Ohio Concealed Carry Resources

Ohio Concealed Carry Resources

This directory catalogs Ohio-specific resources for Concealed Handgun License (CHL) holders, instructors, and carriers: county sheriffs, state agencies, advocacy organizations, statute lookups, instructor certification, and reciprocity tools. Ohio is a permitless-carry state for qualifying adults 21 and older as of June 13, 2022, but the CHL program continues to operate through Ohio's 88 county sheriffs, and most operationally important guidance for instructors and license holders flows through the issuing sheriff's office, the Ohio Attorney General, and the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission. Verify links, fees, and turnaround times against the issuing authority before each class cycle; Ohio CHL fees, instructor-certification cycles, and reciprocity arrangements all change between General Assembly sessions.

County Sheriffs (CHL Issuing Authorities)

Ohio is unusual in that the CHL is issued at the county level rather than by a single state agency. Each county sheriff is the issuing authority for residents of that county and for nonresidents who work in the county under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2923. The sheriff accepts the application, takes fingerprints, runs the background check, collects the fee, and issues the physical license. Application packets, accepted hours, payment methods, and current turnaround times are published on the issuing sheriff's website rather than on a single statewide portal, so instructors and applicants should bookmark the sheriff's office that serves the student.

• Franklin County Sheriff's Office (Columbus) (https://sheriff.franklincountyohio.gov/). Largest CHL issuing authority in central Ohio. Publishes the application packet, fingerprint appointment scheduling, current fee schedule, and renewal procedure on the CHL page. Also handles nonresident applications for individuals who work in Franklin County but live elsewhere.
• Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office (Cleveland) (https://sheriff.cuyahogacounty.gov/). Issuing authority for the Cleveland metropolitan area. Operates a dedicated CHL unit that handles original applications, renewals, and replacement licenses.
• Hamilton County Sheriff's Office (Cincinnati) (https://www.hcso.org/). Issuing authority for the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Publishes appointment-only application scheduling and the current accepted forms of training documentation on the CHL page.
• Summit County Sheriff's Office (Akron) (https://www.co.summit.oh.us/sheriff). Issuing authority for the Akron metropolitan area.
• Montgomery County Sheriff's Office (Dayton) (https://www.mcohio.org/government/elected_officials/sheriff/index.php). Issuing authority for the Dayton metropolitan area.
• Lucas County Sheriff's Office (Toledo) (https://www.co.lucas.oh.us/3-Sheriff). Issuing authority for the Toledo metropolitan area.
• Stark County Sheriff's Office (Canton) (https://www.starkcountyohio.gov/sheriff). Issuing authority for the Canton metropolitan area.
• Buckeye State Sheriffs' Association (https://www.buckeyesheriffs.org/). The professional association for Ohio's 88 sheriffs. Useful as an entry point to locate the correct issuing sheriff for a student who lives in a smaller county; the BSSA member directory lists every sheriff's office with current contact information.

A student who lives in one Ohio county and works in another may apply to either the home-county sheriff or the work-county sheriff under R.C. 2923.125; the practical recommendation is to apply at whichever office offers the faster appointment.

Ohio Attorney General

The Ohio Attorney General does not issue CHLs but plays three roles directly relevant to instructors and license holders. First, the Attorney General publishes the official Ohio Concealed Carry Laws Manual (the agency-published reference distributed to applicants and instructors). Second, formal Attorney General opinions interpret unclear firearms statutes and are persuasive (not binding) on courts; agency lawyers and county prosecutors generally follow them until superseded. Third, the Attorney General publishes the official Ohio reciprocity list and the written agreements that establish recognition for nonresident permits.

