Ohio lets a qualifying adult carry a concealed handgun with no license. A qualifying adult must be 21 or older. Without a license you may carry where a...
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Ohio lets a qualifying adult carry a concealed handgun with no license. A qualifying adult must be 21 or older. Without a license you may carry where a licensee may carry, and you carry under the same restrictions. The county sheriff still issues the license. These answers cover the license, stops, vehicles, posted property, and self-defense.
Ohio's statute calls the class of people who may carry without a license a qualifying adult, under R.C. 2923.111(A)(2). One of the conditions is being 21 or older, under R.C. 2923.111(A)(2)(a). A qualifying adult need not obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun that is not a restricted firearm, under R.C. 2923.111(B)(1). See also: constitutional carry.
A qualifying adult may carry anywhere in Ohio that a licensee may carry, under R.C. 2923.111(B)(2). A qualifying adult has the same right to carry as a licensee and is under the same restrictions, under R.C. 2923.111(B)(3). See also: prohibited places.
Yes, the county sheriff still issues the license, under R.C. 2923.125(D)(1). The sheriff must issue it once the applicant meets every listed statutory criterion, which is what makes Ohio a shall-issue state. The license expires five years after the date of issuance, under R.C. 2923.125(D)(2)(a). See also: permit basics.
A resident of Ohio for five or more years pays a $67 nonrefundable license fee, under R.C. 2923.125(B)(1)(a)(i). A resident of less than five years, or a nonresident employed in Ohio, pays $67 plus the actual cost of the FBI background check, under R.C. 2923.125(B)(1)(a)(ii). A renewal applicant who has been a resident for five or more years pays a $50 nonrefundable renewal fee, under R.C. 2923.125(F)(4)(a). See also: fees and costs.
A resident applicant files with the sheriff of the county of residence or an adjacent county, under R.C. 2923.125(B). Ohio does not require residency, and a nonresident may apply if employed in Ohio. A nonresident applicant files with the sheriff of the county of employment or an adjacent county. See also: application process.
A qualifying firearms course must include at least eight hours of training in the safe handling and use of a firearm, under R.C. 2923.125(G)(1). The course must include live-fire training, under R.C. 2923.125(G)(1)(e). Most competency certifications must reflect training completed within the three years immediately before the application, under R.C. 2923.125(B)(3). See also: training requirements.
A licensee may renew at any time before the license expires, with no early-filing limit, under R.C. 2923.125(F)(1)(a). A licensee who goes on active duty in the armed forces, or into service with the Peace Corps, VISTA, or the foreign service, is exempt from the license requirements for the period of that duty and for six months afterward, under R.C. 2923.125(F)(1)(b). See also: renewal process.
On foot, a person stopped for a law enforcement purpose while carrying a concealed handgun must disclose that fact before or at the time an officer asks, under R.C. 2923.12(B)(1). In a stopped vehicle, the disclosure covers a loaded handgun and is owed before or when the officer asks, unless another officer was already told during the same stop, under R.C. 2923.16(E)(1). Failing to disclose is a misdemeanor of the second degree in either setting, and neither nondisclosure offense suspends the license. See also: duty to inform.
Remain in the vehicle, keep your hands in plain sight, do not touch the handgun, and comply with the officer's lawful orders, under R.C. 2923.16(E)(3). Failing to remain, keep hands in sight, or comply is a misdemeanor of the first degree, or a felony of the fifth degree with a prior conviction for the same conduct, and touching the loaded handgun during the stop is a felony of the fifth degree. A misdemeanor conviction for that stop conduct also suspends a concealed handgun license, which reaches a qualifying adult only if a license was actually issued. See also: duty to inform.
A person the statute does not treat as a licensee must keep the firearm unloaded and stowed in one of the ways the statute lists, and may carry it only if entitled to possess it lawfully, under R.C. 2923.16(C). A closed package, box, or case is one of the listed ways, and so is a compartment that can be reached only by leaving the vehicle, while the statute names no glove box or console. A rifle or shotgun rides unloaded and stowed, because the license exemption reaches only a handgun. See also: vehicle carry.
