COLUMBUS — A new state law will allow hunters to use suppressors on guns; permit Ohioans to buy rifles, shotguns, and ammunition from any state; and implement a more-rigorous background check for concealed-carry permits.

It also reduces the training required to get one of those permits from 12 hours to eight, including some of it online for the first time; changes the definition of an “automatic” weapon; and makes concealed-carry permits issued from other states valid in Ohio, even without a reciprocity agreement.

“This is a very comprehensive bill,” said Jim Irvine, chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association. “Over time, people will look back and see this as a watershed law that fixed a lot of little things.”

Jennifer Thorne, executive director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, sees things differently.

“There are a number of troubling provisions in the bill,” Ms. Thorne said. “There’s nothing for us to celebrate in this bill.”

She added, “Elected officials could have done better for Ohio.

It reduces training and there is an expansion of reciprocity.

“Everyone who is carrying a gun is a good guy up until the moment they aren’t.”

What the former House Bill 234 does not include is a controversial “stand your ground” provision.

The “stand your ground” provision would have changed the wording in state law, which says that an individual must first back away instead of using violent force in a self-defense situation.

Mr. Irvine said while gun-rights supporters wanted “stand your ground” in the law, many “other issues that are addressed in the bill will benefit more people. Stand your ground doesn’t affect that many people’s lives.”

The law also changes the old definition of an automatic weapon as one capable of firing 31 rounds without reloading.

The change entirely deleted reference to a specific number of shots in a magazine.

First Published March 24, 2015, 6:24 a.m.