Ohio gun rights taking a big step forward

[scruff]

Big changes coming in Ohio. I've heard they may be loosening their reciprocity rules, hope that means we can carry there soon!

[UPDATE!] Landmark firearms legislation passes Ohio Senate (Vote Tally, Bill Summary)
12:18pm Tuesday, December 09, 2014
Buckeye Firearms Association

The Ohio Senate has passed amended substitute House Bill 234 by a 24 - 6 vote. The bill will now head back to the House for a concurrence vote and on to the Governor.

Earlier today, the Senate Civil Justice Committee, by a vote of 8-2 (with Democrat Sens. Skindell and Brown voting agains it), passed the bill out of committee. The committee has held numerous hearings on multiple firearms-related bills dating back to the spring of 2014 and have stepped up hearings in the lame duck session. The committee combined many provisions from these various firearms bills into this one piece of legislation.

Before the bill passed on the Senate floor one amendment was agreed to, specifying that the expiration of a criminal sentence does not restore firearm rights. Senator Charleta Tavares (D) brought a floor amendment to which sought to add "mandatory safe storage of firearms" into the bill, but the amendment was tabled.

Senators Bill Coley (R) and Joe Uecker (R) rose to speak in favor of the bill. Senators Mike Skindell (D), Joe Schiavoni (D) and Nina Turner (D) rose to speak against the bill.

As passed by the Senate, amended substitute HB 234 makes a significant number of changes, such as allowing the use of suppressors while hunting, aligning concealed carry with laws for firearm possession, correcting the definition for automatic firearms, reducing the number of hours of training required to obtain a concealed handgun license (CHL) and much more.

The bill, as passed by the Senate, can be viewed here. Following are some of the details:

Hunters will be able to use suppressors while hunting. There was strong support for this from NRA, Buckeye Firearms Association, American Silencer Association, and sportsmen who will benefit from the reduced noise.

Coinciding with the suppressor language, those who want to buy a $200 tax stamp and get a suppressor will be able to have a sheriff conduct a background check as though one were applying for a CHL. If a person passes the background check, the sheriff will sign the Federally required paperwork. The purchaser will then send this paperwork to the BATFE to begin the Federal process.

The disqualifications for obtaining a CHL will be generally aligned with State and Federal law for possessing a gun. Currently there are those who are prohibited from possessing firearms who can still qualify for an Ohio CHL. However those with very minor records and can own a firearm may still not qualify for a CHL. This bill would make Ohio law more similar to standard practice throughout the country.

Ohio's background checks will be strengthened. Better background checks enable sheriffs to know they are granting CHL's to people who qualify for one. This change will help Ohio get reciprocity with Texas and possibly other states who refuse to sign agreements with Ohio because of the holes in our current background checks.

The application for a CHL will be deleted from Ohio Revised Code (ORC) and will be maintained by the Attorney General. This allows the A.G. to make needed changes in a timely manner instead of waiting for the legislative process. Removing words from code without changing the law is good policy.

Sheriffs will be permitted to use CHL funds for training. Many sheriffs conduct firearms training classes. These include CHL, hunter education, and Eddie Eagle classes.

The definition of an automatic firearms will be corrected to match what the Federal government and every other state define as an automatic firearm: a firearm that fires more than one round per pull of the trigger.

People who live outside Ohio but work in Ohio will be able to apply for an Ohio CHL in the county where they work or any adjacent county. OPOTC training will satisfy the training requirement and DD-214's will now be accepted for 10 years vs. the current 6 years after issuance.

Currently, it is not a violation of Revised Code section 2911.21 (trespassing) to have a firearm in a "no guns" posted parking lot under state law. This bill clarifies that having a firearm in a posted parking will not be trespass under any criminal law, not just 2911.21.

There are multiple sections of ORC that deal with restoration of rights. The problem is that some sections don't recognize other sections. Persons have rights "restored" and then find out that this restoration of rights does not "count" for other sections of law. This conflict and confusion will be corrected.

Ohio citizens will be permitted to buy a long gun in any state. Currently Ohio citizens may only buy long guns from five contiguous states. That limitation dates back to the 1970's before the NICS background check system. The bill would recognize that background checks are much improved. (Purchases of handguns are still limited to state of residence by Federal law.)

An Ohio license will not be revoked/suspended if a license holder moves out of state. It will remain valid until the state date of expiration. This is important because it allows time to apply for a license in the new state of residence.

Under the bill, completing OPOTA (law enforcement) training will satisfy the requirements of the training to obtain a CHL, as will military training obtained with 10 years of the application. For everyone else, required training to obtain a CHL would change to eight (8) hours, which would still be above the national average.

We thank Chairman Coley, President Faber, Senator Obhof, Senator Uecker, and all who voted for Sub Bill HB 234. Their leadership in passing vital reform will set good policy for the State of Ohio.

We also thank the bill's sponsors Representative's Cheryl Grossman and John Becker, and Terry Johnson and Anne Gonzales for work on their respective bills which were combined into the sub bill.

- See more at: http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/updat....dCwqZuI5.dpuf

ETA: Suck it, Shannon!

[jthrelf]

Really good stuff there. Hopefully it goes through.

[Yellowfin]

They're able to get stuff done. We need to get our legislators off their tails and do more for us instead of the BS excuses over and over. No more blah blah Pittsburgh this blah blah Philly that blah blah too many Fudds / farmers blah blah we can't do it nonsense.

