© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Whaley Joins Congressional Democrats In Push For Expanded Background Checks

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley speaking to reporters near the site of the Oregon District shooting rampage.
Jess Mador
/
WYSO
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley speaking to reporters near the site of the Oregon District shooting rampage.

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley joined a group of Congressional Democrats in Washington Monday to lobby for tighter gun regulations. The group that included Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is calling for passage of a bill to expand background checks for gun purchases.

The bipartisan proposal known as H.R.8 would expand background checks to cover private firearm sales.

Mayor Whaley urged the Senate to bring the House bill to a vote.

"They want us to do something," she said, recalling an August candlelight vigil held to honor the nine victims of the Oregon District mass shooting that drew hundreds of people to downtown Dayton, and where protesters chanted at Gov. Mike DeWine to “do something!”

“So that's why we're here. I'm here on behalf of the citizens of Dayton, who called us that night to do something. This is something that can be done, can be fast and will save lives.”

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he won’t act on a gun bill without a commitment the president would sign it, as NPR News reports.

Copyright 2020 WYSO. To see more, visit .

Jess Mador comes to WYSO from Knoxville NPR-station WUOT, where she created an interactive multimedia health storytelling project called TruckBeat, one of 15 projects around the country participating in AIR's Localore: #Finding America initiative. Before TruckBeat, Jess was an independent public radio journalist based in Minneapolis. She’s also worked as a staff reporter and producer at Minnesota Public Radio in the Twin Cities, and produced audio, video and web stories for a variety of other news outlets, including NPR News, APM, and PBS television stations. She has a Master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She loves making documentaries and telling stories at the intersection of journalism, digital and social media.