State lawmakers have sent to Gov. Mike DeWine a bill that removes short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns from a list of weapons that are heavily restricted in Ohio and require registration and special licenses. But it’s a change from the original bill, which just removed suppressors from the state's dangerous ordnance list.
Rep. Tex Fischer (R-Canfield) said Senate Bill 214 is the next step for Ohio after what was known as the One Big Beautiful Bill was signed by President Trump last year. That law eliminated the transfer tax on those weapons.
“This is a win for gun owners. This is a win for public safety advocates. This is in no way, shape or form anything that is going to make Ohio streets less safe," said Fischer on the House floor. "Quite simply, this is compliance with federal law and to allow Ohioans to be able to exercise the same Second Amendment rights that are neighboring states are able to."
But Rep. Darnell Brewer (D-Cleveland) called it a "culture war gun bill", and said Ohio children are dying through gun violence.
"We are debating how to make it more accessible for guns in Ohio. Where are our priorities?" Brewer said on the floor. "I am not standing here to attack responsible gun owners. I'm not here to attack the Second Amendment...I am here asking that we support responsible gun ownership with legislation that we know can probably most likely help save lives."
Six Democrats joined Republicans in the House in passing the bill, which was approved 69-27.
In this Senate, the bill's sponsor Sen. Kyle Koehler (R-Springfield) said the bill just makes it clear the regulations on a short-barreled rifle, a short-barreled shotgun or a suppressor.
"It is indeed not anything more than a firearm. It is not a dangerous ordnance. It's not a missile. It's not a torpedo. It's not nitroglycerin. It is a gun," Koehler said. "And they should go through the same process that we use today to buy a firearm."
But Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus), who had voted for the bill when it came through the Senate in March, said he couldn't support it now.
"I think the House what they added makes this bill a lot different than its original intent, which was, in my mind, to protect hunters from a potentially hearing loss when they were fighting," DeMora said. "They had the suppressors and stuff and I was all fine with that. But when the House added shot off shotguns and being able to conceal them and things like that, I just think that's a bad precedent."
The bill was approved on a 21-9 party line vote in the Senate, after the original version removing just suppressors got a nearly unanimous vote of 31-1 in March.
