State Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, wants to clear up what he called misconceptions about his proposed Senate Bill 357, which if it became law would allow prosecutors to seek an order to have firearms taken from people intending to harm themselves or others.
According to Dolan’s congressional website, the bill contains five key provisions.
- It allows police to take the weapons of someone found by a judge to be a threat to themselves or others due to a severe mental health condition.
- It requires a co-signer for the purchase of certain firearms by anyone 18-21 years old. The co-signer must be 25 or older, and only rifles or shotguns would be exempt from this rule.
- It creates a Seller’s Protection Certificate for gun sales to non-family members. The seller could require the buyer to receive written clearance from a county sheriff confirming no legal disability is present.
- It improves state and federal background check databases
- It directs American Rescue Plan funds toward hiring mental-health workers and expanding regional mental health crisis centers.
If a doctor determines there are mental health issues, the individual can be held for an additional 72 hours. During that time, if it is clear to the mental health medical community that the person is suffering from mental illness, needs treatment and is not compliant, an affidavit specifying the evidence can be filed with the probate court.
“Then, and only then, does the prosecutor get to present additional evidence to say, ‘Judge, here's evidence to show that this person is suicidal or homicidal,'” Dolan said.
That could lead to a safety protection order by the judge.
The second provision of SB 357 is that an 18- to 21-year-old who wants to purchase anything other than a single-shot rifle for hunting must get a co-signer who is at least 25 years old.
“That 25 or older co-signer can be held civilly liable if the gun that he or she cosigned for is used by that person in a felony crime,” Dolan said.
Opponents of the bill like the Buckeye firearms Association don’t seem to recognize Ohio law, he said.
“Any argument that this somehow is banning the sale of guns just fails to recognize that it is, again, universally accepted, well established in Ohio law that under 21, you can't buy a handgun,” he said.
Another provision of Dolan’s bill enables a seller of a gun who is not federally licensed can ask a buyer to get a Seller's Protection Certificate. After a background check to get the order, the seller is free to make the gun sale.
“The seller of the gun is not civilly or criminally liable because they took the necessary steps to determine that this is a lawful buyer,” he said.
The bill also requires domestic protection orders and criminal arrests must be input into the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s system by the end of the next business day.
His bill’s final provision recognizes that county jails are being used as mental health clinics. The funding would be used to build regional mental health crisis centers so that people who otherwise shouldn’t be in jail and just need mental health can get it.
Dolan also wants $85 million appropriated to develop a health workers' pipeline to get more health workers coming out of school coming out of clinics, going into schools, going into hospitals and going into clinics.
“Because we have a mental health crisis. I don't think there's anyone who disputes that. And it's only been heightened since the time of COVID,” he said.
