Ohio voters might have the opportunity to decide whether to require background checks for gun purchases at the same time they vote for president in the 2020 election.

Ohioans for Gun Safety announced Monday it is filing petitions to support a proposal that would effectively require background checks for all gun sales online and at gun shows.

The measure, titled "An Act to Close Loopholes in Background Checks on Gun Sales," is designed as an initiated statute.

That means supporters must gather enough valid signatures of registered Ohio voters to equal at least 3% of the total vote cast in the most recent gubernatorial election, roughly 135,000 signatures. The names must come from 44 of Ohio's 88 counties and represent 1.5% of the total vote for governor in each of those counties.

If the threshold is met, the General Assembly has four months to consider the proposal. If it is not acted upon, fails to pass or is passed in an amended form, the petitioners can mount a second petition drive to put the proposed law on the ballot. Another 135,000 signatures are necessary.

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The proposal would add a "Weapons Control" section to the Ohio Revised Code that would require involvement of a firearms dealer and a background check in nearly every gun purchase.

“The polling has shown that even people who are gun owners and strong Second Amendment rights people believe that this is not an intrusive idea," said Dennis Willard, a spokesman for the gun safety group. "We think very much that people will support this."

Jim Irvine, president of the Buckeye Firearms Association, is skeptical of the proposal's benefit, saying it addresses an issue that does not exist.

"There is no gun show loophole," he said. "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."

>> We want to hear from you. How would you vote on this issue? What other questions do you have?

The language in the proposed addition states that "No person shall sell or transfer a firearm and no person shall purchase or receive a firearm" unless a firearms dealer is selling a gun, buying a gun or facilitating a purchase between two individuals who are not firearms dealers themselves.

This facilitation requirement appears directly aimed at online and gun show purchases, some of which do not involve a firearms dealer. Under the proposed change, the seller would be required to deliver the firearm to a dealer to conduct the purchase.

The dealer would then conduct a background check and meet any other requirements that would apply in a standard purchase from the dealer. If the purchaser did not pass the background check, the dealer would return the firearm to the seller. The seller couldn't then sell the firearm to that purchaser.

Anyone who took part in a purchase that violated the proposed addition would be guilty of the illegal transfer of a firearm and subject to either 30 days in jail or a fine up to $250 or both on the first offense with increasing penalties for repeat offenses.

bdeeter@dispatch.com

@BenDeeter