Ohio

Ohio CHL Eligibility

To obtain an Ohio concealed-handgun license (CHL), the following must be true:

• You must be able to pass a federal NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) check to obtain an Ohio Concealed Carry License. If you cannot purchase a gun from a federally licensed gun dealer, you will not be able to obtain an Ohio Concealed Carry License.
• You must not have had a concealed-handgun license issued by another state that is suspended.
• If you live in another state, you must be employed in Ohio.
• You cannot be an unlawful user of, or addicted to, any controlled substance as defined in 21 U.S.C. 802.
• If you are a nonimmigrant who is legally in the United States, you must have been lawfully admitted to the United States without a nonimmigrant visa or you were lawfully admitted under a nonimmigrant visa as defined in the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(26) and fall within one of the exceptions listed in 18 U.S.C. 922(y)(2).
• You must not have been discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions.
• You must not have renounced your U.S. citizenship.
• You must not have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to or adjudicated a delinquent child for committing a violation of section 2919.25 of the Revised Code (domestic violence) or a similar violation in another state.
• You must not be under indictment, be charged with, or convicted of any felony.
• You must not have been adjudicated as mentally defective, committed to any mental institution, under a current adjudication of incompetence, found by a court to be mentally ill subject to hospitalization by court order, or an involuntary patient other than one who is under observation.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.125

Ohio CHL Training Requirements

Each such course, class, or program described in one of those divisions shall include at least eight hours of training in the safe handling and use of a firearm that shall include training on all of the following:

1. The ability to name, explain, and demonstrate the rules for safe handling of a handgun and proper storage practices for handguns and ammunition;
2. The ability to demonstrate and explain how to handle ammunition in a safe manner;
3. The ability to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitude necessary to shoot a handgun in a safe manner;
4. Gun handling training;
5. A minimum of two hours of in-person training that consists of range time and live-fire training.

To satisfactorily complete the course the applicant shall pass a competency examination that shall include both of the following:

1. A written section on the ability to name and explain the rules for the safe handling of a handgun and proper storage practices for handguns and ammunition;
2. An in-person physical demonstration of competence in the use of a handgun and in the rules for safe handling and storage of a handgun and a physical demonstration of the attitude necessary to shoot a handgun in a safe manner.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.125

Ohio CHL Application Process
To begin the application process, you must apply to the sheriff in the county where you reside or an adjoining county. Before you apply with your local sheriff, call ahead to determine the times applications are accepted and confirm what documentation may be necessary.

• The sheriff must provide application forms and accept license applications and supporting documents for regular licenses at least 15 hours each week. The sheriff shall post a notice of the hours during which the sheriff is available to accept applications or to provide information about the licensing process.
• The sheriff must provide you with the internet link to obtain a printable application form and this pamphlet. You must pay a fee, which will vary depending on the background check the sheriff must conduct. The minimum fee for a background check and license is $67. You must provide evidence of your competency certification as described above and certify that you have read this publication. Applicants also must submit their fingerprints, which are necessary to conduct the background check.
• The applicant must state whether he has a concealed handgun license that is currently suspended and whether or not he has previously applied for a concealed handgun license. If the applicant has previously applied for a license, the applicant must provide the name of the county in which the application was made.
• All licenses expire five years after the issue date.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.125

Ohio law:

Effective June 12, 2022: A person who is a qualifying adult shall not be required to obtain a concealed handgun license in order to carry in this state, a concealed handgun that is not a restricted firearm.

• Regardless of whether the person has been issued a concealed handgun license … a person who is a qualifying adult may carry a concealed handgun that is not a restricted firearm anywhere in this state in which a person who has been issued a concealed handgun license may carry a concealed handgun.
• The right of a person who is a qualifying adult to carry a concealed handgun that is not a restricted firearm … is the same right as is granted to a person who has been issued a concealed handgun license, and a qualifying adult who is granted the right is subject to the same restrictions as apply to a person who has been issued a concealed handgun license.

"Qualifying adult" means a person who is all of the following:

1. Twenty-one years of age or older;
2. Not legally prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1) to (9) or under section 2923.13 of the Revised Code or any other Revised Code provision;
3. Satisfies all of the criteria listed in divisions (D)(1)(a) to (j), (m), (p), (q), and (s) of section 2923.125 of the Revised Code.