• Ohio Attorney General (https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/). Top-level Attorney General page. Includes the opinions database, the consumer-protection complaint portal, the firearms-policy pages, and the published Ohio Concealed Carry Laws Manual.
• Ohio Concealed Carry Laws Manual. Published by the Attorney General and updated periodically as statute changes. The Manual is the closest thing Ohio has to an authoritative single-source CHL reference; it summarizes Chapter 2923, the use-of-force statutes in Chapter 2901, and the off-limits list. Linked from the firearms section of the Attorney General website and distributed in printed form by many issuing sheriffs.
• Ohio Reciprocity Page. Linked from the Attorney General firearms section. The Attorney General negotiates reciprocity agreements under R.C. 109.69 and publishes the resulting list. The Attorney General list is the controlling Ohio source for which states' permits are valid in Ohio (recognition) and which states honor an Ohio CHL (honor); treat third-party reciprocity maps as a starting point only and verify against this page before traveling.
• AG Opinions (https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Legal/Opinions). Searchable database of formal Attorney General opinions. Several opinions interpret the off-limits list under R.C. 2923.126, the school-zone exclusions, and the interaction between CHL carve-outs and local building postings.

Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission (OPOTA)

OPOTA is the state agency that administers training for Ohio peace officers and certain firearms-related certifications. OPOTA does not separately certify CHL instructors (that role belongs to the issuing sheriff's accepted curriculum standards), but instructors who teach both CHL and law-enforcement-adjacent firearms curricula often hold OPOTA credentials.

• Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy / Commission (OPOTA) (https://opota.ohio.gov/). Top-level OPOTA page. Includes the peace-officer training portal, the firearms-instructor certification track for sworn officers, and the public records function for verifying an instructor's OPOTA status.
• Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission Rules. Linked from the OPOTA page. The OPOTC firearms qualification standards are the controlling reference for many private-sector firearms-instructor courses that operate parallel to the CHL training program.

For CHL instruction specifically, the controlling certification is whatever the issuing sheriff accepts as documented training under R.C. 2923.125(G) - typically NRA-certified instruction, OPOTA-certified instruction, or equivalent organized firearms training. The sheriff is the gatekeeper on which training providers count for that county.

Ohio Department of Public Safety and BMV

The Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS) is the parent agency for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and the Ohio Investigative Unit. ODPS itself does not issue CHLs, but the Bureau of Motor Vehicles administers driver licensing and identification cards (which CHL applicants use as proof of identity and Ohio residency).

• Ohio Department of Public Safety (https://www.publicsafety.ohio.gov/). Top-level ODPS page. Includes links to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Ohio Homeland Security Division, and the Ohio Investigative Unit. The State Highway Patrol publishes guidance on traffic-stop interactions for CHL holders, including how the duty to inform under R.C. 2923.12(B)(1) is enforced in the field.
• Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) (https://www.bmv.ohio.gov/). Issues the Ohio driver license and state ID card used as identity documents for CHL applications. CHL applicants who have moved within Ohio should update the BMV record before applying because the issuing sheriff verifies residency against the BMV-issued ID.
• Ohio State Highway Patrol (https://www.statepatrol.ohio.gov/). Operating division of ODPS. Publishes safety bulletins relevant to traffic-stop interactions with armed motorists.

Ohio Statutes and Legislative Resources

Ohio publishes its statutes, session laws, and pending bills through the Ohio General Assembly portal and the Ohio Revised Code online. The official codified text is at codes.ohio.gov; ohiosenate.gov and ohiohouse.gov are the two chambers' bill-tracking sites.

• Ohio Revised Code (codes.ohio.gov) (https://codes.ohio.gov/). The official online statute portal. Searchable by chapter and section number. This is the authoritative source when a third-party citation conflicts with the codified text. Chapter 2923 (Conspiracy, Attempt, and Complicity; Weapons Control) and Chapter 2901 (General Provisions, including the use-of-force statutes) contain the controlling firearms law in Ohio.
• Ohio Senate (https://www.ohiosenate.gov/). The Senate's bill-tracking portal. Search current and historical bills, monitor committee hearings, and pull session-by-session amendment history. Useful when answering "when did this rule change" - for example, when SB 215 (134th General Assembly) made permitless carry effective on June 13, 2022.
• Ohio House of Representatives (https://www.ohiohouse.gov/). The House's parallel bill-tracking and member-information portal. Useful for tracking House bills that have not yet moved to the Senate and for identifying bill sponsors and committee assignments.
• Ohio Legislative Service Commission (https://www.lsc.ohio.gov/). Publishes bill analyses, fiscal notes, and historical session-law context. The LSC bill analysis is often the single best summary of what a firearms bill changed and why.
• Ohio Administrative Code (codes.ohio.gov OAC). The codified administrative rules, organized by agency. ODPS and OPOTA rules implementing peace-officer firearms training and the State Highway Patrol firearms standards are codified within the OAC.

