CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY BILL INTRODUCED IN SENATE

A group of Republican lawmakers in the Buckeye State recently filed a permitless carry bill in the Ohio state Senate.

The proposal SB 215 was filed by Dr. Terry Johnson, state senator for Ohio’s 14th Senate District, and has eight co-sponsors. The measure joins HB 227, filed earlier this year in the Ohio House, which has 22 co-sponsors.

The move is a priority for state Second Amendment advocates.

“Ohioans have proven themselves to be overwhelmingly law-abiding over the past 17 years since concealed carry became law,” said Dean Rieck, the Buckeye Firearms Association’s executive director. “And Ohio is ready to join the 21 other states that now permit concealed carry without a license.”

The legislation proposed would not change Ohio’s lethal force laws or the locations where guns can already be legally carried in the state. Likewise, it would not do away with the state’s popular shall-issue concealed carry licensing program. Roughly 700,000 Ohioans held active licenses in 2020, according to a report from the Ohio attorney general. What the measure would do is codify that such licenses are not needed to carry a legal firearm in the state.

Republicans hold a commanding control of the Ohio General Assembly, counting 25 of the 33 seats in the Senate and 64 of 99 in the House. Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, has already this year signed a stand your ground bill into law, and DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney previously told the Ohio Capital-Journal that the governor has not yet taken a position on the proposed constitutional carry legislation.

The move, if successful, would make Ohio the 22nd state to recognize such permitless carry laws. So far this year, five states – Iowa, Tennessee, Montana, Utah, and Texas – have adopted similar protections.