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Author’s note: this is part 6 in a series of educational posts I am going to write about State of Ohio and federal weapon and firearm laws. Part 1 can be found here. This post does not offer legal advice. I am not a lawyer. I am a Certified Firearm Specialist through the International Firearm Specialist Academy and the State of Ohio certifies me to teach Ohio’s weapon laws in the Basic Police Academy. I’ve spent quite a bit of time studying federal law and Ohio’s laws in 30 years on the job. More than anything, this series of posts is an attempt to educate people on portions of the law and to show them where they can find the laws so that they can educate themselves further. Please consult with an attorney who specializes in firearms and weapons law if you have questions that require a legal opinion. If you are a law enforcement officer, check with your jurisdiction’s legal counsel for guidance. And remember, not all attorneys are created equal. And keep in mind that laws, interpretations of laws and definitions change. So what was current at the time I published this article may have changed over time.
For those who may be reading this article before reading any of the others, let me say this – Ohio weapon laws are ridiculously complex and confusing. The entirety of Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2923 needs to be nuked from orbit. Totally erased and remade. Yes. I have strong feelings about it. If the lawmakers who pass laws make them so convoluted that even they can’t understand the laws they wrote, then what does that mean for John Q. Citizen? What am I talking about? A great example is the Mossberg Shockwave debacle in 2018.
When Mossberg introduced the Shockwave, there were differing opinions as to whether it was legal to own under Ohio’s weapons laws. Some prosecutors believed that it was a “dangerous ordnance” under Ohio law. As such, it would be a felony to own without the proper license (we will talk more about dangerous ordnance when we get to 2923.17). Even with the controversy surrounding the Shockwave, thousands were sold across the state. To clear up any ambiguity about the legality of owning a Shockwave, portions of House Bill 228 (passed in 2018) were dedicated to clarifying Ohio law. The goal was to add a definition under 2923.11(L) that specifically excluded the Shockwave and other weapons like it, from being a “dangerous ordnance”. Unfortunately, the language that should have been added to 2923.11(L) was instead added under 2923.11(K). This did the exact opposite of what the bill was intended to accomplish. That’s right, the House and Senate both passed a law that would have made thousands of Ohioans instant felons. And if that’s not enough, when the Governor vetoed HB 228, the House and Senate both voted on HB 228 again to override his veto.
Since I’m a legislation nerd, I actually read the text of HB 228 and recognized the problem. So I reached out to some friends in the Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA) and told them what I found. I’m not sure if anyone else told the BFA about it, but in February of 2019 House Bill 86 was introduced and passed as an emergency piece of legislation to prevent making thousands of Ohioans instant felons by accident. Think about that. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of staffers, legislators, advocates and lobbyists all read that bill and NO ONE realized the problem. Probably because reading the definitions sections of the Ohio Revised Code will make your eyes glaze over. That’s a huge problem. And that is just one example.
I will now get off my soapbox and talk about 2923.12 – Carrying Concealed Weapons (CCW). The rest of this article will focus on the (A) section. I’ll get into (B) and the exceptions to this statute in the next article. When you look at criminal statutes like 2923.12, you need to understand the basics of statute construction. When I teach this topic in the police academy, the state uses a pretty handy set of handouts that break down statutes into three basic parts or elements: the culpable mental state, the act, and the “condition” (if the statute has one). Every element of the statute must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in order to get a conviction on that charge.
In Ohio criminal statutes there are four different mental states that may come into play – purposely, knowingly, recklessly and negligently. Purposely is the hardest to prove and negligently is the easiest. They are defined in Ohio Revised Code 2901.22. Mental states can be proven in a variety of ways and these ways can vary from case to case. In addition to the four mental states, there is also an offense called a strict liability offense. In a strict liability offense, the state does not have to prove anything beyond you did whatever is alleged (we will talk more about this when we discuss 2923.121 – guns in liquor establishments). Speeding is the most easily understood way to explain this. To write you a speeding ticket, I just have to prove you did it. I don’t have to prove you knew you were speeding. For a CCW charge, the state has to prove the mental state of knowingly, which is the second hardest to prove.
Something done knowingly is not done on accident. If you have a pistol stuck down the front of your pants it is fairly easy to show “knowingly”. In other situations, it may be harder to prove “knowingly”. It all depends on the facts of the individual case.
As you can see, 2923.12 generally prohibits the carrying of concealed deadly weapons. It then breaks things down into 3 specific types or classifications of deadly weapons. But the default “setting” is – no one can carry concealed/have ready at hand deadly weapons, handguns or dangerous ordnance. It says nothing about less-lethal weapons (Taser or pepper spray) or the open carry of deadly weapons. Later on in the statute, certain exceptions to this blanket prohibition are outlined. We will discuss these in the next article.
