Dennis Kucinich and Councilwoman Tara Samples host Cleveland rally to ban assault weapons where Cleveland Councilman Kevin Conwell says guns are easier to get than jobs in his neighborhood, a rally with gun control advocates and community activists

Pictured are Ohio candidate for governor Dennis Kucinich (wearing bow tie) and his running mate for lieutenant governore, Akron Councilwoman Tara Mosley Samples, and Cleve;and Wward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio- Cleveland Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, South Euclid Councilman Marty Gelfand, community activists, mothers fed up with gun violence, local clergy, and a host of others joined Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dennis Kucinich and his running mate for lieutenant governor, Akron Councilwoman Tara Samples, for a rally in an effort to ban assault weapons statewide at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel in downtown Cleveland Monday afternoon, an event that was relocated from the steps of Cleveland City Hall due to imminent rain.

The mainstream media were there in droves and activists in attendance include Kathy Wray Coleman, Yvonka Hall, Rico Dancy and Nina McLellan.

"Those who have opened the door for these assault weapons to flood our cities and to flood our state and to be freely available in America are about to have an accounting, a day of reckoning themselves," said Kucinich.

Kucinich and Samples want the state legislature to pass legislation to ban assault rifles statewide, which comes on the heels of the shooting deaths of 17 people Wednesday by a gunman in Parkland, Florida.

They introduced a resolution to that affect during a press conference at Monday's rally.

"Today, Dennis and I take an aggressive stand demanding that assault weapons be banned," said Samples, who is Black.

"This is not a request," said Samples. "It is a demand for action."

Samples cited statistics on gun violence nationwide of 271 mass shootings in 2014, 323 in 2015, 383 in 2016, and 317 just last year.

Councilman Conwell, one of 17 members of Cleveland City Council and the former chair of council's safety committee, said guns are often easier to obtain than viable employment,

And he vowed to fight with Kucinich and Samples for public policy changes to seek to get guns off the streets and out of the hands of irresponsible persons..

"You can get guns before you can get jobs in my neighborhood," said Conwell, one of eight Black east side Cleveland councilmen.

Elizabeth Kuncinich. the wife of Dennis Kucinich, a former Cleveland mayor and former congressman, said Ohio can take legislative action regarding gun control, independent of its respective cities, villages and townships.

"It is not legal for cities to ban assault weapons but it is legal for states to ban assault weapons."

In the midst of the Florida shooting that has rocked the country and has heightened calls by policy makers and gun control advocates to curb gun violence, Ohio Gov John Kasich, a Republican who, is term- limited and leaves office next January, has lobbied President Trump and congressional leaders to take a harsher stance on guns.

Asked by Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com his response to a proposal by some teachers unions that calls for guns in classrooms for every teacher and what grade he would give Kasich on gun control, Kucinich said he did not want to make the issue political or partisan and that all stakeholders must come together to seek to eradicate the growing problem of gun violence.

But he also said that "those who have been in public life and have taken positions that have opened the door to this moment of tragedy will be held accountable."

Kucinich faces Richard Chordray, a former state attorney general and state treasurer and consumer watchdog who recently quit his job in Washington, D.C relative to his bid for governor, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni (D-33), former state representative Connie Pillich, and former Ohio Supreme Court justice Bill O'Neil in a five-way race for the Democratic nomination for governor.