Ohio has no general statutory storage requirement for firearms. The Revised Code does not contain a "safe storage," "secure storage," "negligent...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Ohio has no general statutory storage requirement for firearms. The Revised Code does not contain a "safe storage," "secure storage," "negligent storage," or "child access prevention" statute. The General Assembly has not enacted any provision that makes "unsafe storage" by itself a criminal offense, and no Ohio statute requires firearms to be locked, kept in a safe, secured with a trigger lock, or stored separately from ammunition.
One narrow change is coming. Senate Bill 273 of the 136th General Assembly, the "Keep Them Safe Act," enacts R.C. § 2923.26 effective September 17, 2026. It creates a voluntary framework under which an owner may deposit a firearm with a federally licensed firearms dealer or a law enforcement agency, and it gives the accepting dealer or agency civil immunity. It is an option an owner may choose to use, not a duty, and it is not law before September 17, 2026. Details are in the R.C. § 2923.26 section below.
If you live in Ohio, your home storage practices are not directly regulated by state law. The only Ohio-law constraints are downstream: a separate criminal offense if a firearm is furnished to a minor in violation of R.C. § 2923.21, possession exposure for a prohibited person under R.C. § 2923.13, transport exposure under R.C. § 2923.16, or ordinary civil tort liability where a stored firearm causes foreseeable harm. Federal law (18 U.S.C. § 922(z)) layers a one-time point-of-sale device requirement on every Ohio FFL transfer of a handgun to a non-licensed individual.
For Ohio Concealed Handgun License (CHL) holders, no storage condition attaches to the license. The county sheriff who issues a CHL under R.C. § 2923.125 does not inspect home storage, and a CHL is not subject to suspension under R.C. § 2923.128 based on how the holder keeps a firearm at home. Constitutional carry under R.C. § 2923.12(C)(2) does not change the storage analysis either way.
Title XXIX (Crimes-Procedure), Chapter 2923 (Weapons Control), contains no provision directly regulating how a lawful owner stores a firearm at home, in a vehicle, or in a place of business. Chapter 2923 governs concealed carry (§ 2923.12), prohibited persons (§ 2923.13), the CHL framework at §§ 2923.124 through 2923.130, prohibited places (§ 2923.126), vehicle carry (§ 2923.16), furnishing firearms to minors (§ 2923.21), and underage purchase or possession (§ 2923.211). None of these statutes imposes an affirmative storage duty on a non-prohibited adult owner.
The Ohio Attorney General's Concealed Carry Laws and License Application pamphlet - the same pamphlet that R.C. § 2923.125(B)(4) requires CHL applicants to certify they have read - treats safe storage as voluntary safety advice, not a statutory obligation. The CHL competency course required by R.C. § 2923.125(G) must include "the rules for safe handling of a handgun and proper storage practices for handguns and ammunition," but the curriculum requirement is on the instructor and the course; the statute does not impose an outside-the-classroom storage duty on the licensee.
The only Ohio statutes that touch firearm storage do so indirectly, through the transfer and access offenses described below.
Section 2923.21 prohibits a person from selling any firearm to a person under 18, selling any handgun to a person under 21 (subject to law-enforcement and active-duty military exceptions in subsection (B)), or furnishing any firearm to a person under 18 (or any handgun to a person under 21) "except for lawful hunting, sporting, or educational purposes, including, but not limited to, instruction in firearms or handgun safety, care, handling, or marksmanship under the supervision or control of a responsible adult." Subsections (A)(4) and (A)(5) extend the rule to a seller or furnisher who knows or has reason to know the adult buyer is acquiring the firearm or handgun in order to transfer it down to a person below the statutory age. Subsection (C) makes any violation a fifth-degree felony.
Section 2923.21 is a transfer rule, not a storage rule. The prohibited verbs are "sell" and "furnish," not "store" or "leave accessible." A passive failure to lock up a firearm at home, where a minor child finds it, is not a § 2923.21 violation by the storage act alone. The statute's plain text targets affirmative supply, not negligent storage. The lawful-supervision carve-out in (A)(3) matters for instructors and parents: a parent who hands a child a rifle for hunting under direct supervision, or a CHL instructor who places a handgun in the hands of a 19-year-old student during an R.C. § 2923.125(G) course, is not "furnishing" within the criminal sense of § 2923.21.