No firearm may be in any room where anyone is consuming beer or intoxicating liquor on D-permit premises, or in a D-permit open-air arena. A valid licensee, and a qualifying adult treated as one, does not violate that section while not consuming beer or intoxicating liquor and not under the influence of alcohol or a drug of abuse, under R.C. 2923.121(B)(1)(e). See also: prohibited places.
Knowingly carrying onto posted private land or premises after a sign prohibits firearms is criminal trespass, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree, under R.C. 2923.126(C)(3)(a). If the posted land is primarily a parking lot or parking facility, a knowing violation is not criminal trespass but only a civil cause of action for trespass. At a child care center or a type A or type B family child care home it is aggravated trespass, unless the person is a licensee who resides at that home. See also: prohibited places.
A license does not authorize carry into a building that is a government facility of Ohio or a political subdivision, unless the governing body with authority over it has enacted a statute, ordinance, or policy permitting licensees, under R.C. 2923.126(B)(7). Buildings used primarily as a shelter, restroom, parking facility, or rest facility are not covered by that rule. See also: prohibited places.
No person may knowingly convey a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance into a school safety zone, or knowingly possess one there, under R.C. 2923.122. Division (D) of that section lists the exceptions, and one of them lets a person holding a valid concealed handgun license, an active-duty member of the armed forces carrying military identification and documentation of qualifying training, or a qualifying adult carrying or having a non-restricted handgun concealed on the person or ready at hand, leave the handgun in a motor vehicle if the handgun does not leave the vehicle and the person locks the vehicle on getting out, under R.C. 2923.122(D). See also: prohibited places.
You have no duty to retreat before using force in self-defense, defense of another, or defense of your residence, in any place you lawfully have a right to be, under R.C. 2901.09(B). A trier of fact may not consider the possibility of retreat when deciding whether your belief that the force was necessary was reasonable, under R.C. 2901.09(C). See also: use of force.
Once evidence tends to support self-defense, defense of another, or defense of residence, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you did not act in that defense, under R.C. 2901.05(B)(1). The statute allows the defense and assigns that burden, but the elements of when deadly force is justified, such as a reasonable belief of imminent danger, are not set out in the Revised Code and come from Ohio case law, apart from the residence and vehicle presumption covered below. See also: use of force.
You are presumed to have acted in self-defense when you use deadly force against a person who is unlawfully entering, or has unlawfully entered, the residence or vehicle you occupy, under R.C. 2901.05(B)(2). The presumption covers only force intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm, and force short of that is judged under the general self-defense rule without the presumption. See also: castle doctrine.
It does not apply if the person you used force against has a right to be in, or is a lawful resident of, the residence or vehicle, or if you used the force while unlawfully and without privilege present there yourself, under R.C. 2901.05(B)(3). The presumption is also rebuttable by a preponderance of the evidence, under R.C. 2901.05(B)(4). See also: castle doctrine.
A nonresident temporarily in Ohio may carry on a valid concealed handgun license from any other license-issuing state, whether or not Ohio has a reciprocity agreement with that state, under R.C. 109.69(B)(3). A new Ohio resident holding a license from a state with no reciprocity agreement may rely on it for six months after becoming a resident, under R.C. 109.69(B)(2). After that period, a person who meets the qualifying-adult conditions may still carry without any license. See also: reciprocity.
A sheriff must suspend the license on an arrest, charge, or protection order of the kinds the statute names, and on a misdemeanor conviction or guilty plea for the stop-conduct offenses it names, under R.C. 2923.128(A)(1)(a). The sheriff notifies you by certified mail, and you must surrender the license at the sheriff's office within ten days, under R.C. 2923.128(A)(3). A conviction that a court has sealed or expunged, or from which you were legally relieved of disability, is not counted for suspension or revocation, under R.C. 2923.128(C). See also: permit basics.
This page covers one part of our Ohio concealed carry guide.
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