Ohio governor John Kasich vowed to “take action” to address the state’s failure to keep guns away from convicted criminals in a Monday morning tweet.
In too many communities, convictions aren’t uploaded to the National Criminal Background Check system as they should be. This afternoon, I’ll take action to help close this gap to keep weapons out of the wrong hands in our state.https://t.co/fElN0rigTj
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) April 23, 2018
Kasich’s tweet linked to a Cincinnati.com report detailing a pervasive failure on the part of Ohio courthouses to regularly add newly convicted criminals to the national background-check database. Ohio law requires that courthouses update the database weekly, but many localities failed to comply for months and, in some cases, years, according to the report.
Kasich has recently softened his position on gun laws amid mounting public scrutiny of pro-Second Amendment politicians. The governor urged President Donald Trump to “take some steps” on gun control in the wake of the Parkland, Fla. school shooting that claimed 17 lives on Valentine’s Day. He also modified the language on his campaign website, changing a section title from “Defending the Second Amendment” to “Common Sense on the Second Amendment” and removing pictures of himself in an ammunition store and a National Rifle Association endorsement.