(A) As used in this section:

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“Ohio history connection” means the corporation described in section 149.30 of the Revised Code.

“Person” means any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, governmental agency, or the state or a political subdivision of the state.

“Public property” means property owned or leased by the state or a political subdivision of the state.

“War” means the French and Indian war, American revolutionary war, war of 1812, United States-Mexican war, American civil war 1861-1865, Spanish-American war, the Mexican border period, World War I, World War II, Korean conflict, Vietnam era, operation urgent fury (Grenada), operation El Dorado Canyon (Libya), operation just cause (Panama), operation desert shield/desert storm (Persian Gulf War I), operation enduring freedom (Afghanistan), operation Iraqi freedom (Persian Gulf War II), any subsequent declaration of war by the congress of the United States, or any subsequent armed conflict in which the United States is engaged.

“War relic” means a cannon or other artillery, from the era of a war, that was used by forces of the American colonies, of the federal government of the United States of America, or of any state in support of the United States of America; or a statue, monument, memorial, or plaque that has been erected for, or named or dedicated in honor of, an individual’s or group of individuals’ service with those forces.

(B) Except as provided in division (C) of this section:

(1) No war relic that is located on public property or on the property of a cemetery association may be sold or otherwise disposed of by any person.

(2) No person may purchase a war relic in violation of this section.

(3) No war relic that is located on public property or on the property of a cemetery association may be destroyed, altered, or otherwise disturbed by any person, except that the person having responsibility for maintaining the war relic may relocate, remove, alter, or otherwise disturb the war relic to preserve, care for, repair, or restore it, to place it in a temporary public display, or to use it in re-enactments of a war. A person having responsibility for maintaining a war relic located on public property or on the property of a cemetery association may permanently relocate the war relic as long as it remains on public property or on the property of a cemetery association.

(C) A governmental agency, the state, a political subdivision, or a cemetery association that wishes to dispossess a war relic that is located on public property or on the property of a cemetery association may give the war relic to the federal government. If the federal government does not accept the war relic, it shall be given to the Ohio history connection. If the Ohio history connection does not accept the war relic, it shall be given to the sons of union veterans of the civil war, department of Ohio, or, if the war relic is not of the civil war era, it shall be given to any congressionally chartered veterans’ service organization at the discretion of the Ohio history connection.

(D) This section does not apply to the state or a political subdivision of the state if it can clearly prove ownership, by written documentation, of a war relic. A governmental agency, the state, or a political subdivision of the state shall not be fined under division (E) of section 155.99 of the Revised Code for a violation.