How buying a gun in Newark works
Pick an FFL dealer near you that accepts shipped transfers and name it at checkout. We confirm their license and ship the firearm to them. Ammunition, optics and parts ship straight to your door where Ohio law allows.
Ohio has no permit to purchase, no firearm registration and no state waiting period. Your order ships to a licensed dealer you choose, where you show a government photo ID, complete federal Form 4473 and pass a NICS background check. Under federal rules a dealer sells handguns to buyers 21 and older and rifles and shotguns to buyers 18 and older. Ohio Revised Code 9.68 preempts local gun ordinances, so the buying rules in Cleveland match the rules in Chillicothe. Private sales between Ohio residents need no background check, but you may never hand a gun to someone you know is prohibited.
Dealers in these communities all work for Newark-area buyers:
- Heath
- Granville
- Pataskala
- Buckeye Lake
- Hebron
- Utica
- Johnstown
- Zanesville
- Mount Vernon
Carrying a gun in Licking County
Senate Bill 215 took effect in June 2022, and Ohio now has permitless carry. A qualifying adult, meaning a person 21 or older who is not barred from having a handgun under Ohio or federal law, may carry a concealed handgun without a licence. The concealed handgun licence is still issued by the Licking County Sheriff, and many people keep one because it is honoured in a long list of other states. Ohio no longer makes you volunteer that you are armed, but you must say so if an officer asks during a stop, and the off-limits list in ORC 2923.126 still applies everywhere.
Hunting near Newark
Ohio runs one statewide deer season structure and sets bag limits county by county. For 2026-27 the statewide archery season runs Sept. 26, 2026 through Feb. 7, 2027, youth gun season is Nov. 21-22, deer-gun week is Nov. 30 through Dec. 6, a bonus gun weekend follows Dec. 19-20, and muzzleloader season is Jan. 2-5, 2027. Legal guns are shotguns from 10 gauge down to .410 firing one slug, muzzleloaders .38 calibre or larger, handguns in straight-walled cartridges of .357 magnum or larger, and rifles chambered for straight-walled cartridges from .357 to .515 holding three rounds at most.
Licking County allows three deer, and the shift from glaciated farmland to unglaciated hills near Blackhand Gorge makes for varied cover. Dillon Wildlife Area runs the nearest full firearm range.
The Hebron Fish Hatchery archery range sits ten minutes southwest, and Dillon Wildlife Area near Zanesville offers rifle, pistol, shotgun and archery lines within 30 minutes.
Public shooting ranges near Newark
Ohio's public shooting ranges are run by the ODNR Division of Wildlife on state wildlife areas, fish hatcheries and district offices. Everyone 18 and older needs an annual Shooting Range Permit, sold wherever hunting licences are sold rather than at the range itself.
Source: ODNR Division of Wildlife public shooting range list and ODNR Lands GIS data, September 2026. Distances are approximate; call or check the agency site before you drive out.