(a) No person shall knowingly discharge a firearm while in or on a motor vehicle.
(b) No person shall knowingly transport or have a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle in such manner that the firearm is accessible to the operator or any passenger without leaving the vehicle.
(c) No person shall knowingly transport or have a firearm in a motor vehicle unless it is unloaded and is carried in one of the following ways:
(1) In a closed package, box or case;
(2) In a compartment that can be reached only by leaving the vehicle;
(3) In plain sight and secured in a rack or holder made for the purpose;
(4) In plain sight with the action open or the weapon stripped, or, if the firearm is of a type on which the action will not stay open or which cannot easily be stripped, in plain sight.
(d) This section does not apply to officers, agents or employees of this or any other state or the United States, or to law enforcement officers, when authorized to carry or have loaded or accessible firearms in motor vehicles, and acting within the scope of their duties.
(e) Subsection (a) hereof does not apply to a person if all of the following circumstances apply:
(1) The person discharges a firearm from a motor vehicle at a coyote or groundhog, the discharge is not during the deer gun hunting season as set by the Chief of the Division of Wildlife of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and the discharge at the coyote or groundhog, but for the operation of this section, is lawful.
(2) The motor vehicle from which the person discharges the firearm is on real property that is located in an unincorporated area of a township and that either is zoned for agriculture or is used for agriculture.
(3) The person owns the real property described in paragraph (e)(2) hereof, is the spouse of a child of another person who owns that real property, is a tenant of another person who owns that real property, or is the spouse or a child of a tenant of another person who owns that real property.
(4) The person does not discharge the firearm in any of the following manners:
A. While under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse or alcohol and a drug of abuse;
B. In the direction of a street, highway or other public or private property used by the public for vehicular traffic or parking;
C. At or into an occupied structure that is a permanent or temporary habitation;
D. In the commission of any violation of law, including, but not limited to, a felony that includes, as an essential element, purposely or knowingly causing or attempting to cause the death of or physical harm to another and that was committed by discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle.
(f) Subsections (b) and (c) hereof do not apply to a person if all of the following circumstances apply:
(1) At the time of the alleged violation of either of those subsections, the person is the operator of or a passenger in a motor vehicle.
(2) The motor vehicle is on real property that is located in an unincorporated area of a township and that either is zoned for agriculture or is used for agriculture.
(3) The person owns the real property described in paragraph (f)(2) hereof, is the spouse of a child of another person who owns that real property, is a tenant of another person who owns that real property, or is the spouse or a child of a tenant of another person who owns that real property.
(4) The person, prior to arriving at the real property described in paragraph (f)(2) hereof, did not transport or possess a firearm in the motor vehicle in a manner prohibited by subsection (b) or (c) hereof while the motor vehicle was being operated on a street, highway or other public or private property used by the public for vehicular traffic or parking.
(g) The affirmative defenses contained in Section 672.02(c)(1) and (2) are affirmative defenses to a charge under subsection (b) or (c) hereof.
(h) As used in this section:
(1) “Motor vehicle,” “street” and “highway” have the same meanings as in Chapter 402 of the Traffic Code.
(2) “Occupied structure” has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 2909.01.
(3) “Agriculture” has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 519.01.
(4) “Tenant” has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 1531.01.
(5) “Unloaded” means, with respect to a firearm employing a percussion cap, flintlock or other obsolete ignition system, when the weapon is uncapped or when the priming charge is removed from the pan.
(i) Whoever violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle. Violation of subsection (a) or (b) hereof is a misdemeanor of the first degree. Violation of subsection (c) hereof is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. The penalty shall be as provided in Section 698.02. (ORC 2923.16)