Cleveland City Council sets sights on gun offender registry

“I want Cleveland police and our city prosecutors to have as many ways to address this problem as they can, and this legislative agenda will help get us there,” Jackson said when he introduced the proposals. (Photo: Cleveland.com)

“I want Cleveland police and our city prosecutors to have as many ways to address this problem as they can,” Jackson said when he introduced the proposals. (Photo: Cleveland.com)

The Cleveland City Council met Wednesday morning to discuss moving forward with proposed legislation that would include a gun offenders registry list, Cleveland.com reported.

The proposed changes would require residents with gun offenses to register with the city’s safety department. Offenders who have recently been released from prison or moved into the city will have five days to register with the city and must re-register every four years, similar to a sex offenders registry.

Supporters of the legislation, which also includes limiting purchases and reporting transfers and lost or stolen firearms, said it will add options in the city’s fight against gun violence.

“We’re not going to just sit around and be helpless. We’re not going to take on the victim mentality that there’s nothing we can do,” Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said back in June when the legislation was first introduced. “There is something we can do.”

However, not everyone is convinced. Gun rights advocates protested the changes in July and have threatened to sue the City Council if the legislation is passed.

The City Council will meet two more times to discuss the changes – at the end of the month and again in October.

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