After a contentious meeting and input from a plethora of residents, almost every Worthington City Council member supported a decision to move forward in sending state representatives a letter appealing for state-level gun-control measures.
City Council on May 7 faced a full house of residents and others to discuss the letter.
The letter originally was drafted by Councilman Scott Myers and was addressed to state Rep. Mike Duffey (R-Worthington) and state Sen. Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard).
The letter asks that the representatives support legislation that would ban “assault-style weapons” like AR-15 rifles, prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines, require background checks and eliminate the so-called “gun-show loophole” – which refers to the fact that most secondhand, private sales of firearms are not subject to background checks – and establish a system allowing weapons to “be confiscated from individuals exhibiting defined warning signs.”
At the meeting, 23 residents gave their opinions on the matter, with 13 speaking in favor of sending the message and 10 speaking against it.
Six of the seven council members chose to support the letter's message, with Councilwoman Rachael Dorothy voting no because, she said, she was "not sure any of the proposals in this letter will make our community safer."
The only changes made in the letter's content were to remove language that claimed the letter or the council members represented all of Worthington.
Originally, the letter was signed "on behalf the citizens of Worthington" and signed only by council President Bonnie Michael.
Amendments to the letter meant that each council member who supported it would sign individually, with only Dorothy choosing not to sign.
Read more on this story in the May 10 edition of the ThisWeek Worthington News.
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