Ohio is a constitutional-carry state for handguns. As of June 13, 2022, qualifying adults 21 and older may carry concealed handguns without a permit...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Ohio is a constitutional-carry state for handguns. As of June 13, 2022, qualifying adults 21 and older may carry concealed handguns without a permit under Ohio Revised Code § 2923.12, enacted via Senate Bill 215 (134th General Assembly). The Ohio Concealed Handgun License (CHL), issued by the county sheriff under R.C. § 2923.125, remains valuable for reciprocity in roughly 38 jurisdictions, exemption from a NICS check at the dealer counter, and the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act exemption inside the issuing state. Ohio has a Stand Your Ground rule under R.C. § 2901.09 (effective April 6, 2021), a prosecution-disproves-self-defense burden under R.C. § 2901.05(B)(1) (effective March 28, 2019), and a statutory duty to inform any peace officer who stops the carrier under R.C. § 2923.12(B). The duty-to-inform rule is a defining Ohio feature and distinguishes Ohio from many constitutional-carry states that have repealed or never enacted a notification duty.
If you are an Ohio adult who can pass a federal background check:
Deep dives live in PERMIT BASICS, APPLICATION PROCESS, TRAINING REQUIREMENTS, PROHIBITED PLACES, VEHICLE CARRY, USE OF FORCE, CASTLE DOCTRINE, RECIPROCITY, DUTY TO INFORM, and PREEMPTION.
Senate Bill 215 (2022) rewrote R.C. § 2923.12 and added the qualifying-adult exemption that operates as Ohio constitutional carry. Under R.C. § 2923.12(A), no person shall knowingly carry or have, concealed on the person or concealed ready at hand, a deadly weapon other than a handgun, a handgun other than a dangerous ordnance, or a dangerous ordnance. R.C. § 2923.12(C)(2) lifts the (A)(2) handgun-concealment offense for any person who has a valid CHL, and R.C. § 2923.111(C)(1)(a) extends that carve-out to a "qualifying adult" by deeming the qualifying adult to have been issued a valid concealed handgun license. Under R.C. § 2923.111(A)(2), a qualifying adult is a person 21 or older who is not legally prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) to (9), R.C. § 2923.13, or any other Revised Code provision, and who satisfies the criteria listed in R.C. § 2923.125(D)(1)(a) to (j), (m), (p), (q), and (s). That cross-reference is a subset of the CHL eligibility list, not the whole of it. The certification and application-process criteria are left out, including the R.C. § 2923.125(D)(1)(l) competency certification, which is why permitless carry carries no training prerequisite, and R.C. § 2923.125(D)(1)(n), the requirement that a non-resident applicant be employed in Ohio. R.C. § 2923.111(C)(2) separately makes the R.C. § 2923.128 suspension and revocation provisions inapplicable to a qualifying adult who has not been issued a CHL, so the only suspension in play is the one R.C. § 2923.125(D)(1)(m) reaches: an active R.C. § 2923.128(A)(2) suspension of a license the person was previously issued. On the substantive disqualifiers the qualifying-adult test tracks the CHL eligibility test, so a person who could lawfully obtain a CHL can lawfully carry concealed without one.
R.C. § 2923.12(F) sets the penalty floor for unlawful carrying. Carrying a handgun while concealed in violation of (A)(2) without qualifying-adult status or a CHL is a first-degree misdemeanor on a clean record, or a fourth-degree felony if the offender has a prior § 2923.12 conviction or any prior offense of violence, the weapon is loaded or has ammunition ready at hand, or the weapon is a dangerous ordnance. Carrying concealed aboard an aircraft, or with purpose to do so, is a third-degree felony. R.C. § 2923.12(C)(2) requires the qualifying adult to comply with R.C. § 2923.126(B), so the prohibited-places list applies the same way it applies to a CHL holder. Reciprocity, however, does not travel: another state's recognition of an Ohio CHL does not extend to a non-licensee.
SB 215 did not eliminate the CHL. The license is the affirmative authority where R.C. § 2923.12(C)(2) alone is not enough. An Ohio CHL operates as a NICS-alternative permit at the dealer counter and travels through the Ohio Attorney General's reciprocity list to roughly 38 jurisdictions. Permitless carry under R.C. § 2923.12(C)(2) does not travel. The CHL also unlocks the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act license-holder exception under 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(2)(B)(ii) inside Ohio; the qualifying-adult exemption is a state-law construct that does not satisfy the federal carve-out. For instructors selling CHL training in a constitutional-carry environment, the case for the license is reciprocity, NICS exemption, the federal school-zone exception, the structured sheriff records under R.C. § 311.41 and § 311.42, and the formal eligibility determination that resolves close cases before any court appearance.
