COLUMBUS, OH ā€” FEBRUARY 08: State Sen. Terry Johnson, R-McDermott, during the Ohio Senate session, February 8, 2023, in the Senate Chamber at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal)
Loveland, Ohio
State Sen. Terry Johnson – Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal.

BY:Ā Ā – Ohio Capital Journal

A consequential firearms measure cruised through the Ohio Senate and is currently waiting on a hearing in the House Insurance committee. The proposal, like numerous previous measures, preempts local action, this time by prohibiting fees or liability insurance for gun owners.

Cities around Ohio are wrestling with increases in violent crime since the pandemic, but many local leaders argue theyā€™re hamstrung by state laws barring most local firearm restrictions.

Columbus, for instance, is currentlyĀ locked in a court battleĀ with the state to impose three local firearm ordinances. Those laws arenā€™t particularly draconian ā€” they prohibit high-capacity magazines, criminalize straw sales, and require safe storage. Nevertheless, state officials insist they violate state law preempting local restrictions.

The insurance proposal would extend those preemptions further.

Ā Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Huron. Photo from OhioSenate.govĀ 

Liability insurance

Sens. Terry Johnson, R-McDermott, and Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, insist an insurance requirement for gun owners would infringe on their constitutional rights. They filed a similar bill in the previous general assembly.

ā€œThe right of the American citizens to keep and bear arms is as clear as day,ā€ Johnson said on the Senate floor. ā€œAnd attempts to make it so itā€™s difficult for law abiding citizens to exercise this right, thatā€™s guaranteed, blazoned into the Constitution, thatā€™s wrong.ā€

The sponsors arenā€™t particularly concerned about the fact that they canā€™t identify a single Ohio municipality that has proposed an insurance requirement. Instead, they point to legislation elsewhere.

ā€œThere is a trend of extreme anti-gun measures that directly contradict the Constitution,ā€ Gavarone argued. ā€œIn places like California, Illinois, and New Jersey. So we can never discount the fact that it could and probably will be attempted in Ohio.ā€

ā€œSenator Johnson and I wanted to slam the door shut on present and future attempts on infringement on this particular constitutional right,ā€ Gavarone added.

The sum total of gun owner liability requirements in the U.S. are a state law in New Jersey and a local ordinance in San Jose, California. Both laws are the subject of federal litigation. Illinois lawmakers have proposed insurance requirements in the past, but those measures havenā€™t made it through the legislature.

Ā COLUMBUS, OH ā€” FEBRUARY 15: Senate Minority Leader Nickie J. Antonio, D-Lakewood. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.)Ā 

Pushback

In committee, Powell resident Michelle Lee Heym questioned the logic driving the legislation.

ā€œWhy would you make access to a lethal weapon easier by prohibiting payment of insurance for normal people?ā€ she asked. ā€œNormal people get insurance when they buy a car, for protecting themselves against sickness or injury. It is almost comical to think one would not buy liability insurance when purchasing a firearm.ā€

Sen. Hearcel Craig, D-Columbus, criticized the bill as ā€œa performative action that undermines the home rule of Ohio cities and townships.ā€

Craig argued the prohibition removes a tool for incentivizing safer conduct ā€” like locking up firearms or reporting them as stolen.

More fundamentally, Senate minority leader Nickie Antonio argued the sponsors have their priorities backward. She cited a string of recent victims shot for banal misunderstandings.

ā€œWe’re preemptively protecting something that might happen down the road,ā€ she said, ā€œinstead of addressing the things that have already happened, and providing some kind of solutions ā€” common sense solutions to address gun violence.ā€

The measure passed the Senate on a party line vote. The House has referred the bill to the Insurance Committee. The current schedule has it slated for its first hearing May 10.

Follow OCJ ReporterĀ Nick Evans on Twitter.

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Nick Evans
NICK EVANS

Nick Evans has spent the past seven years reporting for NPR member stations in Florida and Ohio. He got his start in Tallahassee, covering issues like redistricting, same sex marriage and medical marijuana. Since arriving in Columbus in 2018, he has covered everything from city council to football. His work on Ohio politics and local policing have been featured numerous times on NPR.

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