Lawmakers don't defend 'racist law'

Three local lawmakers voted in favor of expanding gun rights in a way civil rights organizations say is racist and will lead to the deaths of more Black people. But state Sen. Theresa Gavarone and state representatives DJ Swearingen and Dick Stein aren't providing any explanation for why they support the "Stand Your Ground" provision in Senate Bill 175, which expands the definition of self-defense to include instances in which a person with a gun who feels threatened can chase down and kill another person. Civil rights groups contend the change, which is "cookie-cutter" legislation promoted in Ohio and in other states by the National Rifle Association, will lead to the deaths of more Black people in the same way Trayvon Martin, a Florida teenager, was killed in 2012 when he was walking in a gated community where his family was visiting, and more recently, the way two white men in a pickup chased down and killed Ahmaud Arbery in February when he was jogging in a white neighborhood in Georgia. Both Florida and Georgia have Stand Your Ground laws like the one Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, Swearingen, R-Huron, and Stein, R-Norwalk, want for Ohio. It's not known if the legislation — which the NAACP contends allows people to "take the law in their own hands excessively with gun force" — has any support in Ohio outside the influence of the NRA in the Statehouse. Meanwhile, the state NAACP wants Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to veto SB 175. "The NAACP Ohio State Conference and the NAACP branches throughout the (state) are also strongly opposed to the Stand Your Ground legislation since it would make it easier for the murder of human beings without the perpetrators facing any legal consequences," Tom Roberts, NAACP state conference president and a former state senator wrote to DeWine just days before Christmas. As of Sunday, it was not clear if DeWine would veto the bill. He was not supportive of it before lawmakers approved it and sent it to him Dec. 18. He's also signed other legislation lawmakers sent him without signing SB 175. DeWine had asked lawmakers for a different gun measure: He wanted them to expand penalties for convicted criminals arrested on weapons charges. DeWine contends criminals who are prohibited from carrying weapons because of prior convictions commit a large portion of violent crime. Lawmakers failed to act on his request. DeWine has until Thursday to veto SB 175, otherwise it becomes law, with or without his signature. Daryl Murphy, president of the Sandusky branch of the NAACP, said he was confounded that Ohio lawmakers would support the blatantly racist law, especially in a year that saw the deaths of Aubrey and other Black people caused by racist violence. It's also been a year of protest against racial violence, he said. Lawmakers would not say what response they have for Murphy and other critics. The lawmakers who voted for the racist legislation failed to provide any explanation for their support of it. A House majority deputy press secretary who occasionally provides talking point responses on their behalf, also failed to provide any reply. It's not clear if he shared the inquiry with other lawmakers who support the chase and kill legislation.