Key Ohio Firearms Statutes to Bookmark

Federal Resources

Ohio CHL holders and instructors operate within both state and federal firearms law. The federal layer governs interstate transport (18 U.S.C. Section 926A), federally-prohibited persons (18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)), federally-restricted locations (18 U.S.C. Section 930), and the National Firearms Act registry (26 U.S.C. Chapter 53).

• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) (https://www.atf.gov/). Federal regulator for FFL licensees, NFA registration, and import-related matters. Publishes the State Laws and Published Ordinances guide, which includes the Ohio chapter.
• ATF Firearms Forms (https://www.atf.gov/firearms/firearms-forms). Form 4473 (purchase background check), Form 4 (NFA transfer), Form 1 (NFA make), and Form 5320.20 (interstate transport of NFA items, required before crossing a state line with an NFA firearm).
• National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) (https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/nics). Ohio CHL holders are exempt from a separate NICS check at the point of purchase under 18 U.S.C. Section 922(t)(3) and the corresponding ATF acknowledgment of the Ohio CHL as a qualifying alternative permit; the dealer still completes Form 4473 and verifies the CHL.
• U.S. Department of Justice (https://www.justice.gov/). Federal firearm prosecutions in Ohio go through the two U.S. Attorney's Offices (Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland and Southern District of Ohio in Cincinnati and Columbus).
• U.S. Courts (PACER) (https://www.pacer.gov/). Federal district-court case lookup for the two Districts of Ohio.
• 18 U.S.C. Section 922 (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section922). The federal prohibited-persons statute. A federally-prohibited person is also disqualified from an Ohio CHL under R.C. 2923.125.

Reciprocity and Travel Resources

Ohio publishes its reciprocity list through the Attorney General. The Attorney General negotiates written agreements with other states under R.C. 109.69 and publishes the resulting list; the Attorney General page is the authoritative state source.

• Ohio Attorney General Reciprocity List. Linked from the firearms section of the Attorney General website. The Attorney General list is the controlling Ohio source for which states' permits are valid in Ohio (recognition) and which states honor an Ohio CHL (honor).
• Handgunlaw.us, Ohio page (https://handgunlaw.us/states/ohio.pdf). Widely-used third-party reciprocity reference. The handgunlaw.us PDF is generally accurate and is updated quickly after a new bilateral agreement is announced, but it is not authoritative; the Ohio Attorney General list controls.
• USCCA Reciprocity Map (https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/ccw_reciprocity_map/). Useful for visualizing reciprocity at a glance. Verify against the Attorney General list before traveling.
• Florida nonresident concealed-weapon license (https://www.fdacs.gov/Consumer-Resources/Concealed-Weapon-License). Some Ohio residents obtain a Florida nonresident permit because Florida's reciprocity footprint differs from Ohio's; useful for instructors working with multi-state students.
• Utah nonresident concealed-firearm permit (https://bci.utah.gov/concealed-firearm/). Another widely-recognized nonresident permit. An Ohio resident does not need a Utah permit to carry in Ohio, but some carriers stack nonresident permits to extend reciprocity into states that recognize Utah but not Ohio.

Advocacy Organizations and Industry Resources

These organizations are not government sources, and their guidance is not authoritative on Ohio law. They are useful for tracking pending legislation through the General Assembly session, mobilizing on rule changes, and accessing legal-defense resources.

