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H. B. No. 54 As Reported by the House Criminal Justice CommitteeAs Reported by the House Criminal Justice Committee
129th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2011-2012 |
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Representatives Maag, Martin
Cosponsors:
Representatives Adams, J., Adams, R., Balderson, Beck, Boose, Bubp, Derickson, Grossman, Kozlowski, McGregor, Mecklenborg, Uecker, Young, Amstutz, Pillich, Hayes, Slaby
A BILL
To amend sections 2923.13 and 2923.14 of the Revised
Code to conform the restoration of civil firearm
rights with federal law and U.S. Supreme Court
case law; to eliminate the prohibition against
persons with certain misdemeanor drug offense
convictions acquiring or possessing firearms or
dangerous ordnance; and to allow restoration of
civil firearm rights for firearms that are
dangerous ordnance.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 2923.13 and 2923.14 of the Revised
Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec. 2923.13. (A) Unless relieved from disability as
provided in section 2923.14 of the Revised Code, no person shall
knowingly acquire, have, carry, or use any firearm or dangerous
ordnance, if any of the following apply:
(1) The person is a fugitive from justice.
(2) The person is under indictment for or has been convicted
of any felony offense of violence or has been adjudicated a
delinquent child for the commission of an offense that, if
committed by an adult, would have been a felony offense of
violence.
(3) The person is under indictment for or has been convicted
of any felony offense involving the illegal possession, use, sale,
administration, distribution, or trafficking in any drug of abuse
or has been adjudicated a delinquent child for the commission of
an offense that, if committed by an adult, would have been an
a
felony offense involving the illegal possession, use, sale,
administration, distribution, or trafficking in any drug of abuse.
(4) The person is drug dependent, in danger of drug
dependence, or a chronic alcoholic.
(5) The person is under adjudication of mental incompetence,
has been adjudicated as a mental defective, has been committed to
a mental institution, has been found by a court to be a mentally
ill person subject to hospitalization by court order, or is an
involuntary patient other than one who is a patient only for
purposes of observation. As used in this division, "mentally ill
person subject to hospitalization by court order" and "patient"
have the same meanings as in section 5122.01 of the Revised Code.
(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of having weapons
while under disability, a felony of the third degree.
Sec. 2923.14. (A) Any person who, solely by reason of the
person's disability under division (A)(2) or (3) of section
2923.13 of the Revised Code, is prohibited from acquiring, having,
carrying, or using firearms, may apply to the court of common
pleas in the county in which the person resides for relief from
such prohibition.
(B) The application shall recite the following:
(1) All indictments, convictions, or adjudications upon which
the applicant's disability is based, the sentence imposed and
served, and any release granted under a community control
sanction, post-release control sanction, or parole, any partial or
conditional pardon granted, or other disposition of each case, or,
if the disability is based upon a factor other than an indictment,
a conviction, or an adjudication, the factor upon which the
disability is based and all details related to that factor;
(2) Facts showing the applicant to be a fit subject for
relief under this section.
(C) A copy of the application shall be served on the county
prosecutor. The county prosecutor shall cause the matter to be
investigated and shall raise before the court any objections to
granting relief that the investigation reveals.
(D) Upon hearing, the court may grant the applicant relief
pursuant to this section, if all of the following apply:
(1) The One of the following applies:
(a) If the disability is based upon an indictment, a
conviction, or an adjudication, the applicant has been fully
discharged from imprisonment, community control, post-release
control, and parole, or, if the applicant is under indictment, has
been released on bail or recognizance.
(b) If the disability is based upon a factor other than an
indictment, a conviction, or an adjudication, that factor no
longer is applicable to the applicant.
(2) The applicant has led a law-abiding life since discharge
or release, and appears likely to continue to do so.
(3) The applicant is not otherwise prohibited by law from
acquiring, having, or using firearms.
(E) Costs of the proceeding shall be charged as in other
civil cases, and taxed to the applicant.
(F) Relief from disability granted pursuant to this section
restores the applicant to all civil firearm rights to the full
extent enjoyed by any citizen, and is subject to the following
conditions:
(1) Applies only with respect to indictments, convictions, or
adjudications, or to the other factor, recited in the application
as the basis for the applicant's disability;
(2) Applies only with respect to firearms lawfully acquired,
possessed, carried, or used by the applicant;
(3) Does not apply with respect to dangerous ordnance;
(4) May be revoked by the court at any time for good cause
shown and upon notice to the applicant;
(5)(4) Is automatically void upon commission by the applicant
of any offense set forth in division (A)(2) or (3) of section
2923.13 of the Revised Code, or upon the applicant's becoming one
of the class of persons named in division (A)(1), (4), or (5) of
that section.
(G) As used in this section:
(1) "Community control sanction" has the same meaning as in
section 2929.01 of the Revised Code.
(2) "Post-release control" and "post-release control
sanction" have the same meanings as in section 2967.01 of the
Revised Code.
Section 2. That existing sections 2923.13 and 2923.14 of the
Revised Code are hereby repealed.
Section 3. It is the intent of the General Assembly in
amending section 2923.14 of the Revised Code to apply the
amendments to that section retroactively to any restoration of
rights granted previously to any applicant under section 2923.14
of the Revised Code or under any previous version of that section.
The General Assembly is explicitly making this amendment to
clarify that relief from a weapons disability granted under
section 2923.14 of the Revised Code restores a person's civil
firearm rights to such an extent that the uniform federal ban on
possessing any firearms at all, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1), does not
apply to that person, in correlation with the U.S. Supreme Court's
interpretation of 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(20) in Caron v. U.S. (1998),
524 U.S. 308.
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