Section 2923.211 prohibits a person under 18 from purchasing or attempting to purchase a firearm (subsection (A)) and a person under 21 from purchasing or attempting to purchase a handgun (subsection (B)), with law-enforcement-officer and active-or-reserve military exceptions in subsection (B). Subsection (C) makes the under-18 firearm offense a delinquent act that would be a fourth-degree felony if committed by an adult; the under-21 handgun offense is a second-degree misdemeanor. The statute does not impose any storage duty on any adult; it punishes the minor's own purchase. Read together, § 2923.21 (supply-side) and § 2923.211 (demand-side) form Ohio's complete statutory framework on minor access to firearms - built on transfer and acquisition criminal offenses, not on a storage duty against the lawful adult owner.
A complete picture of Ohio storage law is largely a list of regulations Ohio does not impose:
The General Assembly has considered child-access-prevention bills in multiple sessions. As of the 135th General Assembly (2023-2024), no such bill has passed. Ohio's posture remains the absence of a state storage rule.
Status and dates. Senate Bill 273 of the 136th General Assembly is titled "Enact the Keep Them Safe Act." It amends R.C. §§ 4501.11 and 5503.02 and enacts R.C. § 2923.26. The Senate passed the bill 33-0 on November 19, 2025. The House passed it 95-0 on June 9, 2026. The Senate concurred in the House amendments 32-0 on June 10, 2026, the bill was sent to the Governor on June 12, 2026, and the Governor signed it on June 18, 2026. The general provisions, including R.C. § 2923.26, take effect September 17, 2026; only the bill's appropriations took effect on June 18, 2026. The Legislative Service Commission's posting of the codified section carries the notice "Section 2923.26 is not yet in effect. It takes effect September 17, 2026." Treat R.C. § 2923.26 as signed and scheduled, not as current law, in any class taught before September 17, 2026.
What R.C. § 2923.26 does. Subsection (B) provides that "any owner of a lawfully possessed firearm or a person authorized by the owner of a lawfully possessed firearm may, upon application and agreement, store a firearm with a federally licensed firearms dealer or with a law enforcement agency pursuant to this section." The transaction is initiated by the owner (or someone the owner authorizes) and requires both an application and an agreement. Two custodians are named and only two: a federally licensed firearms dealer, and a law enforcement agency. R.C. § 2923.26 does not create any framework for leaving a firearm with a friend, a neighbor, or a relative. A private hand-off is still governed by the ordinary rules discussed elsewhere in this section, including § 2923.13 disability, § 2923.21 furnishing to a minor, and federal transfer law.
It is not a mandate, and nobody has to accept the firearm. R.C. § 2923.26 imposes no storage duty on any owner and prescribes no storage method. Subsection (E) states that nothing in the section "shall be construed as a requirement for a federally licensed firearms dealer or law enforcement agency to accept a firearm for storage." Subsection (F) adds that nothing requires a dealer or agency to accept a firearm "for voluntary storage free of charge." Participation is voluntary on both sides, and the custodian may charge for it.
Terms that apply to a dealer (subsection (C)). (C)(1) bars a dealer from entering a storage agreement if the dealer's federal firearms license will expire during the term of storage, unless the dealer has submitted a timely renewal application to ATF and is authorized to continue operations under federal law. (C)(2) requires the dealer to follow all federal laws on acquisition, transfer, and disposition of firearms under 18 U.S.C. § 921 et seq. and 26 U.S.C. § 53 et seq. (C)(3) permits the dealer to set its own policies and procedures on acceptance and return of a firearm and to provide a copy to any person placing a firearm in storage. (C)(4) prohibits the dealer from returning a firearm if the return would result in a direct violation of state or federal law.
Terms that apply to a law enforcement agency (subsection (D)). (D)(1) permits the agency to establish policies on the return of firearms. (D)(2) prohibits the agency from returning a firearm if the return would result in a direct violation of state or federal law. "Law enforcement agency" is defined in (A)(3) as a police department, the office of a sheriff, the state highway patrol, or a federal, state, or local governmental body that enforces criminal laws and has employees with a statutory power of arrest.
Who the civil immunity protects. The immunity runs to the party holding the firearm, not to the owner who deposited it.
Nothing in R.C. § 2923.26 immunizes the depositing owner from anything, and nothing in it alters § 2923.13, § 2923.21, § 2923.211, or civil negligence exposure. Do not teach it as owner protection.
