On Monday, I wrote about Ohio’s passage of a Stand Your Ground bill. In particular, I wrote about just what Governor Mike DeWine would likely do with that bill.

While he has been trying to straddle the line between being pro-gun and anti-gun, he can’t do it forever. I put my money on him vetoing the bill. After all, it’s not like he hasn’t been beating the anti-gun drum for months now.

However, I could well be wrong. I mean, I’m not an expert on Ohio politics.

Luckily for me, I’m not necessarily wrong in that assessment.

As Ohio lawmakers return for a final week of their lame duck session, Gov. Mike DeWine is hinting he’ll veto a controversial gun bill they sent to him last week. If he does reject the so-called “Stand Your Ground” bill, lawmakers may not be able to do anything about it.

In a call with reporters this weekend, DeWine said he’d have a lot more to say about the bill this week.

“I made my position very clear that we should not be taking up bills like that, when we have bills that have been in front of the legislature for a year where we have really the opportunity to directly save lives,” DeWine said.

DeWine was, of course, pushing his STRONG Ohio bill. What he doesn’t seem to grasp is that absolutely no one in the legislature wants to pass that dreck. Yes, DeWine is convinced it will save lives, but it won’t. All it will do is make life a little more difficult for some people and accomplish absolutely nothing for anyone else.

That’s a winning strategy.

If DeWine thinks that he can ram gun control down Ohioan’s throats, he’s going to be sorely mistaken. In fact, it may well kill his political career if he continues to push measures like this while opposing commonsense laws like Stand Your Ground.

See, Ohio is a red state. President Donald Trump took 53.3 percent of the vote, a pretty decent margin. That means it leans pretty well to the right, which also means it has a lot of people who value their gun rights.

Those are people DeWine will need in his reelection bid in 2022.

While many would forgive his STRONG Ohio package in and of itself–after all, he introduced it when tensions were high following the Dayton shooting–but it’s unlikely they’ll be that forgiving if he blocks a bill that would help keep people from being prosecuted for defending themselves.

Don’t be surprised to see DeWine primaried. Also, don’t be surprised to see DeWine lose that primary. I can’t say explicitly that it will happen. I can only say that DeWine is likely to increase the odds of it happening if he vetos the bill.

I get that he’s unhappy the legislature hasn’t voted for his bill. I’d prefer them to vote it down hard so he knows where he stands on this stuff myself. Still, that’s no excuse to fail to sign a bill that he knows his constituents want.