Ohio: Comprehensive Pro-Gun Reform Legislation Signed into Law Today

Today at a public signing ceremony, Governor John Kasich (R) signed into law House Bill 234, comprehensive pro-gun reform legislation.  HB 234 will take effect in ninety days.
While originally a bill allowing for the use of suppressors while hunting, the Senate Civil Justice Committee added many other pro-gun provisions to HB 234.  HB 234 then passed in the Ohio Senate by a 24 to 6 vote on December 9, and was concurred by the state House of Representatives by a 72 to 21 vote on December 10.
HB 234 makes a number of positive changes to Ohio’s firearm laws.  HB 234, as signed into law:

• Improves the concealed handgun license process by (1) reducing the number of training hours required from 12 to 8 hours, (2) eliminating minimum length-of-residency requirements, (3) allowing non-residents who work in Ohio to apply for a CHL in the county or adjacent county in which they work, and (4) makes special provisions for members of the military who have been honorably discharged or retired, extending their competency certification from six years to ten years after honorable discharge or retirement.

• Expands concealed carry reciprocity to visitors and persons temporarily in Ohio who have valid out-of-state licenses, regardless of whether the license-issuing state has entered into a reciprocity agreement with Ohio.

• Repeals the prohibition on Ohio citizens buying and/or selling long guns or ammunition from only the five contiguous states of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  Citizens of Ohio can now purchase and/or sell rifles and shotguns in any state as long as the firearm laws in both states are obeyed.

• Includes a “shall certify” provision which requires a chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) to sign off on an application to transfer an item regulated by the National Firearms Act, once the application procedure and requirements are met.  This provision eliminates personal bias towards NFA-related items, requiring CLEOs to sign off and process the application in the same way they do a concealed handgun license.

• Allows for the use of firearm sound suppressors while hunting in the Buckeye State.

• Brings Ohio’s definition of “automatic firearm” in line with the federal definition, limiting it to only any firearm designed or adapted to fire a succession of cartridges with a single function of the trigger.

Your NRA thanks you for your active involvement in the passage and enactment of HB 234, as well as the state legislators who voted for its passage.  We also thank Governor Kasich for signing this important pro-gun reform into law.

http://www.nraila.org/legislation/state-legislation/2014/12/ohio-comprehensive-pro-gun-reform-legislation-signed-into-law-today.aspx