Getting the firearm back, and fee shifting (subsection (I)). If a court of competent jurisdiction finds that a dealer or a law enforcement agency withheld return of a firearm after a demand by the owner or an authorized person, without legal cause, then "in addition to any other relief ordered, the court shall award reasonable costs and attorney's fees to the person who sought a court order finding the firearm stored was illegally withheld." The award is mandatory once the court makes that finding, which is the practical enforcement mechanism behind the whole framework.
Confidentiality (subsection (J)). Any information a person submits in an application or agreement to store a firearm under R.C. § 2923.26 "is confidential, is not a public record under section 149.43 of the Revised Code, and may not be used for any purpose except as described under this section." Depositing a firearm under this section does not create a public record of the deposit.
A definitional wrinkle instructors should know about. "Federally licensed firearms dealer" is not defined in Chapter 2923. R.C. § 2923.26(A)(2) borrows the definition from R.C. § 5502.63, which reads: "an importer, manufacturer, or dealer having a license to deal in destructive devices or their ammunition, issued and in effect pursuant to the federal 'Gun Control Act of 1968,' 82 Stat. 1213, 18 U.S.C. 923 et seq." The Legislative Service Commission bill analysis recites that same destructive-devices definition. Because the section is not yet in effect, no Ohio court has construed how that borrowed definition applies to an ordinary Type 01 dealer. The practical takeaway for a student is procedural rather than theoretical: ask the specific shop whether it accepts storage under R.C. § 2923.26 and ask for its written (C)(3) policies before relying on it, instead of assuming that every FFL is a statutory custodian.
What to tell students. Before September 17, 2026: signed, scheduled, not yet operative. On and after that date: an owner-initiated option with two possible custodians, no obligation on either side, an accepting dealer or agency that carries immunity, a mandatory fee award if a firearm is withheld without legal cause, and confidential paperwork. It remains true both before and after that date that Ohio imposes no storage requirement on a lawful owner.
While Ohio imposes no general state storage rule, two narrow federal requirements touch storage. They apply identically in every state.
Federal law requires every FFL dealer to provide a "secure gun storage or safety device" (cable lock, trigger lock, or comparable device) with each handgun transferred to a non-licensed individual. The transfer-side compliance obligation is on the dealer; the buyer has no continuing federal obligation to use the device after leaving the store. The implementing regulation, 27 C.F.R. Part 478, requires FFL applicants to certify that secure gun storage or safety devices will be available at every place where firearms are sold to non-licensed individuals. None of this regulation reaches the buyer's home use of the device after leaving the store, and there is no federal counterpart of "registration" for stored firearms. This federal point-of-sale rule is the closest analogue to a storage law that touches Ohio residents.
The Firearm Owners Protection Act peaceable-journey rule, 18 U.S.C. § 926A, governs firearm transport across state lines and generally requires that a firearm be unloaded and that neither the firearm nor any ammunition be readily accessible from the passenger compartment, with both stored in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console, or in the trunk. This is a transport rule, not a storage rule, and applies only during interstate travel covered by § 926A. It is treated in detail in TRANSPORT.
Although no Ohio statute directly mandates storage practices, several Revised Code provisions can become relevant if a poorly stored firearm contributes to a separate criminal harm:
| Statute | How It Touches Storage |
|---|---|
| R.C. § 2923.13 | Having weapons while under disability. If a prohibited household member (a felon, a person with a § 2919.25 domestic violence conviction, a person under indictment, a drug-dependent person, or a person adjudicated mentally incompetent) has ready access to a firearm in your home, that is the prohibited person's third-degree-felony offense. Co-resident owners should keep firearms inaccessible to known prohibited persons to avoid complicity exposure. |
| R.C. § 2923.21 | Improperly furnishing firearms to a minor - targets affirmative supply. A storage-only fact pattern is not a § 2923.21 violation absent a transfer-like act. |
| R.C. § 2923.211 | Underage purchase or possession - punishes the minor; does not establish an adult storage duty. |
| R.C. § 2151.355 / § 2151.358 | Juvenile delinquency disposition and record sealing. Where a minor commits a delinquent act involving a firearm taken from an unsecured home, the juvenile court may order both minor and parent into specified programs. The parent's exposure is collateral, not a direct storage offense. |
| R.C. § 2911.21 | Criminal trespass. A child or stranger who enters property in violation of § 2911.21 to take an unsecured firearm may cut off downstream civil exposure on a foreseeability theory. Ordinary tort principles recognize unlawful entry as a superseding cause. |
| R.C. § 2901.05(B)(2) | Castle Doctrine presumption. Where a stored firearm is used for lawful self-defense in the residence or occupied vehicle, the defender is presumed to have acted in self-defense. The presumption operates on use, not storage, but it limits liability where home-defense use was the reasonably foreseeable storage purpose. |
| Common-law negligence | Civil liability. An Ohio firearm owner whose stored firearm injures another may face negligence claims under ordinary tort principles. No statutory duty; the foreseeability framework recognizes a duty of reasonable care where a known minor or prohibited person is in the household. |
The practical point: Ohio has no statute that makes "unsafe storage" by itself a crime. Liability arises, if at all, downstream from a separate harm.
