Ohio’s state attorney general is hoping the National Rifle Association will join a newly formed advisory commission designed to offers ideas on how to keep firearms out of felons’ hands.

Mike DeWine says he is pledged to focus on such efforts, using his experience as a former county prosecutor and an U.S. Senator to bolster ways to disarm felons from illegally possessing and using firearms.

“This is especially a problem in Ohio’s big cities,” DeWine said in a prepared statement Monday.

“What we need to do is get these criminals off the streets. They shouldn’t have the weapons in the first place. And we see the same people over and over again committing violent crime.”

The DeWine press release says the Advisory Group/Commission “will convene in the next two weeks.”

Expected to be on the panel are law enforcement officers as prosecutors as well as members of “...gun advocacy groups.”

DeWine's press release then goes on to cite figures from a recent Columbus Dispatch artcile on gun violence that has been generally criticized by the NRA as being biased against Second Amendment rights.

When pressed Today (Tuesday, June 21) for what constitutes a “gun advocacy group,” a DeWine spokesman said that term will include the survivors of firearms-related violent crimes as well as representatives of the “National Rifle Association.”

Asked if anyone has yet to specifically receive the nod the spokesman said “no.”

However, the spokesman did indicate that when panel members are finally selected then DeWine will announce their appointment as well as their group affiliation.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com