Under R.C. § 2923.125(D)(1), the sheriff shall issue a CHL if the applicant is legally living in the United States and at least 21; is not a fugitive from justice; is not under indictment for a felony, certain drug offenses, an assault on a peace officer, or a misdemeanor offense of violence; has not been convicted of a felony, an enumerated drug offense, an R.C. § 2903.13 assault on a peace officer, or any misdemeanor punishable by more than one year; has not within three years been convicted of a misdemeanor offense of violence; has not within five years been convicted of two or more R.C. § 2903.13 or § 2903.14 violations; has not within ten years been convicted of resisting arrest under R.C. § 2921.33; has not been adjudicated mentally incompetent or committed to a mental institution; is not currently subject to a civil, temporary, or out-of-state protection order; certifies a desire for a legal means to carry concealed for self-defense or defense of family; submits the R.C. § 2923.125(B)(3) competency certification and the R.C. § 2923.125(B)(4) pamphlet-review certification; is not currently under a § 2923.128 suspension; if a non-resident, is employed in Ohio; certifies non-use of any controlled substance under 21 U.S.C. § 802; has not been dishonorably discharged from the armed forces; and has not been convicted of domestic violence under R.C. § 2919.25.
Federal disqualifiers under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) sit on top of the state list. The Ohio companion is R.C. § 2923.13, which makes it a third-degree felony for any person under any of five categorical disabilities to acquire, have, carry, or use a firearm: fugitive status; conviction of any felony offense of violence; conviction of certain felony drug offenses; drug dependency, danger of drug dependence, or chronic alcoholism; and adjudication of mental incompetence or commitment. An R.C. § 2923.13 disability is a per se bar to a CHL and to the qualifying-adult exemption.
The application packet under R.C. § 2923.125(B) must include a non-refundable license fee of $67 for an Ohio resident of five-plus years, and $67 plus the actual FBI background-check cost for shorter-term residents and non-residents employed in Ohio. The fee is waived for active or reserve military, honorably discharged or retired military, retired peace officers, and qualifying retired federal law enforcement officers (unless retired for mental disability). The packet also requires a 30-day color photograph; a competency certification under R.C. § 2923.125(B)(3); a certification that the applicant has read the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission pamphlet on firearms, dispute resolution, and the use of deadly force; and fingerprints under R.C. § 311.41. A resident files with the sheriff of the county of residence or an adjacent county; a non-resident employed in Ohio files with the sheriff of the county of employment or an adjacent county. Under R.C. § 2923.125(D)(1), the sheriff shall issue or deny within 45 days. A denial must specify grounds in writing and is appealable under R.C. § 119.12.
The competency course required by R.C. § 2923.125(G) must include at least eight hours of training in the safe handling and use of a firearm, covering the rules for safe handling and storage, ammunition handling, the knowledge and skills to shoot a handgun safely, gun-handling training, and a minimum of two hours of in-person range time with live-fire training. R.C. § 2923.125(G)(2) requires a written competency examination on safe handling and storage and an in-person physical demonstration. R.C. § 2923.125(G)(3) allows the classroom portion (other than the hands-on component) to be delivered online or in a hybrid format when the course operates under a national gun advocacy organization or another approved channel and the online training includes a regularly engaging interactive component. The two-hour in-person range component is non-waivable.
Open carry of a handgun is legal in Ohio for any non-prohibited adult. Ohio has no statute that prohibits open carry, and R.C. § 9.68 forecloses local restrictions. The R.C. § 2923.12 concealed-carry framework reaches only handguns "concealed on the person's person or concealed ready at hand," so a holstered handgun that is not concealed falls outside § 2923.12(A)(2). Open carriers without a CHL are not subject to the R.C. § 2923.12(B) duty-to-inform rule, which by its terms applies only when the carrier is carrying a concealed handgun. R.C. § 2923.12(A)(1) reaches concealed carry of a deadly weapon other than a handgun, but the long-gun prohibition operates on concealment; open carry of a long gun by a non-prohibited adult is generally lawful.
Vehicle carry is governed by R.C. § 2923.16 (improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle). A CHL holder or a qualifying adult under R.C. § 2923.111 may carry a loaded handgun on the person inside the vehicle. R.C. § 2923.16 imposes duty-to-inform rules on a CHL holder during a traffic stop and prohibits a CHL holder from knowingly transporting a loaded handgun while under the influence, and R.C. § 2923.111(C)(1) applies both rules to a permitless qualifying adult in the same manner. The full vehicle-carry analysis lives in VEHICLE CARRY.
