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CONCEALED HANDGUN
LAW REPORT
30 E. Broad St., 17th Fl.
Columbus, OH 43215-3428
Telephone: (614) 466-4320
Facsimile: (614) 466-5087
www.ag.state.oh.us
March 1, 2005
On April 8, 2004, Ohio’s new concealed handgun law went into effect and for the first time,
Ohioans could apply to their county sheriffs for a license to carry a concealed handgun. In the
last year, tens of thousands of law-abiding citizens have taken handgun safety courses from
certified instructors, applied for, and were issued, licenses to carry a concealed handgun.
As the chief public official charged with implementing the concealed handgun law
statewide, my office has undertaken a number of actions pertaining to the concealed carry law,
and I am proud of the work my staff has done to ensure a smooth rollout of this new law.
Over the past 12 months, my office has answered thousands of questions from citizens and
from law enforcement about the new law, created and maintained new publications, a website,
and electronic databases required by the statute, processed in a timely fashion more than 45,000
criminal background checks, and provided in-person and online training and assistance to
sheriffs to help them fulfill their obligations under the law.
Part of the sheriff’s responsibilities under the law is to report to the Ohio Peace Officer
Training Commission the number of regular and temporary emergency licenses they issued, the
number of applications they denied, and how many licenses were suspended or revoked. The
Commission is required to compile those statistics and present them to the Governor and the
leadership of the Ohio General Assembly.
I am pleased to present this first annual report to the Governor and leadership of the Ohio
General Assembly on the activities in Ohio relating to the Ohio Concealed Carry Law.
Jim Petro
Attorney General
Ohio’s Concealed Handgun Law 2004 Report
Ohio’s law to allow citizens to carry concealed handguns went into effect on April 8, 2004.
The law allows citizens with proper firearms safety training to apply with their county sheriff,
or a sheriff of an adjacent county, for a license to carry a concealed handgun.
Persons who apply for a license are required to undergo a criminal history background
check to ensure that they are not prohibited by law from carrying a concealed handgun. For
persons who have lived in Ohio for five years or more, the sheriff submits the applicant’s
fingerprints electronically to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation for an
in-state criminal background check. Applicants who have lived in Ohio fewer than five years
are required to undergo a national check through the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Substitute House Bill 12 of the 125th General Assembly, which allowed citizens to carry
concealed weapons, requires county sheriffs to provide statistical information about the
licenses they issue to the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission. The Commission, in turn, is
required by Ohio Revised Code Chapter 109.731 to compile those statistics and report them to
the Governor and the leadership of the General Assembly each year. This document is the first
such report under Ohio’s new law.
Licenses Issued
In 2004, Ohio sheriffs issued 45,497 regular licenses to carry concealed weapons. The sheriffs
issued 65 temporary emergency licenses, which allow a person who submits evidence of
imminent danger to receive a non-renewable 90-day license to carry a concealed handgun.
Applications Denied
The law requires that sheriffs shall deny an application by any person who fails to meet the
eligibility criteria specified in R.C. 2923.125 for regular licenses, or R.C. 2923.1213 for temporary
emergency licenses. In 2004, sheriffs denied 436 applications for regular licenses and 5
applications for temporary emergency licenses.
Reciprocal Agreements
In 2004, Attorney General Jim Petro’s Office, as directed by R.C. 109.69, entered into 16
reciprocal agreements with other states, allowing Ohioans to carry concealed handguns in those
states. In addition to those states, Petro’s office contacted an additional 6 states to begin the
process of finalizing reciprocal agreements. The remaining 28 states either do not have
concealed handgun laws, have laws that are not “substantially comparable” to Ohio’s law, or do
not allow for reciprocal agreements. A map indicating the states with which Ohio has reciprocal
agreements accompanies this report.
2004 Concealed Handgun Report
Selected Statistics at a Glance
1,696
LORAIN
30,000 26,307
1,733
25,000 SUMMIT
20,000 2,095
BUTLER
12,127
15,000
MONTGOMERY 2,249
7,063
10,000
2,285
CLERMONT
5,000
60
74
50 14 q4
40 18
30 115
q3
40
20
30
10
10
247
8 q2
0
q2 q3 q4
0 50 100 150 200 250
Suspended Revoked