Where Guns Are Barred
ORC 2923.126 — the places carry does not reach
Permitless carry changed who may carry, not where. The list of places a handgun still may not go is its own statute, and several of the entries carry their own separate charge on top.
Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
- School safety zones, which cover buildings, grounds, buses, and school events, are their own offense.
- Courthouses and buildings containing a courtroom are their own offense.
- Police stations, sheriff's offices, jails, and prisons are barred.
- Government buildings are barred unless that body has adopted a policy allowing carry.
- Premises holding a liquor permit for on site drinking are barred if you are drinking or already have.
Private property is separate again. An owner may post a sign barring firearms, and carrying past it is handled as criminal trespass rather than a weapons charge.
In a vehicle is its own rulebook. How a firearm may be carried in a car is governed by a separate section from where you may carry on foot, and it turns on whether the gun is loaded and how it is stored. ORC 2923.16 holds the vehicle rules, and the general carry rule does not answer them.
Two phrases carry most of the weight in these offenses and both are defined rather than left to ordinary meaning. Deadly weapon and dangerous ordnance are set out in the definitions section of the same chapter, and the school safety zone and courthouse offenses name them alongside each other rather than one instead of the other. Each of those two is a fifth degree felony in the ordinary case and a fourth on a prior conviction under the same section.
The list in section 2923.126 is long and carries exceptions inside exceptions, several of which turn on whether the person is a licensee. Federal law also bars places Ohio law does not, and a private property owner can post a place the statute leaves open. A licensed Ohio attorney reads the list against a specific place.
Sources for this section (7)
- ORC 2923.126 — Duties of a licensee, and the places a license does not cover
- ORC 2923.111 — Concealed carry by qualifying adults without a license
- ORC 2923.122 — Weapons in a school safety zone
- ORC 2923.123 — Weapons in a courthouse
- ORC 2911.21 — Criminal trespass
- ORC 2923.16 — Improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle
- ORC 2923.11 — Definitions, including deadly weapon and dangerous ordnance
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.