Ohio does not have an assault weapons ban. No state law restricts the purchase, possession, or sale of AR-15s, AK-pattern rifles, other semi-automatic rifles, semi-automatic handguns, or magazines of any capacity. The only weapon-type restrictions on the books cover a narrow “dangerous ordnance” category — machine guns, explosives, suppressors, and short-barreled firearms — not the semi-automatic firearms most people have in mind when they use the term “assault weapon.”
No Ban on Semi-Automatic Rifles or Magazines
Nothing in the Ohio Revised Code limits semi-automatic firearms by action type, cosmetic features, caliber, or magazine size. Bills proposing those kinds of restrictions have been introduced over the years, but none have passed. If anything, Ohio has moved in the opposite direction. Senate Bill 215, which took effect in June 2022, established permitless concealed carry for qualifying adults 21 and older, letting them carry a concealed handgun without a license.1Ohio Legislature. Senate Bill 215
Federal law does not fill the gap. The 1994 federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004 and has not been renewed. A newer proposal, H.R. 3115 (the Assault Weapons Ban of 2025), was introduced in the 119th Congress but remains a bill with no force of law as of 2026.2Congress.gov. H.R. 3115 – Assault Weapons Ban of 2025 There is no federal magazine capacity limit either. For an Ohio resident, that means a semi-automatic rifle paired with a standard or extended-capacity magazine is legal to buy and own under both state and federal law.
Cities and Counties Cannot Pass Their Own Bans
You will not find a city-level assault weapons ban anywhere in Ohio, and the reason is statutory. Ohio Revised Code 9.68 reserves the authority to regulate the ownership, purchase, sale, transfer, transport, storage, and carrying of firearms exclusively to the state.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 9.68 – Right to Bear Arms Any local ordinance that tries to add restrictions beyond state or federal law is void.
The preemption statute also shifts attorney fees. A person or group that successfully challenges a local gun ordinance under Section 9.68 is entitled to recover attorney fees and costs from the municipality.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 9.68 – Right to Bear Arms That financial exposure keeps cities out of the business of experimenting with local gun restrictions. Narrow zoning rules controlling where firearm dealers can locate are still permitted, but a city cannot use zoning to ban particular firearms.
What Ohio Does Restrict: Dangerous Ordnance
The weapon-type restrictions Ohio does impose sit in Ohio Revised Code 2923.11, which defines a category called “dangerous ordnance.” This is not an assault weapons ban in any form. It covers items that work fundamentally differently from the semi-automatic firearms sold at ordinary gun stores:4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2923.11 – Weapons Control Definitions
- Automatic firearms (machine guns)
- Sawed-off firearms — rifles with barrels under 16 inches, shotguns with barrels under 18 inches, tracking federal National Firearms Act definitions5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5845 – Definitions
- Zip-guns and ballistic knives
- Explosives and incendiary devices, including bombs, grenades, dynamite, TNT, nitroglycerin, and plastic explosives
- Military hardware such as rocket launchers, mortars, mines, torpedoes, and artillery, along with their ammunition
- Firearm suppressors (silencers)
- Any combination of parts intended to convert a legal firearm into dangerous ordnance
What the statute leaves out is just as important. Sporting pistols, rifles, and shotguns are not dangerous ordnance, even when they are military-pattern weapons, so long as they are not automatic and not sawed-off.4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2923.11 – Weapons Control Definitions A standard AR-15 fires one round per trigger pull and has a barrel longer than 16 inches, so it falls outside the definition entirely. Antique firearms using percussion-cap or black-powder ignition are also excluded, as are inoperable items kept as trophies or museum pieces.
Possessing dangerous ordnance without qualifying for an exemption is a fifth-degree felony under Ohio Revised Code 2923.17, carrying 6 to 12 months in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2923.17 – Unlawful Possession of Dangerous Ordnance7Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2929.18 – Financial Sanctions Felony Manufacturing explosives without the required license from a fire official or the state fire marshal is a second-degree felony, with 2 to 8 years in prison and up to a $15,000 fine.
How to Legally Own NFA Items in Ohio
Ohio defers to the federal system for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns. Ohio Revised Code 2923.17 lists several categories of people allowed to possess dangerous ordnance, and the one that matters for most civilians is ownership of an item properly registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record under 26 U.S.C. 5841.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2923.17 – Unlawful Possession of Dangerous Ordnance Other categories include law enforcement officers and military members acting in their official duties, federally licensed importers, manufacturers, and dealers, holders of federal explosive permits, individuals with an Ohio license or temporary permit under Ohio Revised Code 2923.18, and hunters whose suppressor is attached to a firearm authorized for hunting.
The practical path for a civilian is the federal one. You file ATF Form 4 for a transfer from a dealer or Form 1 to build your own, submit fingerprints, pass a background check, and wait for ATF approval before taking possession. As of January 1, 2026, the federal tax stamp fee for NFA items dropped from $200 to $0, though the registration requirement, background check, and approval wait still apply. Ohio adds no further hoops on top of the federal registration.
Who Can’t Own Any Firearm in Ohio
Ohio’s silence on firearm types does not mean anyone can legally buy a gun. Federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) disqualifies several categories of people from possessing any firearm or ammunition, and those prohibitions apply in Ohio regardless of what the gun looks like:8Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Identify Prohibited Persons
- Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison
- Fugitives from justice
- Unlawful users of or persons addicted to controlled substances
- Anyone adjudicated as mentally defective or committed to a mental institution
- Undocumented immigrants
- Anyone dishonorably discharged from the military
- Anyone who has renounced U.S. citizenship
- Anyone subject to a domestic violence restraining order
- Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence
A person under felony indictment is also barred from receiving or shipping firearms during the indictment period. A prohibited person cannot legally own a bolt-action hunting rifle any more than they can own a semi-automatic one.
Ohio does not currently have a red flag law. House Bill 46, introduced in the 136th General Assembly to create an extreme risk protection order system, remains in committee as of 2026 and has not been enacted.9Ohio Legislature. House Bill 46
Bump Stocks, Binary Triggers, and Rate-Increasing Devices
Bump stocks are legal in Ohio. The ATF classified them as machine guns in 2018, but the Supreme Court reversed that classification in June 2024 in Cargill v. United States, holding that a semi-automatic rifle with a bump stock still fires only one round per function of the trigger and therefore is not a machine gun.10Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Bump Stocks Ohio never enacted its own bump stock ban, so there is no separate state-level prohibition to worry about.
Binary triggers, which fire once on the pull and once on the release, are also legal in Ohio. Neither device turns a semi-automatic into an automatic firearm under the dangerous ordnance statute, so neither falls within what Ohio prohibits. If you travel out of state with either item, check the destination state’s laws, because some jurisdictions ban them independently of federal law.