Ohio Republicans loosen rules for sawed-off shotguns, gun silencers

Statehouse Republicans passed legislation Tuesday expanding Ohioans’ legal rights to possess gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns – a category that includes “sawed-off shotguns” and guns manufactured with shorter barrels.

It’s the first major act by state lawmakers since Democrats routed Republicans up and down the ballot last week. It also represents a preemptive move ahead of January’s new legislature in which Democrats, traditionally more skeptical of gun laws, will have new power.

Both the House and Senate passed the legislation on Tuesday, and it now heads to Gov. Mike DeWine to either sign into law or veto. The bill passed mostly along party lines, with all Republicans voting yes and all but a small handful of Democrats voting no.

Current state law generally prohibits Ohioans from possessing any “dangerous ordnance,” a broad category that includes short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and gun suppressors or silencers, among others. There’s an exception, however, for gun owners who go through a special federal background check that requires a $200 payment. Senate Bill 214 would nix that requirement for federal registration.

A second background check process is needlessly duplicative, Republicans and gun advocates have argued. They also say the prohibitions themselves are unnecessary limits on people’s constitutional right to own guns.

Lorain County Republican Rep. Kellie Deeter said suppressors are tools for ear protection, rather than a stealth accessory. Mahoning Valley Republican Rep. Tex Fischer denied Democrats’ criticism that looser gun laws means more gun violence.

“This is in no way shape or form anything that’s going to make Ohio less safe,” Fischer said.

The vote Tuesday follows a 20-year history of Statehouse Republicans slowly weakening restrictions on gun possession. The era culminated with passage of two bills long sought by gun advocates. One was the 2021 “stand your ground” law, creating new legal protections for people who shoot others and claim self-defense. The other was the 2022 “constitutional carry” law that waived legal requirements around training, background checks and seeking a permit before carrying a concealed firearm.

Gunshots killed more than 1,700 Ohioans in 2024, which represents the most recent data available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Democrats say the math is simple – more guns mean more people get shot.

Cleveland-area Democrat Darnell Brewer, who has for years pushed for different approaches to bills focused on reducing gun violence, questioned the zeal around expanding gun access and ignoring gun violence.

“I have a young man, literally just get shot steps from my house. And we are here today talking about this bill,” he said Tuesday before a committee vote. “We need to save lives in Ohio.”

Deregulating sawed-off shotguns sounds like a “political issue for somebody” but wholly out of step with voters’ demands for leaders to focus on bringing down the basic cost of living, said Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, a Lakewood Democrat.

However, some House Democrats voted with Republicans. Rep. Mark Sigrist of the Columbus-area, called the legislation a “limited adjustment” to reflect newly deregulated federal laws on the subject.

“Passing SB214 today aligns Ohio law with these federal developments and restores key Second Amendment protections for responsible citizens across our state,” he said.

Violations of Ohio’s dangerous ordnance laws are rare. In 2025, there were 26 incidents of possession of dangerous ordnance, and 16 incidents of concealed carry of dangerous ordnance, according to the Legislative Service Commission , although it relies on voluntary reporting from police departments, which could create an undercount.

Nationally, there are about 1.3 million short-barreled rifles, 211,000 short-barreled shotguns and 6.9 million silencers registered with the ATF, per federal data .

The National Firearms Act, passed as a reaction to violent gang episodes in the Al Capone era, generally prohibited possession of short-barrel shotguns and rifles and suppressors as well. However, gun owners could get legal permission to own them via an additional federal background check and a $200 tax.

Congress seemingly passed the law out of concern that shorter weapons could be more easily concealed . Ohio passed its own prohibition in the 1970s, imposing state penalties on anyone who flouts the federal requirements, according to Grant Balzer, a lobbyist for Gun Owners of America, during legislative hearings.

But the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, President Donald Trump’s signature legislative accomplishment passed in 2025 by Republicans along party lines, reduced the tax to $0.

Congress’ constitutional authority, according to a Texas judge’s ruling in August , rode on the tax element. Thus, zeroing out the tax makes much of the law unconstitutional. Trump’s DOJ declined to appeal the ruling, prompting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to announce last month it would no longer enforce the requirement to register as it relates to suppressors and short-barreled rifles and shotguns.

Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, a Republican serving on an interim basis, flagged the issue for lawmakers in a letter last month. He said state law still requires registration for short-barreled rifles or shotguns with the federal government. If they want stricter gun laws, so be it, he said, though he hinted at lawmakers’ bigger ambitions.

“If, on the other hand, the legislature sees these registration requirements as archaic remnants of an overly restrictive past, it is time to eliminate them from Ohio law,” he said.

This story was originally published by Signal Ohio and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.