Ohio Dems propose law to ban guns from domestic violence convicts
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Individuals convicted of domestic violence or with civil-protection orders would be barred from having firearms, under legislation being offered by Democrats in the Ohio House.
State Reps. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, and Janine Boyd, D-Cleveland Heights, said the legislation would codify in Ohio similar prohibitions in place in federal law.
Without a state law, they said, Ohio is not positioned to enforce the gun ban for domestic-violence perpetrators.
“Dangerous gaps in Ohio law make it easy for domestic-violence abusers to access guns even though they’re legally prohibited from doing so,” Antonio said during a Tuesday news conference at the Statehouse. “For instance, Ohio does not prohibit convicted domestic-violence abusers or people subject to a domestic-violence protection order from purchasing or possessing guns. And it doesn’t require abusers who become prohibited by federal law to turn their guns in.”
Antonio and Boyd said federal law already prohibits gun possession for offenders convicted of misdemeanor domestic-violence charges and others who are subject to permanent protection orders.
Their “Safe at Home” legislation would harmonize state law with federal law and allow judges’ discretion against individuals facing temporary protection orders. Affected individuals also would have to turn over any firearms they possess if ordered by the court to do so.
“A woman and her children should not have to live in fear that the intimate partner, her ex-boyfriend, her ex-husband, that she filed a civil protection order against, will be able to track her down and shoot and kill her,” Antonio said. “She should be able to be safe at home, and a protection order should do that very thing – it should protect her.”
No Republicans have yet signed on as co-sponsors.