R.C. § 2923.12(B) is the operative Ohio duty-to-inform rule and applies to "any person who has been issued a concealed handgun license," which R.C. § 2923.111(C)(1) extends to a permitless qualifying adult. Under R.C. § 2923.12(B)(1), a CHL holder who is stopped for a law-enforcement purpose and is carrying a concealed handgun must, before or at the time a law-enforcement officer asks if the person is carrying, knowingly disclose that the person is carrying a concealed handgun. A safe-harbor in (B)(1) excuses a second disclosure during the same stop after disclosure to another officer. A violation of (B)(1) is a second-degree misdemeanor under R.C. § 2923.12(F)(3).
R.C. § 2923.12(B)(2), (3), and (4) layer on three additional duties during the same stop: keep hands in plain sight after the officer begins approaching and before the officer leaves; do not remove, grasp, hold, or touch the loaded handgun unless the officer directs the action; and do not disregard or fail to comply with any lawful order. A violation of (B)(2) or (B)(4) is a first-degree misdemeanor or, on a prior such conviction, a fifth-degree felony, with mandatory CHL suspension under R.C. § 2923.128(A)(2). A violation of (B)(3) is a fifth-degree felony.
Three structural points matter. First, the duty reaches permitless carriers. R.C. § 2923.12(B) is written for a person "who has been issued a concealed handgun license," but R.C. § 2923.111(C)(1)(a) deems a qualifying adult who is carrying a concealed handgun that is not a restricted firearm "to have been issued a valid concealed handgun license" for purposes of § 2923.12, and R.C. § 2923.111(C)(1)(c) applies any conduct a licensee is required to engage in to a qualifying adult "in the same manner." A qualifying adult carrying without a license therefore owes the identical (B)(1) disclosure duty, and staying silent when an officer asks is the same second-degree misdemeanor under R.C. § 2923.12(F)(3) that it would be for a licensee. Second, the duty triggers on a "stop for a law enforcement purpose," meaning an investigative or traffic stop, not every consensual encounter. Third, R.C. § 2923.12(F)(2) bars arrest for a violation of R.C. § 2923.12(A)(2) "solely because the person does not promptly produce a valid concealed handgun license" and creates a minor-misdemeanor disposition for a CHL holder who presents a valid license within ten days. The full duty-to-inform analysis lives in DUTY TO INFORM.
R.C. § 2923.126(B) lists the locations where a CHL holder (and, by reference under R.C. § 2923.12(C)(2), a qualifying adult) may not carry a concealed handgun: police stations, sheriff's offices, state highway patrol stations, BCI premises, state correctional institutions and detention facilities, secure airport areas beyond a screening checkpoint, and certain mental-health institutions; school safety zones in violation of R.C. § 2923.122 (with parking-lot and locked-vehicle carve-outs); courthouses and buildings containing courtrooms in violation of R.C. § 2923.123; Class D liquor-permit premises and open-air arenas in violation of R.C. § 2923.121; institutions of higher education, except inside a locked motor vehicle or under a governing-body policy authorizing carry; churches, synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship that have not posted permission; Ohio and political-subdivision government buildings (other than shelters, restrooms, parking facilities, and rest facilities), unless the governing body has enacted a permitting policy; and any place federal law prohibits handgun carry.
R.C. § 2923.126(C) preserves a private employer's right to ban firearms on its premises and grants civil-liability immunity (absent malicious purpose) to private employers, political subdivisions, institutions of higher education, and nonprofit corporations for injuries related to a licensee bringing a handgun on the premises or to the entity's decision to permit or prohibit it. Private landowners may post a conspicuous no-carry sign; a knowing violation is fourth-degree-misdemeanor criminal trespass under R.C. § 2911.21. The full prohibited-places analysis lives in PROHIBITED PLACES.
Ohio codifies the burden-of-proof rule and Castle presumption in R.C. § 2901.05 and the Stand Your Ground rule in R.C. § 2901.09.
R.C. § 2901.05(B)(1), enacted by HB 228 (132nd General Assembly, effective March 28, 2019), shifts the trial burden on self-defense in any case involving the use of force against another. Once the defendant introduces evidence that tends to support a claim of self-defense, defense of another, or defense of the defendant's residence, "the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused person did not use the force in self-defense, defense of another, or defense of that person's residence." The Ohio Supreme Court has confirmed (State v. Brooks, State v. Messenger) that R.C. § 2901.05(B)(1) operates as a true burden-of-proof shift, not merely a burden of going forward.
R.C. § 2901.05(B)(2) creates the Ohio Castle Doctrine presumption: a person is presumed to have acted in self-defense or defense of another when using defensive force intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm against a person who is in the process of unlawfully and without privilege entering, or has unlawfully and without privilege entered, the residence or vehicle occupied by the defender. The Ohio presumption covers residence and occupied vehicle. R.C. § 2901.05(B)(3) excludes the presumption when the person against whom force was used has the right to be in or is a lawful resident of the location, or when the defender is unlawfully present. R.C. § 2901.05(B)(4) makes the presumption rebuttable by a preponderance of the evidence, while preserving the prosecution's beyond-a-reasonable-doubt burden under (B)(1). R.C. § 2901.05(D) defines "residence" to mean a dwelling in which a person resides temporarily or permanently or is visiting as a guest, and "vehicle" to mean any conveyance designed to transport people or property.
