Dayton, Ohio - Six months ago today

DAYTON — Exactly six months ago today, a 24-year-old from suburban Dayton walked along a crowded street in the city’s Oregon entertainment district. He was carrying a semi-automatic weapon with a drum magazine holding 100 rounds.

He started shooting. Within half a minute, nine people were dead and 17 were wounded.

The early morning slaughter came just 11 hours after a 21-year-old from suburban Dallas drove 650 miles to El Paso and opened fire in a crowded Walmart, killing 22 and injuring 24.

A day after the Dayton tragedy, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine took the microphone at an Oregon District memorial service and began to express his condolences when a member of the crowd shouted “Do something.” Soon the crowd joined in, drowning out the Republican governor.

The incident was seen by some as a watershed moment in the gun-control debate, the time when a critical mass of the electorate might finally force those in power to do more than offer “thoughts and prayers” in the wake of mass murders such as one in Connecticut in 2012 that left 20 young schoolchildren dead or another in Las Vegas in 2017 in which 59 concertgoers were killed and 413 wounded.

Whether it really was a watershed will be tested in November — and the Dayton suburbs are a useful laboratory.

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At that point, my blood just ran cold,” Berger said. As the reality of two mass shootings in one weekend sank in, “I was angry. Why does this keep happening? Why do we keep acting as if we can’t make any changes?”

That evening, she attended the memorial in the Oregon District. Then, when DeWine began to speak, a man standing nearby shouted “Do something!” Berger and many others joined in.

“It wasn’t anger that I felt,” she said. “It was disgust.”

Within two days, DeWine said he’d received the message and would work on reforms such as increased background checks, which enjoy the support of 90% of Ohioans. But those plans eventually were watered down and so far have remained bottled up in the Statehouse as GOP lawmakers turn their attention to actually increasing gun rights with “stand your ground” bills.

Over the next few months, Berger came to decide that she had to run for the District 41 seat in the Ohio House. The district runs along Dayton’s east side, south through Kettering, through Berger’s community of Oakwood and down to Centerville.

She’s running for a seat that’s been held by Republicans since the early 1990s and is currently occupied by departing Rep. Jim Butler, the No. 2 Republican in the House. Also, the district runs up to the borders of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where active-duty troops and retirees have been known for their conservatism.

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Often in the past, the suburbs have been the province of moderate Republicans. But in 2016 and 2018, inner-ring suburbs emerged as younger, more educated, more diverse and inclined to vote against the party of President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, outer-ring suburbs are older, whiter, less educated and more supportive of the president, A New York Times analysis last year said.

Also, Trump is particularly unpopular with women, and large majorities of suburban women want more gun control. So, does that mean last summer’s shooting will move votes in November?

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