(a) No person shall discharge, or cause to be discharge, any firearm, or airgun or other instrument used to explode any cartridge or thing filled with any explosive substance or material.
(b) This section shall not be construed to include toy pistols, toy canes, toy guns or other devices in which paper caps containing twenty-five hundredths grains or less of explosive compound are used, providing they are so constructed that the hand cannot come in contact with the cap when in place for the explosion, and toy pistol paper caps which contain less than twenty hundredths grains of explosive mixture, the sale and use of which shall be permitted at all times.
(c) This section shall not apply to a law enforcement officer in the lawful performance of his duties; or when the offender discharges the weapon when acting in self-defense of himself or another person which is justified under State law, which the offender must show by a preponderance of the evidence; or the firearm which is discharged was used or was on or about the person or under the control of a person in the commission of a felony for which the Ohio Revised Code requires a term of actual incarceration of three years and an indefinite term of imprisonment pursuant to Ohio R.C. 2929.71(B).
(d) Whoever violates this section is guilty of discharging weapons, a misdemeanor of the third degree.
(e) Strict liability is intended to be imposed for violation of this section, except as stated in subsection (c) hereof. (Ord. 83-9. Passed 2-7-83.)