CLEVELAND, Ohio - Dennis Kucinch, a Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, jumped into American's latest gun debate Monday by pledging to push for a statewide ban on AR-15-style semiautomatic weapons.

Kucinich said he and his running mate, Akron Councilwoman Tara Samples, would lead a campaign to help local communities pass resolutions calling on state lawmakers to tighten Ohio's gun laws to include a ban on semiautomatic rifles.

Less than a week ago, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from a South Florida high school opened fire inside his former school with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, killing 17 students and teachers. The massacre renewed the national debate about gun-control and has sparked vocal campaigns led by students and parents to pressure lawmakers to tighten access to semi-automatic weapons.

Kucinich -- a former Cleveland mayor, congressman and presidential candidate who is known for harnessing news events and populist sentiment at campaign rallies -- filled a small meeting room at Cleveland's DoubleTree Hotel with 100 people, including some of his long-time activist supporters. On cue, they chanted "Enough is enough."

Parents with young children holding signs reading, "Protect kids, not guns," surrounded Kucinich as he spoke at the lectern with his wife, Elizabeth, and Samples.

"We are going to change the politics of the state on this single issue," Kucinich declared.

He later defended the bold statement to reporters, claiming, "We are at a tipping point" and then repeating, "Enough is enough."

Resolutions are not laws and carry no legal weight but Kucinich said they are a simple way of building grass-roots pressure on legislators. But the Ohio House and Senate remain dominated by Republican gun-rights advocates who have passed numerous laws loosening gun restrictions.

Kucinich's rally also served as a political counterpoint to his some of his Democratic primary challengers, most notably Richard Cordray, who does not support a ban on AR-15-style weapons.

In a news release promoting the rally, Kucinich said that Cordray, as Ohio attorney general in 2010, brought a "legal challenge" against Cleveland's law to ban assault-style weapons.

Actually, Cordray was defending the state against a suit brought by Cleveland challenging a 2006 state law that blocked Cleveland and other cities from passing their own gun laws. Cleveland argued that the state law violated its "home-rule" provision that gives it and other local authorities the ability to enact laws they believe are in the best interest of their citizens.

After the 2010 Ohio Supreme Court ruling upholding the state law, Cordray praised the decision as a win for those exercising their Second Amendment rights.

"This is an important victory for every gun owner in Ohio," Cordray said in a statement. "Before 2006, Ohioans faced a confusing patchwork of local ordinances with different restrictions on gun ownership and possession."

On Monday, Cordray spokesman Mike Gwin said Cordray and his running mate, Betty Sutton, "have a concrete plan to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and protect our schools and our communities from gun violence."

The campaign provided cleveland.com with an advance copy of their plan, which they plan to announce at a news conference Tuesday morning. The plan includes calling for background checks on all gun sales, including those on the internet and at gun shows; a ban on the sale and purchase of 'bump-stocks' and any other mechanisms that convert legal firearms into illegal fully-automatic weapons; and the creation of a "gun violence prevention czar."