[pyld]

If I'm reading that bill right, and I like to think that I am:

1. The OH AG still won't by law be able to enter into a reciprocity agreement with PA, because the laws (lack of training in PA) are not "substantially comparable."

But, it goes on to state:

If, on or after the effective date of this amendment, a person who is not a resident of this state has a valid concealed handgun license that was issued by another license-issuing state, regardless of whether the other license-issuing state has entered into a reciprocity agreement with the attorney general under division (A)(1) of this section, and the person is temporarily in this state, during the time that the person is temporarily in this state the license issued by the other license-issuing state shall be recognized in this state, shall be accepted and valid in this state, and grants the person the same right to carry a concealed handgun in this state as a person who was issued a concealed handgun license under section 2923.125 of the Revised Code.

I'm not a lawyer, but that sure kinda looks to me like if you are "temporarily" in Ohio on a non-reciprocal permit that they will recognize, say, a PA permit anyway. Or, I'm off to the Ohio forums for a check because that would be freaking awesome.

[pyld]

The folks at OhioCCW have a line by line summary of the bill up, which agrees with my supposition that a PA resident on a PA LTCF can carry on it in OH (one that bill becomes effective law) "temporarily" while in Ohio.

Their legislature's bill analysis of the legislation says, in part:

Provides that if a person who is not an Ohio resident and has a valid concealed handgun license from another state, regardless of whether the other state has entered into a reciprocity agreement with the Attorney General, and the person is temporarily in Ohio, that out-of-state license will be recognized in Ohio during the time that the person is temporarily in Ohio (R.C. 109.69(B)(3)).

I mean, just think: you can actually exit the state beyond WV or DE and actually carry. Wonders might never cease.

It's worth noting that it'll take this thing 90 days from when their governor signs it to become effective, but boy would it be nice if the above analysis is correct....

[QuackXP]

Big changes coming in Ohio. I've heard they may be loosening their reciprocity rules, hope that means we can carry there soon!

I'm betting its not just background checks that keeps PA and OH from having reciprocity. I think the fact that PA has no training requirement will come into play.

I'm still going to renew my UT permit next year no matter what. The hard part is done and the renewal is only $15.00 ($15.75 if done online) and is good for five years. Even if OH and PA have reciprocity UT could still be useful for other states. What I would like to see is OH to offer out of state permits to anybody. I am there allot as both myself and my wife have family there and we are only a 90 minute drive away. Then there would be no worries about a LEO not recognizing the UT permit reciprocity or any GFSZ issues.

[pyld]

I'm betting its not just background checks that keeps PA and OH from having reciprocity. I think the fact that PA has no training requirement will come into play.

The OH code on reciprocity requires similar laws. The AGs in Ohio have always held that means a training requirement for the other state. We won't have formal reciprocity with OH.

But, as mentioned above, we will get one-way statutory reciprocity to carry in Ohio on a PA LTCF once their bill is signed by Kasich and goes into effect. They will honor any state's permit for non-Ohio residents.

I'm still going to renew my UT permit next year no matter what. The hard part is done and the renewal is only $15.00 ($15.75 if done online) and is good for five years. Even if OH and PA have reciprocity UT could still be useful for other states. What I would like to see is OH to offer out of state permits to anybody. I am there allot as both myself and my wife have family there and we are only a 90 minute drive away. Then there would be no worries about a LEO not recognizing the UT permit reciprocity or any GFSZ issues.

Well, the LEOs will eventually have to learn to recognize everybody. See above. The GFSZ thing is a problem. I also have a Utah permit--which I got to facilitate Ohio specifically. Even though that need will go away, Utah still get you Washington, Nebraska, and MN. It also gets you a permit that a ton of people recognize because there exists a training requirement (we can agree that a training requirement might be evil, but it's a reality in a lot of places).

However, it'll make OH accessible to a lot of people in Western PA who don't necessarily have anything more than a PA LTCF.

[QuackXP]

But, as mentioned above, we will get one-way statutory reciprocity to carry in Ohio on a PA LTCF once their bill is signed by Kasich and goes into effect. They will honor any state's permit for non-Ohio residents.

That would be better. I think I would have less difficulty with an uninformed LEO if the law changes that ANY permit/license is acceptable. Hand over my PA DL and LTCF and hopefully be on my way.

To bad they could not do anything about duty to inform this time around. But the Ohio CCW law is allot better than when it was first introduced.

I'd still like to see out of state issue to everyone as I travel there often. I would be willing to do their dog and pony training class although I doubt I would enjoy it.

[press1280]

If I'm reading that bill right, and I like to think that I am:

1. The OH AG still won't by law be able to enter into a reciprocity agreement with PA, because the laws (lack of training in PA) are not "substantially comparable."

But, it goes on to state:



I'm not a lawyer, but that sure kinda looks to me like if you are "temporarily" in Ohio on a non-reciprocal permit that they will recognize, say, a PA permit anyway. Or, I'm off to the Ohio forums for a check because that would be freaking awesome.

Seems kind of silly, what does temporarily mean? They ought to just re-write the CCW law to accept any non-resident permit for all non-residents and be done with it.

[ungawa]

It sounds fairly modest and a mixed bag, while arguably net positive.

I take it they didn't get rid of the mag limits?