Ohio Law Files a Suppressor Next to Grenades and Rocket Launchers. SB 214 Would End That, and the House Still Has Not Voted.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

COLUMBUS, OH — Ohio Senate Bill 214 would take suppressors off the state’s list of dangerous ordnance, the same statutory category Ohio uses for military hardware. The Senate has already passed it. The House has not.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Kyle Koehler, R-Springfield, and backed by Buckeye Firearms Association, which reports that the Senate passed it in March, that BFA testified in support before the House Public Safety Committee on June 9, and that House leadership has assured the organization the bill will move once the chamber returns from summer recess, as reported by Buckeye Firearms Association. NRA-ILA also reported the Senate’s passage in March.

The bill text itself is short and blunt about what it does. SB 214, introduced in the 136th General Assembly, amends sections 1533.04, 2923.11, and 2923.17 of the Revised Code to remove suppressors from the classification of dangerous ordnance. Section 2923.11 is the definitions section. Section 2923.17 is the unlawful possession statute. Section 1533.04 is the hunting provision that currently addresses using a suppressor while hunting game birds and wild quadrupeds.

Here is the problem in plain terms, as BFA lays it out. Ohio keeps a list of things the law calls dangerous ordnance. Explosives are on it. So are grenades, mines, and rocket launchers. So is a suppressor, under R.C. 2923.11(K)(5). Having anything on that list is generally a crime in Ohio, and it is a fifth-degree felony. There is one way out for a normal suppressor owner: R.C. 2923.17(C)(5) says you are in the clear if the item is registered in the federal database that tracks these items, the one ATF maintains.

So an Ohio suppressor owner is not legal because Ohio decided a suppressor is an ordinary accessory. He is legal because a federal registry has his name attached to one. Ohio borrowed its protection from federal paperwork instead of writing it into state law. SB 214 would write it into state law.

That borrowed structure is why BFA is pressing the House now. A federal judge in Texas ruled on Aug. 5 that the remaining registration requirement for short-barreled rifles and suppressors under the National Firearms Act is unconstitutional without a tax attached to it, a ruling I covered in 27 States Walk Out Same Day, 15 Still File the Form 4: The Full State List After the Midnight Suppressor Injunction. BFA’s legal counsel, Sean Maloney, argues that the federal change leaves a trap sitting in Ohio law, pointing to Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF. The logic is simple enough. If the federal registration that Ohio’s exception leans on is in question, the exception Ohio owners rely on is in question with it.

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BFA’s legislative affairs director, Jim Samuel, put the case for the bill this way in testimony quoted by the organization: “Anyone who shoots or hunts frequently has likely experienced some degree of hearing loss. And noise complaints frequently plague outdoor ranges. This is why suppressors can be a useful tool to promote hearing safety and reduce noise pollution.” Samuel said the bill “seeks to treat suppressors as the safety accessory they are.”

The bill has cleared one chamber and sits in the other. Nothing changes in Ohio law until the House votes and the bill is signed. I will continue tracking SB 214 through the House.

Legislative data provided by LegiScan (CC BY 4.0, legiscan.com).