• Buckeye Firearms Association (https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/). The primary state-level advocacy organization focused on Ohio-specific firearms policy and litigation. BFA was central to the lead-up to Ohio's 2022 permitless-carry law and continues to publish a legislative scorecard, a candidate-grading system, and a reciprocity tracker. The BFA news feed is the fastest single source for Ohio-specific firearms legislative developments.
• Ohioans For Concealed Carry (https://www.ofcc.net/). One of the original Ohio CHL advocacy organizations. Publishes legislative alerts, court-case tracking, and a long-running discussion forum where many practical questions about local enforcement get worked out before they reach a published Attorney General opinion.
• Ohio Carry Inc. (https://www.ohiocarry.org/). Ohio-specific advocacy organization focused on permitless carry, open carry, and Castle Doctrine litigation. Publishes guidance on permitless-carry edge cases and traffic-stop interactions.
• NRA-ILA Ohio (https://www.nraila.org/states/ohio/). Tracks pending firearms legislation and publishes alerts during General Assembly sessions and lame-duck sessions.
• NRA Political Victory Fund, Ohio (https://www.nrapvf.org/ohio/). Tracks endorsements and grades for state-level offices.
• Gun Owners of America, Ohio (https://www.gunowners.org/). National gun-rights organization with active Ohio engagement; generally to the right of NRA-ILA on legislative priorities.
• U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) (https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/). Publishes training materials, the reciprocity map, and self-defense liability insurance. The USCCA basic pistol course is one of several courses that many Ohio sheriffs accept as documented training under R.C. 2923.125(G).
• National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) (https://www.nssf.org/). Trade association for the firearms industry, headquartered out of state but with significant Ohio member presence. Publishes the Don't Lie for the Other Guy straw-purchase prevention campaign that Ohio dealers participate in.
• Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) (https://www.saf.org/). National litigation organization. SAF has been the lead plaintiff or co-plaintiff on multiple post-Bruen Ohio-relevant federal cases.
• Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) (https://www.firearmspolicy.org/). National litigation and advocacy organization, with active Ohio litigation.

Practical Tools for Instructors and License Holders

• Issuing Sheriff CHL Application Packet. The application packet is published on the issuing sheriff's website rather than on a single statewide portal. Instructors should bookmark the packet for each county they regularly serve students in; the form revisions, fee schedules, and accepted forms of training documentation vary slightly by county.
• Issuing Sheriff CHL Renewal Process. CHLs are issued for a five-year term under R.C. 2923.125(D). Renewal is filed with the issuing sheriff (which need not be the original-issuing sheriff if the holder has moved within Ohio). The current renewal fee and accepted documentation are published on the sheriff's website.
• Ohio Concealed Carry Laws Manual (Attorney General). The Attorney General-published Manual is the practical day-to-day reference for what CHL holders may and may not do. Linked from the firearms section of the Attorney General website. The Manual is updated when the General Assembly amends Chapter 2923, but the date of last revision is on the cover page; verify against the codified text at codes.ohio.gov when a question turns on a recent amendment.
• Duty-to-Inform reference. R.C. 2923.12(B)(1) requires a CHL holder (or, through R.C. 2923.111(C)(1), a permitless carrier) who is stopped for a law enforcement purpose and is carrying a concealed handgun to disclose that fact before or at the time a peace officer asks whether the person is carrying a concealed handgun. The trigger is the officer's question during a stop, not any contact the officer initiates, and disclosure to one officer during a stop covers the other officers on that stop. R.C. 2923.16(E)(1) imposes the parallel duty on the driver or an occupant of a stopped vehicle who is transporting or has a loaded handgun in the vehicle. The Ohio State Highway Patrol publishes practical guidance on how the duty is enforced in the field; the Attorney General Manual reproduces the controlling statutory text.
• Off-limits sign reference. R.C. 2923.126 lists the locations where carry is prohibited regardless of CHL status. Some categories require posted notice (private-property prohibitions); others apply by operation of law (school zones, courthouses, secured airport areas). The Attorney General Manual reproduces the off-limits list.
• Sheriff Address-Change Notification. License holders are required to notify the issuing sheriff of an address change under R.C. 2923.125. Each sheriff publishes its own address-change procedure on the CHL page; some counties handle the update by mail, others require an in-person visit.

