WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s been over a month since the Dayton mass shooting, but now that Congress is back in session, the tragedy is being talked about in new ways on Capitol Hill.
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley stood outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday demanding a Senate vote on expanded background checks.
“We are not taking no for an answer,” she said, as a crowd of activists and gun violence survivors applauded.
Two survivors of the Oregon District shooting and the mother of a victim who was killed joined Whaley, having made the trip from Ohio to send a message.
“I don’t ever want to experience this type of tragedy in the future,” said Desiree Myers. “And it’s scary that we just don’t know.”
Myers was working as a bartender with Brianne Henry at the Dayton bar Ned Peppers when the shooting happened.
“I think our voices are some of the strongest, the people that have witnessed things,” Henry said.
Congress returned from its summer recess this week, and immediately, Ohioans were put in the spotlight.
There were the tributes.
Six Dayton police officers received the Medal of Valor from President Trump on Monday for their heroic actions on August 4.
That same day, Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) spoke about them on the Senate floor.
And that evening, Ohio’s 16 House members held a moment of silence on the House floor.
But there were also political moments.
Whaley stood alongside Brown and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill Monday afternoon to call on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) to hold a vote on a background check bill that passed the House in February.
“I’m here on behalf of the citizens of Dayton,” Whaley told the reporters that had gathered.
The following day, McConnell called the press conference a “stunt” and “theatrics.” He said Democrats know better than to push legislation, like H.R. 8, that Trump won’t support.
“We’re waiting for something we know, if it passed, would actually become law,” McConnell said.
But Brown told Spectrum Washington reporter Taylor Popielarz that this is about Republicans being influenced by money from the gun lobby.
“Mitch McConnell, so far, has been unreachable when it comes to guns,” he said.
Over on the House side, Representative Jim Jordan (R, 4th Congressional District) passionately criticized the Judiciary Committee for advancing three gun control measures on Tuesday evening.
Jordan said they violate Second Amendment rights.
“This is a scary road to start heading down,” Jordan said. “We all want to stop gun violence. We all know these terrible, evil things that happen are just that, terrible and evil. But trying to do something that this bill seeks to do, in this manner, is so fundamentally wrong.”
The divide over guns is nothing new on Capitol Hill, but it is now personal for Ohio lawmakers and voters.
Mayor Whaley told Spectrum News that she is hoping the people of Dayton can help spark real action by holding Congress and the president accountable.
“President Trump can do something that President Obama couldn’t get done,” she said. “He can show real leadership. People don’t care about the political nature of this, they just want something done.”
Whaley held multiple meetings on Capitol Hill before returning to Dayton.
The two Oregon District survivors said they plan to use connections they’ve made during this experience to be a voice for those who don’t have one anymore.