columbus that there's little appetite in the Republican-controlled legislature to pass new gun control laws.
Thomas claims Republicans likely only agreed to the hearing because of a mass shooting in Dayton in August that killed nine people. It prompted Senator Peggy Lehner, a Dayton-area Republican, to become a co-sponsor for legislation on background checks, the red flag law, and increasing the age for firearm purchases to 21.
