Ohio governor calls for gun reforms

The mass shooting that left nine dead in Dayton early Sunday prompted Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to propose a list of more than 10 reforms to gun laws in his state. The Republican on Tuesday said he endorses background checks for nearly all gun sales and “red flag” laws to help identify and disarm unstable gun owners. He also asked legislators for funding for mental health professionals in schools and improvements to a school violence tip line.

Would these laws prevent such a shooting? Police said that the shooter, Connor Betts, 24, did not have an adult criminal record to prevent him from buying a gun. But his former high school classmates and others who knew him said there were signs he was drawn to violence. “What we are seeing time after time after time—is we’re seeing warnings,” DeWine said. “You see what he was saying in high school, you see social media.”

What were the warnings? School administrators reportedly twice suspended Betts in high school for compiling hit lists of students he wanted to kill and female students he wanted to sexually assault. Other media reports say he was involved in an extreme metal music band with lyrics that focused on violence and dehumanizing women.

Police shot and killed Betts within a minute of the attack. Among the victims was his 22-year-old sister, Megan. Meanwhile, prosecutors in El Paso, Texas, the site of another mass shooting over the weekend, plan to seek the death penalty for the man arrested in the attack there that killed 22.

Dig deeper: WORLD editor in chief Marvin Olasky asks: Where do we go from here?