R.C. § 2901.09 is Ohio's no-duty-to-retreat statute, enacted by Senate Bill 175 (133rd General Assembly, effective April 6, 2021). Under R.C. § 2901.09(B), "for purposes of any section of the Revised Code that sets forth a criminal offense, a person has no duty to retreat before using force in self-defense, defense of another, or defense of that person's residence if that person is in a place in which the person lawfully has a right to be." R.C. § 2901.09(C) directs that "a trier of fact shall not consider the possibility of retreat as a factor in determining whether or not a person who used force in self-defense, defense of another, or defense of that person's residence reasonably believed that the force was necessary to prevent injury, loss, or risk to life or safety." The full self-defense analysis lives in USE OF FORCE and CASTLE DOCTRINE.
R.C. § 9.68 is one of the strongest firearms-preemption statutes in the country. R.C. § 9.68(A) declares the individual right to keep and bear arms a fundamental right and announces a uniform-laws policy: except as specifically provided by the U.S. Constitution, Ohio Constitution, state law, or federal law, a person may own, possess, purchase, acquire, transport, store, carry, sell, transfer, manufacture, or keep any firearm, part, component, ammunition, or knife without further license, permission, restriction, delay, or process by any local ordinance, rule, regulation, resolution, practice, or other action, and without being required to carry firearm liability insurance or pay a possession fee. The statute expressly preempts and declares null and void any local rule imposing additional licensing, permission, restriction, delay, or process beyond state and federal law. R.C. § 9.68(C)(1) defines covered carry to include open and concealed carry on the person and concealed ready at hand.
R.C. § 9.68(B) layers civil consequences. A person, group, or entity adversely affected by a conflicting local ordinance, rule, regulation, resolution, practice, or other action may sue the political subdivision for damages, declaratory relief, injunctive relief, or a combination. The court must award reasonable expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees, court costs, expert witness fees, and compensation for loss of income) to the prevailing challenger or where the offending rule is repealed or rescinded after suit but before final judgment. R.C. § 9.68(D) preserves narrow zoning exceptions for commercial sale in residential or agricultural zones and for hours-and-geography rules consistent with other retail-establishment ordinances. The current version of R.C. § 9.68 took effect April 9, 2025, after amendment by Senate Bill 58 (135th General Assembly). The full preemption analysis lives in PREEMPTION.
Federal restrictions apply in Ohio regardless of state authority. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) prohibits felons, persons subject to qualifying domestic-violence protective orders, persons with misdemeanor crime of domestic violence convictions, unlawful drug users, persons committed to mental institutions, and others from possessing firearms in or affecting interstate commerce. Ohio R.C. § 2923.13 incorporates many of these and adds chronic-alcoholism and drug-dependency disabilities. 18 U.S.C. § 930 criminalizes possession of a firearm in a federal facility regardless of CHL status, and the R.C. § 2923.126(B)(8) catch-all incorporates federal-law prohibitions into Ohio's prohibited-places list. 18 U.S.C. § 922(q) (Gun-Free School Zones Act) restricts possession within 1,000 feet of a school, with a license-holder exception inside the licensing state; Ohio R.C. § 2923.122 sits on top and applies to anyone, with the locked-vehicle exception described in that statute. 18 U.S.C. § 926A protects interstate transport of an unloaded firearm. 18 U.S.C. § 926C (LEOSA) authorizes carry by qualified active and retired law-enforcement officers; R.C. § 2923.12(C)(1)(a) and (b) recognize peace-officer authority. Under the National Firearms Act, suppressors, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, machine guns, destructive devices, and "any other weapons" are defined in 26 U.S.C. § 5845 and require federal registration. Ohio R.C. § 2923.17 governs unlawful possession of dangerous ordnance and operates in parallel with the federal NFA framework.
R.C. § 2923.128 governs CHL suspension and revocation. The sheriff must suspend a CHL on arrest or charge for a disqualifying offense, on charge under R.C. § 2923.15 (using a firearm while intoxicated), or on entry of a temporary protection order or substantially equivalent out-of-state order. A misdemeanor conviction under R.C. § 2923.12(B)(2) or (B)(4) or under R.C. § 2923.16(E)(3) or (E)(5) carries a mandatory one-year or two-year suspension. Revocation follows disqualifying convictions, age failure, and false-statement findings, with notice by certified mail and a ten-day surrender deadline.
This page covers one part of our Ohio concealed carry guide.
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