Ohio teachers and other school officials will be able to carry firearms at a school with a small portion of the training required since last year after Gov. Mike DeWain signed the bill Monday.
While employees have been allowed to carry weapons on school grounds for years with the consent of the local school board, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that U.S. law requires them to first undergo the same basic training for peacekeepers as law enforcement officers. authorities or security officers carrying firearms on campus – which includes more than 700 hours of training.
That decision, Mr. DeWain said Monday, has made it largely impractical for Ohio’s school districts to allow employees to carry firearms.
Under the new law, a maximum of 24 hours of training will be enough for teachers to carry weapons at school, although the local council will still have to give its approval. Twenty-eight states allow people other than security officials to carry firearms on school grounds, with laws in nine of those states explicitly mentioning school employees, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Research in recent years has shown that the majority of Americans and the vast majority of teachers oppose the idea of arming teachers.
In a statement on the passage of the bill, Mr Dewain said his office was “working with the General Assembly to remove hundreds of hours of curriculum that are not relevant to school safety” and thanked the legislature “for passing of this bill to protect children and teachers in Ohio. ”
The governor stressed that local school districts will still have the option of banning firearms on school campuses. “This does not require a school to arm teachers or staff,” he said. “Each school will make its own decision.”
Last week, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said his city would continue to ban teachers and other non-security personnel from carrying weapons in schools.
Ohio’s new law, which passed abruptly and quickly through the U.S. Senate after the school shooting in Uwalde, Texas, was passed on June 1 on a roughly party basis, with two Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against it. The bill passed the House in November, also after an almost party vote; one Republican joined the Democrats by voting against.
In a Senate speech, Republican Sen. Niraj Antani, a Republican, dismissed the “crocodile tears” of lawmakers who considered the bill dangerous, saying armed teachers would prevent school shootings and called the bill “probably the most important thing. which we did to prevent a school shooter in Ohio.
Significant opposition to the bill grew against him during his trip through the legislature. Hundreds gathered in the halls of the commissions to hear the bill, all but two or three speakers testifying against it. The opposition included gun control groups, as well as teachers, school board members, police union representatives and police chiefs.
Robert Myder, who recently retired as commander of the Columbus, Ohio Police Department, called the training requirement in the bill “terribly inadequate,” saying it “would cause harmful accidents and potentially even unnecessary deaths.”
The bill is the second major gun bill that Mr. Devine, a Republican, signed into law this year. The first, which went into effect on Monday, removes the requirement to have a license to carry a concealed pistol.
The governor faced strong pressure to tackle gun violence after the 2019 shooting in Dayton, when nine people were killed and 17 wounded by a young man who opened fire in front of a bar. In the days following the shooting, a crowd of vigilance greeted Mr Dewain with loud chants of “Do something!” Which will become something of a motto for those seeking action against gun violence.
Mr Dewain initially voiced support for the so-called Red Flag Act, but neither he nor any other gun restrictions went to the vote in the Republican-controlled legislature.
In 2021, Mr. Dewain signed the Defend the Earth measure, which allows people to use deadly force without first trying to withdraw from a dangerous situation. He signed a bill allowing concealed carry without permission in March. Republicans argued in the debate before this latest bill that the drastic reduction in the training required of teachers to carry weapons is in itself a response to people’s demands for action against gun violence.
“We’ve heard people say ‘Do something,'” said Republican Sen. Terry Johnson in the Senate. “Well, that’s something and it’s an important thing.”
Democrats, who are far superior to the legislature, were left to condemn the bill and warn of its potential consequences.
“They just wanted to say they were doing something and what they missed was unscrupulous,” said State Senator Theresa Fedor, a Democrat who has served in the Air Force and taught fourth grade for years. “They will have blood on their hands.”
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