Ohio bill would increase penalties for those with criminal history who illegally possess guns

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – People who possess a firearm while they are legally barred from doing so due to previous felony convictions could face harsher penalties if a bill sponsored by two Ohio Republicans becomes law.  

House Bill 5, introduced by Reps. Bernie Willis (R-Springfield) and Josh Williams (R-Sylvania) in January, would increase penalties for a slew of firearm offenses and specifications. The House passed the bill 71-24 in May, with Republicans joining about a quarter of Democrats in its favor. The legislation now awaits consideration in the Senate. 

“As a staunch Second Amendment supporter, I will continue to fight for Ohioans’ right to legal gun ownership,” Willis said in a statement. “Unfortunately, there are a few that don’t care about the law and continue to carry out acts of gun violence even when they are not legally allowed to possess such weapons.”

Dubbed the “Repeat Offender Act,” the bill would mandate prison time for “having weapons under disability,” or when legally prohibited due to prior convictions, when the charge relates to a violent felony. Having weapons under disability is a third-degree felony charge, carrying up to a three-year sentence. The legislation would raise this to a second-degree felony for those previously convicted of the charge who also have a violent felony on their record. 

Violent offenders who were previously convicted of having a weapon under disability would additionally face a new repeat offender specification, which could add an additional three to five years to the potential eight-year sentence associated with a second-degree felony, according to Williams.

HB 5 would additionally lengthen the mandatory prison terms for various firearm specifications, which are enhancements tacked onto the sentence of a felony conviction when a firearm is involved. Some of these changes include:

• Creating a five-year mandatory sentence for the improper discharge of a firearm while committing another offense.
• Raising the penalty for offenders who were previously convicted of a firearm specification and display or brandish a firearm from 4.5 years to five years.
• Raising the penalty for displaying or brandishing an automatic firearm or a firearm with a muffler or suppressor from six years to 10 years. For offenders with a prior conviction for a firearm specification, the penalty would rise from nine years to 15 years.
• Raising the penalty for the improper discharge of a firearm from a motor vehicle from five years to seven years.

“We have a small group of individuals in our communities who are committing a disproportionate amount of the violent crime, and doing it with firearms,” Williams said in a news release. “This legislation gives communities the tools they need to address this problem.”

The bill does not just raise penalties – some provisions actually lower them. HB 5 would lower penalties for people who are convicted of illegally having guns if they are fugitives from justice, indicted or convicted of a felony drug crime, dependent on drugs or alcohol, or deemed to be mentally incompetent by a court.

While people fitting these categories can currently be convicted of a third-degree felony, punishable by up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine, HB 5 would lower the charge to a fourth-degree felony, punishable by up to one and a half years in prison and a $5,000 fine. 

Such provisions caused some groups to speak out against the bill during committee meetings, including the Fraternal Order of Police and the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. 

“We should not be reducing criminal accountability for these individuals,” Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said in written testimony earlier this year. “By reducing the penalty from an F3 to an F4, the legislation makes it more likely that dangerous individuals will be placed in diversion programs where they can walk away with no record of conviction…”

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has been a staunch supporter of the bill, claiming that while he is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, the legislation specifically targets “actors that use guns for illegal reasons.”

“Violent crime has long plagued our metropolitan hubs and it is time for law and order to take them back,” Yost said in written testimony. “This bill is all about going after the bad guy with the gun who shouldn’t even be able to have one in the first place.”

The 296-page bill currently awaits hearings in the Senate’s judiciary committee, where lawmakers will have the chance to make changes before it potentially heads to Gov. Mike DeWine.