Records, Background Checks, and Related State Services

• Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) (https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Law-Enforcement/Bureau-of-Criminal-Investigation). Ohio BCI, operated under the Attorney General, runs the state criminal-history record-check service that feeds into the CHL background check. A student who is uncertain whether a prior arrest disqualifies them from CHL eligibility under R.C. 2923.125 should pull their own record before paying the application fee. The federal NICS layer adds offenses (such as misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence under 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(9)) that may disqualify even when the state record looks clean.
• Ohio Department of Health, Vital Statistics (https://odh.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/odh/know-our-programs/vital-statistics). Source for certified copies of Ohio-issued vital records (marriage, divorce, name change orders). CHL applications occasionally require a certified court order documenting a name change.
• Ohio Supreme Court, Case Search (https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/). Top-level Ohio judicial branch page. Most counties run their own searchable common-pleas docket portals; the supremecourt.ohio.gov page links out to county-level systems where a student needs to confirm whether an old case was dismissed, sealed, or expunged under R.C. 2953. Sealed and expunged records are generally not disqualifying for CHL purposes, but the underlying offense determines whether federal disabilities under 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g) still apply.
• Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Pardon and Parole (https://drc.ohio.gov/). The state agency that processes clemency applications, including restoration of firearm rights after a disqualifying Ohio felony conviction. The Ohio Adult Parole Authority's Office of Victim Services and the Governor's Office of Pardons handle clemency review. The process is multi-year and discretionary, and federal disabilities under 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g) do not automatically lift with a state clemency grant. Refer students to a private attorney before they begin.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) is the state agency that manages public hunting lands, the hunter-education program, state parks, and certain wildlife-area firearms rules. CHL carry on ODNR-managed lands is generally permitted under state preemption, but specific facilities, building interiors, and seasonal closures change the analysis.

• Ohio Department of Natural Resources (https://ohiodnr.gov/). Top-level ODNR page. Manages state parks, state forests, wildlife areas, and the Division of Wildlife. ODNR also runs the required hunter-education program for first-time license applicants; the ODNR hunter-education completion certificate is one of several forms of training that some Ohio sheriffs accept as documented training under R.C. 2923.125(G), depending on county practice.
• ODNR Division of Wildlife (https://ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/gov/odnr/discover-and-learn/safety-conservation/about-ODNR/division-of-wildlife). Publishes the annual Ohio hunting regulations digest with rules on firearm transport during open seasons and weapon-specific restrictions on caliber and magazine capacity (which are weapon-specific to hunting and do not extend to lawful concealed carry under a CHL). The Division also maintains the wildlife-area-specific posted rules that supplement the statewide off-limits list.

How to Verify an Ohio Source Before Class

A practical workflow for instructors:

1. Open the issuing sheriff's CHL page and the Attorney General reciprocity list at the start of every quarter, and confirm the application fee, renewal fee, current turnaround, and reciprocity additions or removals.
2. Re-pull the issuing sheriff's application packet and any sheriff-specific training-documentation requirements; sheriffs occasionally revise the accepted-courses list and the form versions.
3. Pull current statute text from codes.ohio.gov when teaching any specific Chapter 2923 or Chapter 2901 section; a screenshot from a third-party site is not a substitute.
4. Cross-check the latest Ohio Concealed Carry Laws Manual against the codified text; if the Manual was last revised before a recent amendment, the codified text controls.
5. Cross-check reciprocity claims against the Attorney General list, not against handgunlaw.us or USCCA maps.
6. When a question depends on county procedure (fingerprinting, application supplements, name changes, replacement licenses), check the issuing sheriff's CHL page directly.
7. When a question depends on local enforcement (county-courthouse postings, township-park rules, municipal-building signage), consult both R.C. 9.68 (preemption) and the Attorney General opinions database; an ordinance that exceeds the state preemption framework is generally unenforceable.

When sources conflict, the issuing sheriff controls for licensing program administration, the statute (followed by case law) controls for the underlying legal question, and the Ohio Attorney General controls for reciprocity and the published Concealed Carry Laws Manual.