In 2022, Ohio made it easier for teachers and other adults with written permission from the board of education or governing body of a school to carry guns into K-12 schools. Pursuant to such permission, a person who wishes to carry a firearm on school grounds must submit to an annual background check and take a training course developed by the Department of Public Safety that includes no more than 24 hours of instruction and no more than 8 hours for annual re-certification.¹

Otherwise, Ohio generally prohibits any person from knowingly possessing a firearm in a “school safety zone.”² Ohio also prohibits the knowing possession in a school safety zone of any object indistinguishable from a firearm, whether or not it is capable of being fired, if the possessor indicates that he or she possesses the object and that it is a firearm, or the person knowingly displays or brandishes the object and indicates that it is a firearm.³ A “school safety zone” consists of any school, school building, school premises, school activity or school bus.⁴

This prohibition does not apply to a a person who possesses a handgun in a school safety zone if the person does not enter into a school building or onto school premises and is not at a school activity and is in compliance with federal law.⁵ This prohibition also does not apply to concealed handgun license holder who possesses a handgun in a school safety zone and the handgun remains in the vehicle and, if the person exists the vehicle, the person locks the vehicle.⁶

Note, however, that federal law prohibits people without concealed handgun licenses from carrying a firearm within a school safety zone that is defined as “in, or on the grounds of, a public, parochial or private school that provides elementary or secondary education or within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public, parochial or private school that provides elementary or secondary education.”⁷ Ohio defines a “school zone” more broadly to include school activities and school buses outside of the locations specified by federal law. In 2022, Ohio passed a law allowing anyone who is a “qualifying adult” to carry a firearm without a concealed handgun license in any location where the state allows individuals with licenses to carry. Accordingly, unless otherwise prohibited by state law, a person without a concealed handgun license may be able to carry at school activities and on school buses that are not in a federal school zone.

A concealed handgun license does not authorize a person to carry a concealed handgun on premises owned or leased by a college, university or other institution of higher education, unless the handgun is in a locked motor vehicle.⁸

The superintendent of schools of a city, exempted village, or local school district must expel a pupil from school for a period of one year if the pupil brings a firearm to a school operated by the board of education of the district or onto any other property owned or controlled by the board.⁹ The superintendent may expel a pupil from school for a period of one year for bringing a firearm to an interscholastic competition, an extracurricular event, or any other school program or activity that is not located in a school or on property that is owned or controlled by the district.¹⁰ The superintendent may reduce these disciplinary actions on case-by-case bases in accordance with board policy.¹¹

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1. Ohio Rev. Code §§ 2923.122(D)(1)(d); 5502.703.[↩]
2. Ohio Rev. Code § 2923.122(B).[↩]
3. Ohio Rev. Code § 2923.122(C).[↩]
4. Ohio Rev. Code § 2901.01(C)(1).[↩]
5. Ohio Rev. Code § 2923.122(D)(3).[↩]
6. Ohio Rev. Code § 2923.122(D)(4).[↩]
7. 18 U.S.C. §§ 921(a)(25)-(26); 922(q)(2)(A).[↩]
8. Ohio Rev. Code § 2923.126(B)(5).[↩]
9. Ohio Rev. Code § 3313.66(B)(2)(a).[↩]
10. Ohio Rev. Code § 3313.66(B)(2)(b).[↩]
11. Ohio Rev. Code § 3313.66(B)(2)(a), (b).[↩]