By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Buckeye State lawmakers wasted no time this week, passing Senate Bill 214 to Gov. Mike DeWine, and the push to have him sign it is being spearheaded by the Sportsmen’s Alliance, the Columbus-based national outdoor advocacy organization.
As noted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, passage of SB 214 “follows the Trump administration’s move last month to stop requiring federal approval and registration for silencers and short-barreled shotguns and rifles.” Last month, state Attorney General Andy Wilson encouraged lawmakers to pass the bill in order to comply with the new federal regulations.
WJW News quoted Republican State Sen. Kyle Koehler, the bill’s sponsor, observing matter-of-factly, “If an individual wants to own [a short-barreled rifle] or [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 and it should go through the same process that we use today to buy a firearm from a [federally licensed dealer].”
While anti-gunners cringe at the legislation, purchasers would still be required to go through a background check.
Opponents have argued the bill’s passage will lead to even more dangerous firearms in circulation. They also raised the specter of guns and suppressors changing hands via private sales or trades, but criminals already do that sort of thing.
The 12-page legislation removes “firearm mufflers and suppressors and sawed-off firearms from the classification of dangerous ordnance.”
Ohio is one of 29 states that already allow the carrying of defensive sidearms without a license, known generically as “Constitutional Carry” under a four-year-old law that took effect in June 2022.
