COLUMBUS, Ohio — In the early hours of Saturday morning, several people were shot in Columbus’ Short North neighborhood.
What You Need To Know
- Ten people were shot in the Short North district Saturday morning
- There were 11 guns recovered from the scene
- Three police officers fired their weapons at the scene
- Columbus officials are calling for localized gun laws
Legislators and law enforcement are trying to find solutions to the ongoing issue of gun violence in Central Ohio. Early Saturday morning, various shots were fired in Short North Columbus resulting in ten people shot.
Body camera footage of the scene on High Street shows chaos and disarray for both bystanders and police officers. Police responded to one incident, before more shots were fired elsewhere on the street. Ten people were shot that night and 11 guns were recovered from the scene.
Mayor Andrew Ginther said the violence is a direct effect of lax gun laws in Ohio.
“All we want to do is keep guns out of the wrong hands, out of the hands of criminals in order to keep our residents safe,” said Ginther. “Universal background checks, red flag laws prohibiting the sale of bump stocks, banning the sale of automatic weapons. These are things that virtually everyone agrees on. These aren’t controversial. This isn’t constitutional overreach, simply put, this is what this moment demands and requires.”
The city of Columbus unanimously passed its own gun laws at the end of 2022 on the state’s constitution’s “home rule” provision, but those laws are tied up in a legal battle. Columbus police said it has already recovered 1,100 guns since the beginning of this year.
City officials said that they will continue to work with city entities and business owners to get guns off the street.
