OHIO: Civil Immunity for Defense of Self and Others, Ban on Finantial Insitution Collection of Firearms Data

Ohio Statehouse

Governor DeWine of Ohio signed House Bill 452 and Senate Bill 58  on January 8, 2025.

HB 452 grants immunity from civil lawsuit when a person is acting in defense of themselves or another to protect members or guests of non-profit corporations. This includes churches. Those who enter property with the intent to illegally harm others are not granted immunity.  The immunity section is a small part of the bill, which mostly deals with hospital security.

From House Bill 452, state.oh.us:

 (B) No person is liable in a tort action for injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly caused by the person’s act of self-defense or defense of another when performed during the commission, or imminent commission, of an offense of violence to protect the members or guests, including the person’s self, of a nonprofit corporation against the commission, or imminent commission, of that offense of violence, unless the person’s act constitutes willful or wanton misconduct.

Granting immunity for acts defending self or others, even in this limited circumstances, appears to be a response to high level cases where defenders have been sued by aggressors. Examples include the lawsuits against Kyle Rittenhouse. Kyle Rittenhouse was cleared of all criminal charges by a unanimous jury of his peers in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  While found not guilty of criminal charges, he is facing lawsuits from one of the people who attacked him and from the family of one of the people who he shot and killed in self defense. The Rittenhouse case was prosecuted in Wisconsin, but people and legislators in Ohio could watch the case, live as it unfolded. The law removes a worry from non-profit managers and owners about possible liability if they allow people to be armed on their properties.

HB 452 will go into effect in about six months.

Senate Bill 58 prevents registration of firearms by governments at the state and local level. It makes the creation of lists of firearms owners by financial entities illegal. This is to prevent financial institutions or credit card companies from requiring specific codes for firearms or firearm related products.  They would effectively create a registration list. Senate Bill 58 also prohibits private entities from mandating firearm liability insurance as a prerequisite for the possession or purchase of firearms. Underlined words have been added with this bill.  From Senate Bill 58 state.oh.us:

 Except as specifically provided by the United States Constitution, Ohio Constitution, state law, or federal law, a person, without further license, permission, restriction, delay, or process, including by any ordinance, rule, regulation, resolution, practice, or other action or any threat of citation, prosecution, or other legal process, may own, possess, purchase, acquire, transport, store, carry, sell, transfer, manufacture, or keep any firearm, part of a firearm, its components, and its ammunition, and any knife, without being required to have firearm liability insurance, and without being required to pay a fee for the possession of a firearm, part of a firearm, its components, its ammunition, or a knife.

This bill against credit card codes and the creation of registration lists is a reaction against using financial institutions to discriminate against the firearms community by “de-banking” them. De-banking is one of the schemes of those who want to disarm the population. It is a way to achieve those ends without passing legislation.  The attempt to require firearms liability insurance is another scheme to make firearms ownership onerous and financially burdensome. SB 58 makes such schemes illegal in Ohio.

©2025 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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