(a) As used in this section:
(1) “Firearm” and “handgun” have the same meanings as in section 2923.11 of the Revised Code.
(2) “Unloaded” has the same meaning as in section 2923.16 of the Revised Code.
(b) No person shall knowingly discharge a firearm while in or on a vessel.
(c) No person shall knowingly transport or have a loaded firearm in a vessel in a manner that the firearm is accessible to the operator or any passenger.
(d) No person shall knowingly transport or have a firearm in a vessel unless it is unloaded and is carried in one of the following ways:
(1) In a closed package, box or case;
(2) In plain sight with the action opened or the weapon stripped, or, if the firearm is of a type on which the action will not stay open or that cannot easily be stripped, in plain sight.
(e) (1) The affirmative defenses authorized in divisions (C)(1), (2) and (5) of section 2923.12 of the Revised Code of affirmative defenses to a charge under division (c) or (d) of this section.
(2) It is an affirmative defense to a charge under division (b) of this section that the offender discharged the firearm in self-defense.
(3) A. The fact that a person who is prosecuted for a violation of division (c) or (d) of this section is found to have possessed a firearm under an affirmative defense authorized in division (e)(1) of this section shall not be used in a subsequent prosecution of the person for a violation of this section or section 2923.12, 2923.121, 2923.122, 2923.123, or 2923.16 of the Revised Code.
B. No person who is charged with a violation of division (c) or (d) of this section shall be required to obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun under section 2923.125 of the Revised Code as a condition for the dismissal of the charge.
(f) Division (b), (c), and (d) of this section do not apply to the possession or discharge of a United States Coast Guard approved signaling device required to be carried aboard a vessel under section 1547.251 of the Revised Code when the signaling device is possessed or used for the purpose of giving a visual distress signal. No person shall knowingly transport or possess any signaling device of that nature in or on a vessel in a loaded condition at any time other than immediately prior to the discharge of the signaling device for the purpose of giving a visual distress signal.
(g) No person shall operate or permit to be operated any vessel on the waters in this state in violation of this section.
(h) This section does not apply to officers, agents, or employees of this or any other state or of the United States, or to law enforcement officers, when authorized to carry or have loaded or accessible firearms in a vessel and acting within the scope of their duties, and this section does not apply to a person who transports or possesses a handgun in a vessel and who, at the time of that transportation or possession, is carrying a valid license to carry a concealed handgun issued to the person under section 2923.125 of the Revised Code, unless the person knowingly is in a place on the vessel described in division (B) of section 2923.126 of the Revised Code.
Statutory Reference: O.R.C. §1547.69
(Ord. 04-134. Passed 7-26-04.)