Ohio teachers and other school staff will be able to bring firearms to school with a small portion of the training required since last year after Governor Mike Dewein signed the bill on Monday.
Employees have been allowed to carry guns on school grounds for years with the consent of the local school board, but the Ohio Supreme Court in 2021 was a law enforcement officer under state law. Or it ruled that it was the first to require training of the same basic peace officers as the guards. Campus Carryers — 700 hours or more of instruction is required.
DeWine said on Monday that the ruling made it almost unrealistic for Ohio school districts to allow staff to carry firearms.
Under the new law, up to 24 hours of training is sufficient for teachers to carry guns at school, but local boards still need to give approval. According to the National Assembly of Parliament, 28 states allow non-security guards to carry firearms on school premises, nine of which state law explicitly refers to school employees. Mention. Recent polls show that the majority of Americans, and the majority of teachers, oppose the idea of arming teachers.
In a statement about the passage of the bill, DeWine said his office “cooperated with the General Assembly to remove hundreds of hours of curriculum that are not relevant to school safety,” and “with children in Ohio.” I thank Congress for passing this bill to protect teachers. “
The governor emphasized that the local school district still has the ability to ban the use of firearms on school campuses. “It doesn’t need a school to arm teachers and staff,” he said. “Every school makes its own decision.”
Last week, Mayor of Cleveland, Justin Bibb, said his city would continue to ban non-teachers and other non-security guards from carrying guns at school.
Ohio’s new law, which suddenly and quickly passed the legislature after a school shooting in Yuvalde, Texas, was passed almost along a partisan line on June 1, with two Republicans all. I voted against the Democrats. The bill passed the House of Representatives in November, which was also almost a partisan vote. A Republican voted against and joined the Democratic Party.
In a Senate speech, Republican Senator Niraj Antani dismissed the “crocodile tears” of lawmakers who saw the bill as dangerous, and armed teachers stopped school shootings and “probably” billed. The most important thing for us. ” I did it to prevent shooters from schools in Ohio. “
Significant opposition to the bill grew against the bill as it passed parliament. Hundreds of people have been crammed into the committee’s room for a hearing of the bill, and all but a few speakers are against the bill. Opponents included gun control groups, teachers, school board members, police union representatives, and police chiefs.
Robert Meder, who recently retired from the police chief in Columbus, Ohio, called the bill’s training requirements “terribly inadequate” and claimed that it “caused harmful accidents and, in some cases, unnecessary death.”
The bill is the second major gun bill signed by Republican De Wine this year. The first one, which came into effect on Monday, eliminates the need for a license to carry hidden pistols.
The governor faced strong pressure to deal with gun violence after the 2019 shooting at Dayton. At that time, nine people were killed and 17 were injured by a young man who fired outside the bar. For several days after the shoot, a crowd of all-nighters greeted Mr. Dewine with a big chanting, “Do something!”. This will be like a motto for those who seek action against gun violence.
DeWine initially expressed support for the so-called Red Flag Act, but the Republican-controlled parliamentary vote had no other restrictions on guns.
In 2021, DeWine signed the “Stand Your Ground” bill, allowing people to use deadly forces without first trying to withdraw from a dangerous situation. He signed a bill in March that would allow unauthorized carrying. Republicans argued in the previous discussion of this latest bill that teachers would significantly reduce the training required to carry guns, in itself a response to people’s demands for action against gun violence. ..
“I’ve heard people say’do something’,” Republican Senator Terry Johnson said on the Senate floor. “Well, this is something and it’s important.”
A very large number of Democrats in Congress were left only to condemn the bill and warn of its potential consequences.
“They just wanted to say they were doing something, and what they got wasn’t conscientious,” said the Democratic Senate Teresa Fedor, who served in the Air Force and taught fourth graders for years. The senator said in an interview. “They will have blood in their hands.”