Hundreds of courts ignore Gov. Kasich's executive order on background check records

On April 23, 2018, Governor John Kasich (R) issued an executive order demanding that government agencies do the job they're already supposed to be doing.

The order came seven and a half years into his administration, with Kasich desperately seeking a way to get immediate media attention and future presidential campaign fodder for having done "something" about mass killings.

The order came two months after the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that hundreds or perhaps even thousands of felons in Ohio could still be allowed to pass a background check to purchase a firearm, all because dozens of Ohio courts are delinquent - sometimes by months or even years - in their responsibility to upload some paperwork. This has been going on under Gov. Kasich's watch for two entire terms.

So how has Kasich been doing with his goal of "doing something?"

If issuing meaningless, toothless executive orders alone is to be counted as "doing something," then I suppose he gets a passing grade. But if "doing something" about our faulty background check system is to be weighed in terms of results, then Kasich leaves alot to be desired.

The Columbus Dispatch recently reported that more than 200 courts across Ohio have failed to respond to the governor’s executive order seeking more information on their history with the national background check database used in stopping gun-related crimes.

From the article:

The directive asked courts to provide information on their use of the National Instant Criminal Background System, or NICS, and what barriers they’ve faced in adding information to the database.

Hundreds of courts — including 87 of 88 courts of common pleas and all but 12 of 164 municipal and county courts — provided the requested self-evaluation, according to survey results obtained by The Associated Press Tuesday through a public records request.

But 214 courts in 63 Ohio counties were listed as non-responsive.

Government officials at every level - from the Broward County Sheriff to the FBI - failed in their duties to prevent the killer from carrying out his acts in Parkland, FL.

Government and existing gun control laws failed to stop a man who murdered people in a Nashville Waffle House less than a year after he was arrested for breaching a barrier the White House and demanding to speak with President Trump.

And Kasich's antics continues to highlight the fact that government is failing us here in the Buckeye State - right under his nose.

As Ohio Rep. Wes Retherford, R-Hamilton, observed on April 25, “The executive branch is charged with enforcing the laws. The governor should already have answers as to why this data isn’t being reported and what is needed to correct it. Instead he just wants reports and recommendations.”

Yet the governor and other responsible parties in government are all-too eager to blame and punish law-abiding gun owners who had absolutely nothing to do with these sick acts.

There should be no more talk of laws which only punish the law-abiding - including HB 585 and SB 288, gun control bills being pushed by Gov. Kasich.

There should be no talk of mandating government control over private sales of guns between individuals.

Instead, those who are truly seeking to make a difference should focus their efforts on ensuring that government entities consistently, accurately, regularly input their data into the national database, and enacting and enforcing penalties on those who don't.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.