TO CLOSE

In Ohio, you can now take hidden guns in places such as daycares, bars and airports.
Jessie Balmert

Ohio Governor John Kasich spoke on Tuesday at the Ohio State Speech at the Fritsche Theater at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.(Photo: Paul Vernon, AP)

COLUMBUS – Police must add the names of people facing protection orders to a list of individuals banned from possessing firearms, according to a Governor John Kasich's decree signed Monday.

At present, some police services report these names to the database of people whose purchase is prohibited. Others do not do it. These protection orders are filed to prevent harassment, harassment or threat of a partner or partner's child.

The flaw is a problem because Federal law prohibits these persons from buying or possessing firearms during the term of the protection order.

Authorized gun dealers check the National Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, before selling a firearm to someone else. If the database is incomplete, people who should otherwise be prohibited from buying a firearm could still buy one legally.

Mr. Kasich said that Ohio had a "significant gap" between those who needed to be reported on the list of prohibited firearms and those who were actually reported.

The Kasich NICS Task Force – which included officials from the Ohio Public Security Department, the Ohio Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Ohio Supreme Court –

Across the state, 136 police services said they did not put these names on the prohibited list. Reasons: According to the report of more than 60 pages, the police services did not have access to the database, did not have enough staff and were very time-consuming.

Kasich said local officials could eventually lose money if they did not follow the rules. For now, they could be subject to sanctions from the criminal database, such as the loss of their access.

The database of banned individuals is not blank. State law requires the courts to update the list of people prohibited from buying firearms at least once a week. But some courts lasted months, if not years, without updating – without any repercussions, according to state audits.

The new audit revealed that 49% of the registrants who responded reported having reported all records to the database prohibiting people from obtaining firearms. This means that many names are not reported.

According to a survey by Enquirer, at least 90 courts in Ohio have surrendered over a period of three years without reporting persons who are prohibited from owning a firearm. Of these delinquent courts, 15 were trial courts, which deal with the most serious offenses committed by the state. Some courts have not reported names for more than a year.

Most court officials said they needed more training on what to report to the state database.

It is unlikely that Kasich's last executive order ended filming on Fountain Square in Cincinnati on September 6.

Earlier this month, Omar Santa Perez, 29, shot dead three people and seriously injured two others before being shot by Cincinnati police. He did not seem to be subject to protective orders or warrants.

Santa's family pleaded with the Florida courts to force him to undergo mental health treatment at least twice between 2010 and 2012.

But he was still able to buy a gun legally in Cincinnati years later. This is because Florida has added people to the list of people prohibited from having firearms only if they were forced to undergo forced treatment for more than 72 hours. The state has since passed stricter laws.

Ohio does not have it. Ohio has no "red flag" law that would allow parents or police to temporarily remove firearms from people who may pose threats to themselves or others. Kasich said the legislation, which received little support in the legislature controlled by the GOP, may have helped Cincinnati.

"What does this have to do with the second amendment?" Kasich asked, clearly frustrated by the inaction of lawmakers. "The second amendment does not say that you should give a firearm to someone who is emotionally unstable and who may pose a threat to themselves or to the family."

Candidates for the governorship, Mike DeWine, the Republican state attorney general, and Democrat Rich Cordray argue that they are in favor of a law on the red flag in Ohio. DeWine said during the Dayton debate that he would require constitutional protections to ensure that procedural rights are not violated.

Yet, Ohio, the Ohio home controlled by the GOP, was more supportive of a law "stand your ground" than Kasich's red flag law. Kasich also proposed to ban the piercing ammunition and to knowingly buy a firearm for a forbidden person to have one. But these ideas have evolved little among lawmakers.

Kasich also signed a decree Monday to allow the NICS working group to continue.

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