State v. Ngaide

Citations

• 2026 Ohio 478

Syllabus

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW — SECOND AMENDMENT — GUNS — MOTION TO DISMISS — IMPROPERLY HANDLING FIREARMS IN A MOTOR VEHICLE — R.C. 2923.16 — QUALIFYING ADULTS — R.C. 2923.111 Where defendant was charged with improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle in violation of R.C. 2923.16(B), and where defendant had not been a qualifying adult at the time of the offense due to a pending violent-misdemeanor charge, the trial court did not err in denying defendant's motion to dismiss on Second Amendment grounds under this court's precedents upholding other improper-handling prosecutions, see State v. Stonewall, 2025-Ohio-4974 (1st Dist.); State v. Baxter, 2025-Ohio-5722 (1st Dist.), and upholding a concealed-carry conviction of an individual disqualified based on a pending violent-misdemeanor charge, see State v. Hall, 2025-Ohio-1644 (1st Dist.). [See CONCURRENCE by KINSLEY, P.J.: If Hall and subsequent precedents did not control this case, the constitutionality of the R.C. 2923.16(B) charge would be suspect for the reasons set forth in the dissent in Stonewall.] [See CONCURRENCE by CROUSE, J.: Because the State may prohibit carrying concealed weapons, and because the purpose, history, and most frequent application of R.C. 2923.16(B) demonstrate that it functions as a prohibition on concealing usable firearms in motor vehicles, the State may constitutionally apply R.C. 2923.16(B) to individuals who, like defendant, have weapons actually concealed from outside view within their motor vehicle, although the State may not be able to apply it to individuals whose weapons are not, in fact, concealed.] [But see DISSENT: The trial court should have granted defendant's motion to dismiss because this court has not resolved whether R.C. 2923.16(B) is constitutional as applied to an individual disqualified because of a pending violent-misdemeanor charge, and because the application of R.C. 2923.16(B) to such an individual is inconsistent with this court's holdings in State v. Brown, 2025-Ohio