Ohio is a strong-preemption state under R.C. § 9.68, which forbids any political subdivision from enacting, adopting, enforcing, or applying any ordinance, resolution, or rule that purports to "restrict the ownership, possession, purchase, other acquisition, transport, storage, carrying, sale, or other transfer" of firearms or their components except as expressly authorized by the Revised Code. The statute names "storage" explicitly. A municipal ordinance imposing a child-access-prevention rule, a locked-container rule, or a trigger-lock rule on lawful owners would be preempted under R.C. § 9.68 and would expose the political subdivision to the cost-shifting and attorney's-fee remedies in the statute. R.C. § 9.68 was amended by Senate Bill 58 (135th General Assembly), effective April 9, 2025, to strengthen the preemption challenge framework - reinforcing the bar on local storage ordinances. Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, and Akron cannot enact storage ordinances on lawful owners. The full preemption framework is in PREEMPTION.
The following recommendations are not Ohio law. They reflect general firearm-safety best practice taught by NRA-certified, USCCA-certified, and Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission-aligned CHL instructors, and they track the safe-handling-and-storage curriculum element required by R.C. § 2923.125(G). An Ohio owner who ignores all of these recommendations violates no Revised Code provision, provided the household otherwise complies with §§ 2923.13, 2923.21, and 2923.211.
In a home with children, regular minor visitors, or anyone prohibited under R.C. § 2923.13 or 18 U.S.C. § 922(g):
For an adults-only home with no minor visitors and no prohibited persons: Ohio law does not require any particular storage method. A nightstand pistol is lawful, and the Castle Doctrine presumption under R.C. § 2901.05(B)(2) reinforces the lawfulness of staged home-defense storage. Practical risk management still suggests locked storage when the home is unattended (theft is the leading source of trafficked firearms).
For roommate or family situations involving a prohibited person: R.C. § 2923.13 puts the third-degree-felony exposure on the prohibited person. Locked storage to which only you have the key or combination is the cleanest separation and the cleanest defense to any complicity inquiry against you.
For vehicle storage: Ohio does not require a container, but R.C. § 2923.16 imposes a no-loaded-firearm-accessible rule for non-licensees and other vehicle-carry constraints described in VEHICLE CARRY. A vehicle-rated lockbox cabled to the seat frame for any extended absence is best practice.
For CHL holders, no storage rule attaches to the license. R.C. § 2923.125 governs licensing, R.C. § 2923.126 governs prohibited places, R.C. § 2923.12(B) governs the duty to inform during a stop, and R.C. § 2923.16 governs vehicle carry. None of these statutes touches home storage. A CHL is not subject to suspension under R.C. § 2923.128 based on how the licensee keeps a firearm at home, and the issuing sheriff does not inspect home storage practices.
For instructors, the safe-handling-and-storage portion of the R.C. § 2923.125(G) competency course is curriculum-driven. The cover-the-topic obligation is on the instructor and the course, not a statutory storage duty on the student after class ends. Cover storage as a matter of pedagogical responsibility under § 2923.125(G), but be clear with students that what they learn about home storage is best practice, not Ohio law. When a student asks, "do I have to lock up my gun at home in Ohio?" the accurate answer is: no, Ohio does not require it. When the student asks, "should I?" - that is a separate question, and the safe-handling rationale is independent of any legal compulsion. The R.C. § 2923.125(G)(2) competency exam may include questions on safe handling and storage; those questions should track best practice without asserting that any particular method is "required by Ohio law" - because none is.
