Youngstown Daily Legal News

Lawmaker campaigning for revision of automatic firearm definition

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: July 24, 2013

As a parallel to legislation enacted in the last General Assembly that revised the definition of a loaded gun, Rep. John Becker, R-Cincinnati, is sponsoring a bill to adjust the state’s meaning of “automatic firearm.”

House Bill 191 would remove from the definition a semi-automatic firearm designed, or specifically adapted, to fire more than 31 cartridges without reloading.

“A revolver fires one shot each time the trigger is pressed. A semi-automatic firearm fires one shot each time the trigger is pressed. The ‘automatic’ part of the definition is that it automatically inserts the next round of ammunition into the chamber, something the revolver does not necessarily do,” Becker said.

“A fully-automatic firearm fires continuously, as long as there is sufficient ammunition, with one pull of the trigger. These are also commonly referred to as ‘machine guns.’”

In stumping for the bill, Becker highlighted House Bill 495 from the 129th General Assembly.

That measure, which was signed into law, changed the state’s definition of a loaded gun to mean one that is actually loaded.

The previous definition included a detached magazine with ammunition loaded into it.

“As a parallel to that, HB 191 corrects the definition of an automatic weapon to mean a weapon that is actually automatic,” he said, noting that the Ohio Revised Code includes a sentence that “(mis)defines” an automatic weapon to include a semi-automatic that will fire more than 31 cartridges without reloading.

“HB 191 simply deletes that sentence.”

The bill would retain the portion of the definition that includes any firearm designed, or adapted to, fire a succession of cartridges with a single function of the trigger.

“The common man would consider it ridiculous to call any firearm “fully automatic” based on an arbitrary magazine size,” Becker said. “For example, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle doesn’t suddenly become a machine gun by inserting a 40-round magazine. You would still have to pull and release the trigger 40 times.”

Furthermore, Becker said, after filing the proper paperwork and passing an FBI background check, any law-abiding citizen can obtain a federal tax stamp for the purpose of owning a fully-automatic Uzi, M16 or other machine gun.

“After fulfilling all necessary requirements and paying for the federal tax stamp, any of us could legally own a fully-automatic Uzi and use it with magazines of any size,” he said.

“With the proper documentation, under both federal and Ohio law, we can own machine guns with magazines of any size. There are no capacity limitations. However, Ohio law makes it impossible for any individual to legally insert a fully-loaded, 40-round magazine into any semi-automatic firearm.”

Being that large capacity magazines are legal to own and readily available for a variety of semi-automatic firearms, Becker said HB 191 would not make it any easier to acquire the firearms or the magazines.

“It simply deletes one sentence from the Ohio Revised Code correcting an incorrect definition in our code,” he said. “Restrictions on fully-automatic firearms would remain unchanged. HB 191 aligns Ohio law with federal law on these definitions.”

The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Reps. Ron Hood, Terry Johnson, Jim Buchy, Robert Hackett, Andrew Thompson, Wes Retherford, Lynn Wachtmann, Matt Lynch, Peter Beck, John Adams and Ron Maag.

HB 191 is before the House Transportation, Public Safety and Homeland Security committee.

[Back]