So what does “concealed” or “concealed ready at hand” actually mean? The courts have answered those questions in the legal sense.
How about “ready at hand”? Several court cases have answered that question. Here is what the 3rd District Court of Appeals said when it ruled that an unloaded pistol and a loaded magazine that were in a closed case on the driver’s floorboard of a vehicle were “ready at hand” to the driver:
Other courts have ruled that an unloaded pistol and loaded magazine in a closed case on the front floorboard of the passenger side were also “ready at hand”. Here is another pistol example – a pistol in a backpack or sling bag that was sitting next to you on a bench or at your feet. That situation would be considered “concealed ready at hand”.
Now that we’ve talked about what it means to be concealed or to be concealed ready at hand, let’s talk about the term “deadly weapon”. What do most people think of when they hear the term “deadly weapon”? I imagine the top two items people think about are guns and knives because they are commonly used to “inflict death”. But as you can see from the definition, the term “deadly weapon” can encompass just about anything when you consider the phrase, “specially adapted for use as a weapon”. Screwdrivers, ice picks, hammers, kitchen knives, a rock, whatever. Under the right circumstances any of those items (and many others) could qualify as a deadly weapon. All of those “deadly weapons” would fall under the (A)(1) section – deadly weapon other than a handgun.
Let’s talk about knives for a minute. I have previously discussed knife laws here and here so I would suggest reading those really quick. The bottom line on knives in 2025 – state law preempts local ordinances (as of 2022) and knives are not automatically considered deadly weapons for the purposes of 2923.12. They only become deadly weapons if they are “used” as a weapon (as of 2021).
But what about deadly weapons that are not handguns or knives? Can Ohioans legally carry those? Unlike other states, Ohio’s Concealed Handgun License allows for the carrying of a concealed handgun, not concealed weapons in general. Knives have been specifically addressed in (H), but it is important to know that carrying other types of deadly weapons in a concealed manner may get someone in trouble.
What other deadly weapons, you wonder? How about brass knuckles? There is some erroneous information out there about whether brass knuckles can be carried concealed in Ohio. Why? Well, in the same bill (SB140) that gave us 2923.12(H), the legislature removed a provision from 2923.20 that made it illegal to manufacture, “possess for sale”, sell or furnish certain items in Ohio. Most of those items were knives of some sort, but brass knuckles were included in that list of items. This led to news articles with headlines like “Ohio law legalizing concealed knife carry, brass knuckles goes into effect” and “Law takes effect legalizing concealed knife carry; also allows for brass knuckles”. Which is not exactly what the law did.
Brass knuckles have always been legal to possess in Ohio. They were illegal to manufacture, possess for sale or sell, but if you owned a pair that you were not carrying, there was no criminal state statute that prohibited that. The problem with headlines like those? Ohio courts have ruled that brass knuckles are considered deadly weapons. Which means that if you carry them concealed, you run the risk of being criminally charged. There is a way to carry them and argue (after you got caught) there was an “affirmative defense” of needing them for protection, but that is not an optimal way to go about things. I’ll spend more time talking about this affirmative defense in the next article. It’s kind of silly that you can have a concealed handgun license and carry a handgun most places, but if you try to carry brass knuckles into a place that doesn’t allow handguns you may end up with a criminal charge.
(A)(2) covers “handguns other than a dangerous ordnance”. What does that mean? “Handguns other than a dangerous ordnance” would be your commonly available handguns for sale at the local gun shop. Are there handguns that are “dangerous ordnance”? Yes, there sure are. The definition of “dangerous ordnance” is found in 2923.11(K) and includes “automatic firearms” (machineguns). So a Glock with one of the backplates that allows the Glock to be fired “full-auto” would be a handgun that would be considered dangerous ordnance.
(A)(3) covers “dangerous ordnance”. In addition to the Glocks with the “switches”, other “dangerous ordnance” that may be carried concealed or concealed ready at hand could be a zip-gun (home made pistol), sawed-off firearm, explosive device or incendiary device to name a few.
That’s enough for now, in the next article I’ll dive into the (B) section and the rest of 2923.12. (B) deals with interactions with law enforcement officers. I’ll also talk about the exceptions to this statute.
Authors end note: I cannot stress this enough – the Bruen decision has changed the face of 2nd Amendment jurisprudence and we will be seeing the ripple effects of this decision for years to come. Here is a good article about Bruen.