Gun Owners of America published proposed changes to Ohio Senate Bill 214 on October 23, seeking to add short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns to a measure aimed at removing suppressors from the state's dangerous-ordnance classification. The GOA proposal is an advocacy organization's requested amendment, not an enacted change. Ohio's official legislative tracker still shows the bill in House committee after Senate passage, with neither House passage nor transmission to the governor completed.
Senator Kyle Koehler introduced the bill, which GOA says passed the Senate 31-1. The official SB 214 summary describes removal of firearm mufflers and suppressors from the dangerous-ordnance classification and identifies three sections for amendment: 1533.04, 2923.11 and 2923.17. GOA wants lawmakers to broaden that scope to short-barreled firearms. A published draft from the organization does not establish that a House member has offered it or that a committee has adopted it.
Ohio retains its own restrictions even when federal enforcement changes. Under section 2923.11, dangerous ordnance includes firearm mufflers and suppressors, as well as automatic or sawed-off firearms. Removing suppressors alone would not remove the separately listed sawed-off firearms. That is the gap GOA's proposed expansion is intended to address, rather than a claim that the existing Senate bill already covers all three categories.
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Ohio's terminology also needs care. Its definition of a sawed-off firearm covers a shotgun with a barrel shorter than 18 inches, a rifle with a barrel shorter than 16 inches, or either type with an overall length below 26 inches. The statute includes an exception for certain firearms at least 26 inches long that ATF approves under the Gun Control Act but finds outside the National Firearms Act definition. The statutory category is defined by those terms, not simply by whether an owner physically shortened a barrel.
Federal nonenforcement does not rewrite Ohio law
ATF's October 9 guidance says it will not enforce specified NFA making, transfer and registration requirements for short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors and covered any-other-weapons. The agency explicitly says that this enforcement discretion does not affect state restrictions. It also distinguishes its nationwide policy from the narrower set of parties protected by the underlying district-court injunction. Neither mechanism is described as an amendment to Ohio's code.
Ohio's section 2923.17 prohibits knowingly acquiring, possessing, carrying or using dangerous ordnance unless an exemption applies. Violation of that possession provision is a fifth-degree felony. One exemption covers owners of dangerous ordnance registered in the federal National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. ATF says it continues to accept voluntary registrations, but it does not determine whether an unregistered item held under federal enforcement discretion satisfies a particular state's requirements.
For firearm dealers, the federal guidance retains a separate constraint: the Gun Control Act prohibits transfers that violate state or local law. ATF says dealers must continue transaction records, Form 4473 and applicable background-check procedures for these items. Thus, the federal decision to stop enforcing covered NFA requirements is not permission for an Ohio dealer to disregard Ohio's dangerous-ordnance law. The pending state bill addresses a different legal layer from the federal policy already in place.
The existing license route has conditions
Another Ohio exemption covers holders of a license or temporary permit under section 2923.18, but only for dangerous ordnance lawfully acquired, possessed, carried or used for the purposes and in the manner specified. The licensing statute sets a $50 license application fee and a $5 temporary-permit fee. It requires an investigation and findings about eligibility, competence, security precautions and lawful purposes; paying the fee is not itself an authorization.
The licensing authority can also specify restrictions, and the statute's catchall category for a responsible person acting for a proper purpose is discretionary. These conditions do not establish that every applicant or every unregistered firearm qualifies. They are distinct from the broader legislative approach GOA seeks: removing specified items from the dangerous-ordnance classification rather than relying on an individual owner's exemption under the existing law.
The next substantive step is House consideration of SB 214 and a decision on whether to adopt an expansion beyond suppressors. The official tracker does not establish a House vote date, and the reviewed record does not show adoption of GOA's language. Any report that the amendment has passed, or that Ohio owners can already rely on it, would put the proposal ahead of the legislative action actually recorded.
About the Author
Nick Sawinyh - Nick Sawinyh is a father, husband, hobby farmer, and gun enthusiast from Kentucky. He founded GunsNation and writes most of what appears on this blog.
