New initiative looks to decrease number of gun violence, deaths in Ohio

MIAMI VALLEY — When it comes to gun violence, the Ohio Department of Health’s numbers show that gun violence killed more Ohioans last year than almost any other year on record. The state is spending millions of dollars to help fight this trend and give police easier access to technology that can help them solve gun crimes.

In the Miami Valley, when a gun is used in a crime it often ends up at the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab. Investigators have access to a database where they can enter information about each gun to see whether it’s been used in other crimes across the state.

The goal of the Ohio Ballistics Testing Initiative is to make it easier for police to solve gun violence across the state.

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Statistics show that at least 1,762 Ohioans died in gun-related deaths last year. It was two less than the record-setting year in 2020.

Gun-related deaths in Ohio:

• 2021: 1,762
• 2020: 1,764
• 2019: 1,578
• 2018: 1,555
• 2017: 1,589

(Source: Ohio Department of Health & CDC)

In December, Gov. Mike DeWine and state lawmakers set aside $250 million in American Rescue Plan Act money for first responders to help them address problems that the COVID-19 pandemic made worse, like increased gun violence.

$10.5 million, announced Thursday, will help the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and State Highway Patrol increase the number of ballistic information databases across the state from seven to 16. The Ohio State Highway Patrol currently sends its ballistic testing out to other crime labs in Ohio. This will help troopers test their own gun evidence in-house, as well as taking firearm evidence from local police agencies to test for them for free.

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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the initiative “means more bad guys in prison, where they belong, and fewer guns where they don’t.”

It will give police agencies across the state easier access to technology that can help them find criminals responsible for deadly shooting and other kinds of gun crimes in Ohio.

On Monday, DeWine told News Center 7′s John Bedell how this will help test and enter guns stored away into a database.

“What we’re doing with this is saying, just as we did with the old rape kits sitting around, we now want to go with all these guns that have been used in a crime or have been taken from a crime scene, let’s get them in the database. We’re going to solve crimes, we’re going to get violent offenders off the streets. And it’s a very positive thing,” DeWine said.

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