Even where no Ohio criminal storage rule exists, an Ohio firearm owner whose stored firearm causes injury may face civil liability. Ohio tort law recognizes negligence claims against firearm owners who fail to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm, particularly where a minor accesses a firearm and discharges it. Insurers writing homeowner policies in Ohio increasingly inquire about firearm storage practices and may exclude coverage for incidents involving improperly stored firearms. An owner who relies solely on the absence of a criminal-storage threshold has not addressed civil exposure.
Through the 135th General Assembly (2023-2024) and into the 136th (2025-2026), no Ohio safe-storage, child-access-prevention, or negligent-storage law has been enacted. Mandatory-storage bills have not advanced past committee. The April 2025 amendment to R.C. § 9.68 tightened, not loosened, the bar on local storage rules.
The one storage-related enactment of the 136th General Assembly is Senate Bill 273, the "Keep Them Safe Act," signed June 18, 2026 and effective September 17, 2026. It enacts R.C. § 2923.26 and creates a voluntary framework for depositing a firearm with a federally licensed firearms dealer or a law enforcement agency, with civil immunity for the accepting custodian. It does not impose any storage duty on an owner. See the R.C. § 2923.26 discussion above.
| Statute | Subject |
|---|---|
| R.C. § 9.68 | State preemption of local firearms regulation, including local storage rules |
| R.C. § 149.43 | Ohio Public Records Law (R.C. § 2923.26(J) exempts storage applications from it) |
| R.C. § 2744.01 | "Political subdivision" definition borrowed by R.C. § 2923.26(A)(4) |
| R.C. Chapter 2744 | Political-subdivision immunity, the measure of the R.C. § 2923.26(H) agency immunity |
| R.C. § 2901.05(B)(2) | Castle Doctrine presumption (operates on defensive use, not storage) |
| R.C. § 2911.21 | Criminal trespass (relevant to unlawful-entry foreseeability) |
| R.C. § 2919.25 | Domestic violence (R.C. § 2923.13 disability trigger) |
| R.C. § 2923.13 | Having weapons while under disability (prohibited-person access) |
| R.C. § 2923.16 | Improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle |
| R.C. § 2923.21 | Improperly furnishing firearms to a minor (transfer rule, not a storage rule) |
| R.C. § 2923.211 | Underage purchase or possession of a firearm or handgun |
| R.C. § 2923.26 | Voluntary storage with a federally licensed dealer or law enforcement agency, and civil immunity for the custodian (effective September 17, 2026) |
| R.C. § 2923.125 | Concealed Handgun License application, fees, and competency course |
| R.C. § 2923.126 | Prohibited places (CHL holder and qualifying adult) |
| R.C. § 2923.128 | CHL suspension and revocation (storage is not a basis) |
| R.C. § 2151.355 | Disposition of delinquent child (collateral parental exposure) |
| R.C. § 2151.358 | Sealing and expungement of juvenile records |
| R.C. § 5502.63 | "Federally licensed firearms dealer" definition borrowed by R.C. § 2923.26(A)(2) |
| 18 U.S.C. § 921 | Federal Gun Control Act definitions (dealer compliance duty at R.C. § 2923.26(C)(2)) |
| 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) | Federal prohibited persons |
| 18 U.S.C. § 922(z) | Federal point-of-sale secure gun storage or safety device requirement |
| 18 U.S.C. § 923(g)(6) | FFL inventory theft reporting |
| 18 U.S.C. § 926A | Federal interstate transport (FOPA peaceable-journey rule) |
| 26 U.S.C. § 53 | Federal firearms excise tax provisions (dealer compliance duty at R.C. § 2923.26(C)(2)) |
| 27 C.F.R. Part 478 | Federal regulations implementing the point-of-sale device rule |
Ohio law as of the 2025-2026 session imposes no general storage duty on lawful firearm owners. The federal point-of-sale device rule under 18 U.S.C. § 922(z) is the only storage-touching rule with operative force in an Ohio household. The downstream Ohio rules (§ 2923.21 furnishing-to-minor, § 2923.13 prohibited-person possession, § 2923.16 vehicle carry, civil negligence) reach storage only when storage failures contribute to a separate harm. There is no Ohio child-access-prevention statute, no locked-container requirement, no trigger-lock requirement, and no CHL-conditioned home storage rule. R.C. § 2923.26, effective September 17, 2026, adds a voluntary option rather than a duty: an owner may deposit a firearm with a federally licensed dealer or a law enforcement agency, no custodian is obliged to accept it, and the immunity the section creates protects the custodian rather than the owner.
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