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Click HERE to view the original post on the GunSnobbery Blog
So in this post I talked about the update to Ohio’s CCW law earlier this year that changed how knives are looked at under the CCW statute. To make a long story short, the new law clarified that knives are not considered “deadly weapons” under 2923.12 CCW, unless they are used as a weapon. But that’s just under State law and doesn’t change local ordinances. Go back and read the other post if you want more details.
As a reminder, I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice. This is just to educate you. I was reviewing the “Other Offenses” state lesson plan used in police academies today and it reminded me I wanted to share with you another state law in Chapter 2923 – Section 2923.122 – Illegal conveyance or possession of deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance or of object indistinguishable from firearm in school safety zone.
Here’s the important language from the law: (A) No person shall knowingly convey, or attempt to convey, a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance into a school safety zone. (B) No person shall knowingly possess a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance in a school safety zone.
So let’s make sure you understand what a “school safety zone” is. For the purposes of this law we are not talking about the 20MPH zone you have to slow down for during the beginning and ending of a school day. This is much broader. A “school safety zone” is defined in 2901.01 and “consists of a school, school building, school premises, school activity, and school bus.” “School activity”? Yep – “School activity” means “any activity held under the auspices of a board of education of a city, local, exempted village, joint vocational, or cooperative education school district; a governing authority of a community….. “ So, field trips, sporting events, etc.
So why is this important for knife owners? Simple, the way the legislature worded the update to the CCW law I mentioned in the other post means that update only effected the CCW law in 2923.12. Which means, knives can be considered deadly weapons under 2923.122 if they have the right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it) features. You may want to go read the other Post and review what those features are because I’m pretty sure the knife in your pocket probably has them. And to make things even better, the penalties under 2923.122(A) or (B) start at being a felony of the 5th degree.
And here’s another thing – you’ll notice that nowhere in this law does the word “concealed” come into play. It says “convey” and “possess”. So unlike the previous version of 2923.12, just keeping the knife from being concealed isn’t a protection against a criminal charge. Merely having it is the problem.
If you’re scratching your head thinking this is crazy, don’t forget to read down to the exceptions to the law. You’ll notice that the exceptions to the law that apply to 2923.122 apply to people with Concealed Handgun Licenses and handguns, not other deadly weapons like knives. Or if someone has the deadly weapon in the school safety zone with the permission of the board of education – good luck with that.
So what can you do about this crazy state of affairs? Well, you can reach out to your State Representatives and Senators and ask them to support HB 243 and SB 156, which are state knife preemption laws. Tell them to also support HB 227, which would expand the CHL into a Concealed Weapons License and cover carrying knives.
So before you go to that parent-teacher meeting, football game, volleyball game or basketball game, think about what you’re taking with you. If it looks like these you’d probably be ok. 
