Handing One Over for Money
ORC 2923.20 — the private sale, and who the charge lands on
Ohio does not require a private seller to run a background check. What it does have is an offense aimed at the seller's knowledge, and the two facts together are why a private sale is simple right up until it is not.
Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
- Knowingly selling or furnishing a firearm to a person who is under a disability is an offense for the person handing it over.
- Furnishing reaches more than selling, so a gift or a loan can be within it.
- Furnishing a firearm to a minor has its own separate offense alongside this one.
The element is knowledge, and knowledge is proved from the circumstances. Nothing requires a private seller to ask. What the statute reaches is selling or furnishing while knowing the other person is barred, and a court decides what somebody knew from everything that was said and done around the sale rather than from whether a form was filled in.
The disability itself is in a separate statute, and it is the one that outranks everything in this chapter. It reaches a list of conditions including certain convictions and certain adjudications, and it bars the person from acquiring, having, carrying or using a firearm at all.
Federal law governs dealers and interstate transfers separately, and a sale through a licensed dealer runs the federal check whatever Ohio requires. Who Cannot Carry sets out the disability, and Getting The Disability Lifted covers the route out of one.
Sources for this section (4)
- ORC 2923.20 — Unlawful transactions in weapons
- ORC 2923.13 — Having weapons while under disability
- ORC 2923.21 — Improperly furnishing firearms to a minor
- ORC 2923.14 — Relief from weapons disability
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.