Ohio Supreme Court to Decide Whether People Can Have Firearms in the Home While Intoxicated

An Ohio man was arrested last year for holding a shotgun in his home while intoxicated. Unlike this CZ, it was unloaded.

Should gun owners in Ohio be permitted to “carry” their firearms in their homes while intoxicated?

That’s the question at issue in a case headed for the Ohio Supreme Court in February.

Fredrick Weber was convicted in June of 2018 under a 45-year-old law that prohibits Ohio residents from carrying or using a firearm while intoxicated. Weber appealed his conviction to the 12th District Court of Appeals, which confirmed the municipal court’s ruling. Now, on a 4-3 vote, the state Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.

According to court documents, a deputy and a sergeant from the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to Weber’s home after his wife reported that her husband was carrying a firearm while intoxicated. Even though she told deputies that Weber had put his firearm away, she let them into the home, where they saw Weber coming out of a doorway and holding a shotgun.

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