Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has submitted a package of proposals to tighten gun regulations in Ohio which are sure to spark debate in the Ohio General Assembly in the coming weeks.

In part, the governor is proposing that doctors be permitted to authorize those with perceived mental health issues to be held for up to 72 hours for observation, would require that information on arrest warrants in Ohio be submitted to a federal data base, prohibit those determined to be a threat to themselves or others from possessing fire arms and mandate stiffer penalties for those who knowingly sell fire arms to people who legally aren’t allowed to have them.

  It would be easy to pass off the new plan from the former Ohio Attorney General as just so much lip service to the problem of gun violence in the aftermath of the Dayton mass shooting in August.

  I suspect the governor is genuine in his bid to try to do something about the gun violence issue but unless I missed it in the bill summary, there is no mention of something I think we badly need in our state and that’s more money to study and treat mental health issues

and to confine people who are dangerous to society as was done until state financed mental health institutions were closed down decades ago.

  There is little agreement on what to do to reduce the threat of future mass shootings but I think most will agree the issue won’t be solved with one package of bills from any governor anywhere.

That’s the way I see it.