Ohio Law:

• Except as specifically provided by the United States Constitution, Ohio Constitution, state law, or federal law, a person, without further license, permission, restriction, delay, or process, including by any ordinance, rule, regulation, resolution, practice, or other action or any threat of citation, prosecution, or other legal process, may own, possess, purchase, acquire, transport, store, carry, sell, transfer, manufacture, or keep any firearm, part of a firearm, its components, and its ammunition, and any knife. Any such further license, permission, restriction, delay, or process interferes with the fundamental individual right described in this division and unduly inhibits law-abiding people from protecting themselves, their families, and others from intruders and attackers and from other legitimate uses of constitutionally protected arms, including hunting and sporting activities, and the state by this section preempts, supersedes, and declares null and void any such further license, permission, restriction, delay, or process.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 9.68

Ohio law:No person shall:

1. Recklessly sell, lend, give, or furnish any firearm to any person prohibited [from possessing a firearm], or recklessly sell, lend, give, or furnish any dangerous ordnance to any person prohibited [from possessing a firearm];
2. Knowingly fail to report to law enforcement authorities forthwith the loss or theft of any firearm or dangerous ordnance in the person's possession or under the person's control.

Whoever violates this section is guilty of unlawful transactions in weapons.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.20

Ohio has no laws restricting the ammunition capacity of magazines.

Places Where Firearms Are Prohibited Under Ohio Law:

1. Police stations
2. Sheriffs’ offices
3. Highway Patrol posts
4. Premises controlled by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
5. Correctional institutions or other detention facilities.
6. Airport terminals or commercial airplanes.
   • Effective 03/18/17 this prohibition only pertains to any area of an airport passenger terminal that is beyond a passenger or property screening checkpoint or to which access is restricted through security measures by the airport authority or a public agency
7. Institutions for the care of mentally ill persons.
8. Courthouses or buildings in which a courtroom is located.
9. Universities, unless locked in a motor vehicle or in the process of being locked in a motor vehicle.
10. Places of worship, unless the place of worship permits otherwise.
11. Licensed D-Liquor Permit premises.
    • This provision does not apply to any person who has been issued a concealed handgun license that is valid at the time in question as long as the person is not consuming beer or intoxicating liquor or under the influence of alcohol or a drug of abuse. Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.121
12. Government facilities that are not used primarily as a shelter, restroom, parking facility for motor vehicles, or rest facility and is not a courthouse or a building or structure in which a courtroom is located. (Ohio Rev. Code. Ann. §2923.126(b)) Unless the governing body with authority over the building has enacted a statute, ordinance, or policy that permits a licensee to carry.
13. School safety zones. (Ohio Rev. Code. Ann. §2923.126(b))
    • Effective 03/18/17 this section does not apply to a person if all of the following apply: (a) The person has been issued a concealed handgun license that is valid at the time of the conveyance, attempted conveyance, or possession or the person is an active duty member of the armed forces of the United States and is carrying a valid military identification card and documentation of successful completion of firearms training that meets or exceeds the training. (b) The person leaves the handgun in a motor vehicle. (c) The handgun does not leave the motor vehicle. (d) If the person exits the motor vehicle, the person locks the motor vehicle.
14. Capitol buildings and grounds. (Ohio Admin Code 128-4-02)
15. Posted “No Guns Allowed” Property (Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.126 (B)(3)(a))

Ohio Rev. Code. Ann. §2923.126

Ohio law:

• The individual right to keep and bear arms, being a fundamental individual right that predates the United States Constitution and Ohio Constitution, and being a constitutionally protected right in every part of Ohio ... Except as specifically provided by the United States Constitution, Ohio Constitution, state law, or federal law, a person, without further license, permission, restriction, delay, or process, may own, possess, purchase, sell, transfer, transport, store, or keep any firearm, part of a firearm, its components, and its ammunition... The possession, transporting, or carrying of firearms, their components, or their ammunition include, but are not limited to, the possession, transporting, or carrying, openly or concealed on a person's person or concealed ready at hand, of firearms, their components, or their ammunition.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 9.68

Ohio Law: the owner or person in control of private land or premises, and a private person or entity leasing land or premises owned by the state, the United States, or a political subdivision of the state or the United States, may post a sign in a conspicuous location on that land or on those premises prohibiting persons from carrying firearms or concealed firearms on or onto that land or those premises. Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.126 (B)(3)(a)

Landlords: A landlord may NOT prohibit or restrict a tenant who is a licensee from lawfully carrying or possessing a handgun on those residential premises.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.126 (b)

Ohio law:

No person, while under the influence of alcohol or any drug of abuse, shall carry or use any firearm or dangerous ordnance. Whoever violates this section is guilty of using weapons while intoxicated, a misdemeanor of the first degree.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.15

Ohio law does not address the issue of transporting a firearm in a vehicle.

Ohio does not have any laws specifically related to how firearms must be stored.

Ohio law:

No person who has been issued a concealed handgun license shall:

• If the person is stopped for a law enforcement purpose and is carrying a concealed handgun, before or at the time a law enforcement officer asks if the person is carrying a concealed handgun, knowingly fail to disclose that the person then is carrying a concealed handgun, provided that it is not a violation of this division if the person fails to disclose that fact to an officer during the stop and the person already has notified another officer of that fact during the same stop;

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §2923.16(E)

Ohio does not have Emergency Risk Orders ("Red Flag Laws).

