DAYTON, Ohio -- The issue of excessive gunfire is ringing loud and clear at City Hall in Dayton.

Mayor Rhine McLin and city commissioners said they are very upset at state lawmakers for passing a bill that wipes out local gun laws. They said they believe the situation is drastic and that the state is hurting the city and its residents.

Dayton city commissioners said relaxing gun laws in the city is exactly what should not be happening, but it will after state lawmakers passed statewide laws that are less restrictive.

State lawmakers also overrode Ohio Gov. Bob Taft’s veto, and all this comes at a time when commissioners are already concerned about their perception of increased gunfire on Dayton city streets.

Commissioners said they do not like what seems to be a trend of increased gunfire, referring to a couple of days ago when shots were fired at the BP station near Salem and Grand avenues, leaving one man shot.

The increased gunfire is frustrating to McLin and the commissioners. They said it is becoming a distraction now that they have to deal with state lawmakers preparing to relax gun laws.

McLin said, “Every time we try to go one step forward, the state Legislature sends us three steps back.”

McLin and the commissioners grilled Police Chief Julian Davis about the department’s reaction to gunfire. He said increased patrols help, but a lot of the gunfire is not easy to stop because “one must remember that the crimes that are occurring are between people who know each other.”

Davis said a recent shooting at a Gettysburg Avenue Pizza Hut involved two people that knew each other, who once worked at the same spot and then brought their fight to the city streets.

The less restrictive statewide gun laws would take effect in about 90 days and wipe out things like Dayton’s ban on assault weapons.

Davis said the city is already eight homicides ahead of last year’s pace, and the mayor worries that relaxing the gun laws would only make those numbers go up.