CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — More than a decade after 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot and killed by Cleveland police while holding a toy gun, a county councilman is set to introduce an ordinance that would forbid the sale of novelty lighters meant to look like firearms.
What You Need To Know
- A Cuyahoga County Councilman is set to introduce the Tamir Rice Act
- It would ban the sale of lighters designed to resemble firearms
- Tamir Rice, who was 12, was shot and killed by Cleveland police in 2014 while holding a toy gun
- The councilman encourages other elected officials across the U.S. to take up similar regulation of these devices
“What happened to Tamir should never happen again. His name deserves to be attached to action, not just memory,” said Cuyahoga County Councilman Michael J. Houser Sr. in a press release. “Every city has a store selling gun-shaped lighters. Every city has children who deserve to be safe. We are making this model ordinance available to any elected official who wants to bring this home. Tamir Rice was from Cleveland, but this law belongs to every community willing to fight for its children.”
Rice, who was Black, was playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center in Cleveland on Nov. 22, 2014, when he was shot and killed by Timothy Loehmann seconds after the officer and his partner arrived. The white officers told investigators Loehmann had shouted three times at Rice to raise his hands…