Ohio law:

To establish a claim of self defense, the defendant must prove by the greater weight of the evidence that

1. He/she was not at fault in creating the situation giving rise to (describe the event in which death or injury occurred); and
2. he/she had reasonable grounds to believe and an honest belief, even if mistaken, that he/she was in (imminent)(immediate) danger of death or great bodily harm, and that his/her only reasonable means of (retreat)(escape)(withdraw) from such danger was by the use of deadly force; and
3. he/she had not violated any duty to (retreat)(escape)(withdraw) to avoid the danger.

State v. Barker, 2023-Ohio-453

A person is justified in using deadly force to defend a third party only if:

1. The person was not at fault in creating the situation giving rise to the event in which death or injury occurred, and had no duty to retreat, and
2. The person had reasonable grounds to believe and an honest belief, even if mistaken, that the third party was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that the only means of protecting him/her was by the use of deadly force.

From the Ohio Attorney General’s Law Handout:

“A person may defend another only if the protected person would have had the right to use deadly force in defending him- or herself. Under Ohio law, a person may defend family members, friends, or strangers. However, just as if a person were protecting him- or herself, a person cannot use any more force than is reasonable and necessary to prevent the harm threatened.

A defendant who claims that he or she used deadly force to protect another has to prove that he or she reasonably and honestly believed that the person the defendant protected was in immediate danger of serious bodily harm or death and that deadly force was the only way to protect the person from that danger. Furthermore, the defendant also must show that the protected person was not at fault for creating the situation.”

29A Ohio Jur. 3d § 325

Ohio law:

“Castle Doctrine” generally encompasses the idea that a person does not have a duty to retreat from the residence he lawfully occupies before using force in self-defense or defense of another. Additionally, there is no duty to retreat if a person is lawfully in his or her vehicle or is lawfully an occupant in a vehicle owned by an immediate family member of that person. The law presumes that you acted in self-defense or in the defense of another when using deadly force if the victim unlawfully and without privilege entered or was in the process of entering the residence or vehicle you occupy. Self-defense and the burden of proof can be complicated, fact-specific legal concepts.

Generally speaking, the law will not presume that you have acted in self-defense if either of two things are true:

1. The person against whom defense force is used has a right to be in, or is a lawful resident of, the residence or vehicle where the act of self-defense takes place.
2. The person using defensive force within a residence or vehicle is not there lawfully.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2901.05(B)(3)(a)-(b) 

Ohio law:

For purposes of any section of the Revised Code that sets forth a criminal offense, a person has no duty to retreat before using force in self-defense, defense of another, or defense of that person's residence if that person is in a place in which the person lawfully has a right to be.

A trier of fact shall not consider the possibility of retreat as a factor in determining whether or not a person who used force in self-defense, defense of another, or defense of that person's residence reasonably believed that the force was necessary to prevent injury, loss, or risk to life or safety.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2901.09; R.C. 2901.05 (D)(2)

Ohio law provides a statutory justification and defense to the crime of cruelty to animals for the use of deadly force against a dog that chases or approaches in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack, attempts to bite or endanger you or any other person, or tries to injure you or kills another person.A dog belonging to someone else that is chasing, threatening, harassing, injuring, or killing livestock, poultry, a domestic animal, or any other animal can be killed at the time it is chasing, threatening, harassing, approaching, attempting, killing, or injuring. Interestingly, the statute states you can't kill a dog that's chasing or attacking another dog or cat. Also, the owner of such dog is generally liable in damages for any injury, death, or loss to a person or property that's caused by the dog.

Ohio Rev. Code § 955.28

Employer Property

• Your employer can lawfully restrict your ability to carry your handgun inside your office or place of employment, but your employer cannot prohibit you from transporting your handgun to work and storing it in your motor vehicle. The firearm must be kept and locked inside an enclosed compartment or container within your privately-owned vehicle and the vehicle must be in a location it is otherwise permitted to be, such as a designated employee parking lot.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.1210

Civil Immunity For Business Owners

• No business entity, property owner, or public or private employer shall be held liable in any civil action for damages, injuries, or death resulting from or arising out of another person's actions involving a firearm or ammunition transported or stored pursuant to division (A) of this section including the theft of a firearm from an employee's or invitee's automobile, unless the business entity, property owner, or public or private employer intentionally solicited or procured the other person's injurious actions. Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.1210
• A nonprofit corporation shall be immune from liability in a civil action for any injury, death, or loss to person or property that allegedly was caused by or related to a licensee bringing a handgun onto the premises of the nonprofit corporation, Sec. 2923.126.

Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.1210