AMY ACTON, ABOUT OCTOBER 15, 2026

“Eighty percent of gun owners want reasonable, reasonable measures, background checks, red flag laws, safety for keeping guns at home.”

“What we’re asking for: reasonable, reasonable measures around gun laws and gun safety, and you’ll see me looking into that.”

IF RAMASWAMY WINS AND REPUBLICANS KEEP 60 OR MORE HOUSE SEATS

Then every box is checked on paper, just like it is today. Republicans already hold a supermajority in the House and the governor’s office, and the Freedom to Carry Act still has not had a single hearing.

My read: Republican leaders in Columbus have run out of excuses, and they ran out a long time ago. They have had the votes and a Republican governor, and they still sat on Freedom to Carry. Chairwoman Cindy Abrams blocked it in her committee. Then, on June 10, she and Speaker Matt Huffman voted to kill it on the floor. A governor who has promised to sign takes away the last excuse they have left. If Freedom to Carry still does not move, everyone will know exactly who stopped it, and voters will need to hold them accountable.

IF RAMASWAMY WINS AND REPUBLICANS FALL BELOW 60

Then the supermajority matters least. A bill needs only a simple majority in each chamber to reach his desk, and he has promised to sign the Freedom to Carry Act. My read: the supermajority is not what we are missing under him. The committee door is.

IF ACTON WINS AND REPUBLICANS KEEP 60 OR MORE HOUSE SEATS

Then her veto can be overridden with Republican votes alone, and this legislature has done it before. It overrode Gov. Kasich on HB 228, the self defense bill, in 2018. Other states show how a Democratic governor and a Republican legislature can play out for gun owners. In 2021 Kansas overrode Gov. Laura Kelly on HB 2058 by 84 to 39 in the House and 31 to 8 in the Senate. In 2023 North Carolina overrode Gov. Roy Cooper on SB 41 in five days, with the House voting 71 to 46.

My read: under a Democratic governor, gun bills stop being a headache for Republican leaders and become a weapon. Pass the bill and she has to sign it or veto it. But it only works if leaders bring the bill to the floor, and today they have not.

IF ACTON WINS AND REPUBLICANS FALL BELOW 60 HOUSE SEATS

Then her veto sticks, unless Democrats cross over to override it. But that is no reason for Republicans to play it safe. It is a reason to be bolder. Pass the Freedom to Carry Act anyway and put it on her desk. If she signs it, gun owners win. If she vetoes it, every Republican running in 2028 has a record to run on, and every Democrat has a veto to answer for. My read: Republicans did exactly this in Missouri in 2016. They sent Democrat Gov. Jay Nixon a constitutional carry bill, he vetoed it, they overrode him, and gun owners made the veto an issue in that fall’s election. A veto is not the end of the fight. Used right, it is a weapon at the next election.

IF REPUBLICANS KEEP BOTH CHAMBERS OF CONGRESS

Then national reciprocity can get a floor vote, and the suppressor wins can be made permanent. H.R. 38, the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, was reported out of House Judiciary 18 to 9 on March 25, 2025, and it has been on the Union Calendar since October 3, 2025, waiting for the Speaker to schedule it. It would still need 60 votes in the Senate, so a House vote alone does not make it law.

Unified control already produced one big win. The 2025 tax law zeroed the $200 federal tax on suppressors and short barreled rifles and shotguns, effective January 1, 2026, and on October 9 ATF announced it would no longer require its approval before you make or transfer them. That is a policy, not a law. The Hearing Protection Act, H.R. 404, and the SHORT Act, H.R. 2395, would write it into the statute, and both are still sitting in committee. A policy can be reversed by the next administration. A law has to be repealed.

Ohio law is part of this too. Attorney General Andy Wilson wrote to legislative leaders on October 23 that Ohio law still prohibits making or possessing these items without ATF approval, which means Ohioans could break state law without knowing it. Only the legislature can change that.

IF DEMOCRATS WIN THE U.S. HOUSE

Then they hold the gavels and the floor schedule, and the gun control bills come off the shelf. The last time Democrats ran the House, it passed an Assault Weapons Ban 217 to 213 on July 29, 2022. In this Congress, H.R. 3115, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2025, already has 194 cosponsors.

And H.R. 9548, introduced June 30, 2026 by Rep. Jackson of Illinois, would require a federal license to possess a handgun or a semiautomatic rifle that takes a detachable magazine. It would end private sales of those guns nationwide, require dealers to report the make, model and serial number of every sale to the Attorney General, and repeal the federal law’s ban on a national gun registry. That is universal gun registration.

Would any of it become law? Not easily. A bill needs 60 votes in the Senate and a signature from the President. My read: with the filibuster in place and a Republican in the White House, those bills would pass the House and stop there. That is the only firewall, and it holds only as long as the Senate stays out of reach.

IF DEMOCRATS WIN THE U.S. SENATE

Then a Democratic Senate would decide who gets confirmed as ATF director and as federal judges, and it would control which bills reach the floor. Most bills would still need 60 votes under today’s rules, so my read is that the filibuster becomes the main thing in the way of House passed gun control, and the confirmations become the main thing at risk.

Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat is on the ballot. OGO graded Sen. Jon Husted a B, because in 2019 he stood with Gov. DeWine to unveil STRONG Ohio, which would have expanded orders to surrender a person’s guns. Giffords PAC endorsed his opponent, Sherrod Brown, and said his election “will be crucial to reestablishing a majority of gun safety leaders in the chamber.”