Ohio Lets Owners Sue Rogue Cities

The Ohio Senate passed a bill last week letting private citizens sue municipalities that enact gun control ordinances in defiance of state law.

Driving the news: Senate Bill 278, sponsored by Sen. Terry Johnson (R-McDermott), cleared the full Senate 24-9 and heads to the Ohio House when the legislature returns from recess in May. The bill amends Section 9.68 of the Revised Code to authorize civil suits — including punitive and exemplary damages — against any political subdivision that passes or enforces gun restrictions.

Catch up quick:

• Ohio already bans local governments from enacting gun ordinances under existing state law
• Johnson co-authored Ohio's 2022 constitutional carry law
• Despite those protections, Johnson says liberal municipalities — Columbus specifically — keep passing anti-gun ordinances anyway

The problem SB 278 is solving isn't that the law didn't exist. It's that the law had no teeth. Cities calculated that passing an unconstitutional ordinance cost them nothing. If a gun owner got cited and fought back, the city absorbed the legal skirmish and moved on. Johnson's bill changes that math: lose in court, and the subdivision pays punitive damages.

"Hopefully [this] will help localities like Columbus understand that they're going to have to pay a cost for doing this." — Sen. Terry Johnson

Between the lines: Johnson was blunt that some city officials know they're breaking state law and do it anyway. That's not a drafting oversight — it's a political calculation. SB 278 is designed to make that calculation expensive.

Yes, but: Senate President Rob McColley was careful to frame this as consistent with home rule, not an attack on it. "Home rule is still alive in the state of Ohio," McColley told reporters. The bill doesn't strip municipal authority — it just attaches financial consequences to unconstitutional use of it. Whether that distinction holds up under legal challenge remains to be seen.

What's next: The legislature is out until May, with primary elections on May 5. The House picks it up after recess. No companion bill or House opposition has been reported publicly yet.