Ohio Court Upholds Gun Charge Dismissal

PHOTO CAPTION: The Dayton-Montgomery County Courts Building in Dayton, Ohio. The Second District Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a felony concealed weapon charge against Jeremy Temple Jr., who was 19 at the time of the alleged offense.

An Ohio appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a felony concealed weapon charge against a man who was 19 when the alleged offense occurred, finding that the state's age restriction was unconstitutional as applied to him.
A Montgomery County grand jury indicted Jeremy Temple Jr. in October 2025 on one count of carrying a concealed weapon, a fourth degree felony under Ohio law. NoticeRegistry
Temple pleaded not guilty and moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that prosecuting him violated his right to bear arms under the Second Amendment and the Ohio Constitution.
A trial judge granted that request in January.
Ohio appealed.
On Friday, Sept. 25, the Second District Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal. NoticeRegistry
The appellate court said the central fact was that Temple had not yet reached age 21 when the alleged offense occurred.
The three judge panel relied on its earlier decision in State v. Matosky, where the same appeals court considered Ohio's restrictions on adults younger than 21 carrying concealed firearms.
In that case, the court concluded that 18 to 20 year old adults are protected by the Second Amendment and that the state had not demonstrated a historical tradition sufficient to justify the age based restriction as applied to the defendant. Supreme Court of Ohio
Temple's case presented essentially the same argument.
"The key fact in this appeal, that Temple was not yet 21 years old at the time of his alleged carrying a concealed weapon offense, is identical to the key fact in Matosky," Judge Christopher Epley wrote for the court.
The judges therefore concluded that Ohio's concealed carry statute was unconstitutional as applied to Temple and upheld the trial court's dismissal. NoticeRegistry
The decision does not strike Ohio's concealed carry law from the books statewide.
Ohio appellate courts have reached conflicting conclusions about whether the state can apply its concealed carry restrictions to adults between 18 and 20.
The First District Court of Appeals previously upheld the restrictions in cases involving young adults, while the Second District reached the opposite conclusion in Matosky and several subsequent cases. Justia Law
That disagreement is now before the Supreme Court of Ohio.
In April, the state's highest court agreed to review Matosky and formally recognized a conflict between the Second District ruling and decisions from the First District. The Matosky case has been held pending another Second Amendment case before the court, State v. Striblin. Supreme Court of Ohio
As of Sept. 25, the Ohio Supreme Court had not released a decision resolving Striblin or the Matosky dispute. Supreme Court of Ohio
For Temple, however, the latest ruling leaves the dismissal of his felony concealed weapon charge intact.