Ohio Background Checks for Firearm Purchases Initiative (2021)

Ohio Background Checks for Gun Purchases Initiative
Election date November 2, 2021
Topic Firearms
Status Not on the ballot
Type State statute	Origin Citizens

The Ohio Background Checks for Gun Purchases Initiative did not appear on the ballot in Ohio as an indirect initiated state statute on November 2, 2021.

The ballot measure would have required that an unlicensed person wishing to sell or transfer a firearm to another person to conduct the transfer through a licensed gun dealer running a background check.

Text of measure

Full text

The full text of the measure is available here.

Support

Ohioans for Gun Safety led the campaign in support of the ballot initiative.

Supporters

• Mayor John Cranley (D), Cincinnati
• Mayor Nan Whaley (D), Dayton

Arguments

• Dennis Willard, spokesperson for Ohioans for Gun Safety, stated, "People are very tired of the ongoing onslaught of stories about gun violence. ... If you want to buy a gun or if you want to sell a gun, then just have a background check. It’s really simple."

Opposition

Arguments

• Jim Irvine, president of the Buckeye Firearms Association, said, "There is no gun show loophole. The rules to buying and selling guns at gun shows are the same to buy a gun at a gun store or out of the back of a car or a garage or anywhere else. The most common way criminals get their guns is stealing them. So what will this law do to stop those bad criminals from getting guns? Nothing."

Media editorials

Ballotpedia identified the following media editorial boards as taking positions on the ballot initiative. If you are aware of a media editorial board position that is not listed below, please email the editorial link to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Support

• The Columbus Dispatch: "The federal background checks have stopped millions of gun sales to prohibited purchasers — mostly convicted felons, domestic abusers and those judged mentally ill. In recent years, however, an estimated 1 in 5 gun sales has occurred outside the network of federally licensed dealers, such as at gun shows. This loophole needs to be closed. And in the absence of federal legislation, a state-by-state approach is needed. ... Every Ohioan can do something to reduce gun violence. A good start would be to sign the petition and vote for common sense background checks."

Opposition

Ballotpedia had not identified media editorial boards in opposition to the ballot initiative.

Path to the ballot

Process in Ohio

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Ohio

In Ohio, the number of signatures required to get an indirect initiated state statute placed on the ballot is equal to 6 percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. Ohio also requires initiative sponsors to submit 1,000 signatures with the initial petition application. Signatures are collected in two phases for indirect initiatives:

• Phase 1: signatures equal to 3 percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election are required to place the initiative before the Ohio General Assembly, which has four months to vote to approve or reject the initiative or take no action.
• Phase 2: If the Ohio General Assembly fails to pass or act on the initiative, an additional number of signatures equal to 3 percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election are required to place the initiative on the ballot.

Ohio also has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures be gathered from at least 44 of Ohio's 88 counties. Petitioners must gather signatures equal to a minimum of half the total required percentage of the gubernatorial vote in each of the 44 counties. The first round of petitions are allowed to circulate for an indefinite period of time. The first round of signatures for an indirect initiative must be filed at least 10 days prior to the legislative session of the year proponents want the measure addressed. The second round of signatures must be filed within 90 days after the legislature rejects or fails to act on the initiative.

The requirements to get an indirect initiated state statute certified for the 2021 ballot:

• Signatures: 266,774 valid signatures were required to get an indirect initiative on the ballot, including 1,000 signatures to file the proposal, 132,887 signatures for the first round, and 132,887 for the second round.
• Deadline: The deadline to submit the first round of signatures was 10 days prior to the 2021 legislative session. The deadline to submit the second round of signatures was 90 days following the legislature's four-month deadline to address the measure.

County boards of elections are responsible for verifying signatures, and the secretary of state must determine the sufficiency of the signature petition at least 105 days before the election. If the first batch of signatures is determined to be insufficient, the petitioners are given a ten-day window to collect more signatures.

Stages of this initiative

Ohioans for Gun Safety filed the ballot initiative on June 10, 2019. Attorney General Dave Yost (R) rejected the petition on June 20, 2019, saying the petition's description was inaccurate.

The campaign submitted a second version of the petition on July 9, 2019, along with 1,739 signatures. The second version contained changes to the petition's description but not substantive changes to the initiative's text. On July 19, 2019, Attorney General Yost certified the petition as fair and truthful and sent the petition to the Ohio Ballot Board to determine whether the initiative meets the state's single-subject rule.

On July 22, 2019, the Ohio Ballot Board determined that the initiative met the state's single-subject ruling, which allowed Ohioans for Gun Safety to begin a signature drive.

In October 2019, Dennis Willard, a spokesperson for Ohioans for Gun Safety, said the campaign would use paid petition collectors and volunteers to collect signatures.

In December 2019, Willard announced that the campaign was aiming to place the initiative on the ballot in 2021 instead of 2020. He said, "We think that 2021 gives us the best opportunity to have a clear and simple and straight forward conversation with Ohio voters that background checks for gun safety will save lives and reduce gun violence."

On December 25, the campaign did not submit signatures in order to qualify for the 2021 ballot.

Between 2012 and 2019, four citizen-initiated measures have appeared on the ballot in Ohio. Campaigns spent an average of $7.95 per required signature to get their initiatives certified. Applied in 2020 ballot initiatives, that cost-per-required-signature average translates to $2.12 million. Prior measures ranged from $6.05 (Issue 2 of 2012) to $10.13 (Issue 2 of 2017) per required signature.

See also

2021 measures

• 2021 ballot measures
• Firearms on the ballot

Ohio

• Ohio ballot measures
• Ohio ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls