U.S. News
New Ohio law allows teachers to carry guns after 24-hour training
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- Ohio now makes it easier for teachers to carry guns at school.
- Gov. Mark DeWine on Monday signed a bill that will shorten the number of required training hours.
- Teachers in Ohio now only have to get 24 hours of training and a local school board’s authorization to carry a weapon at school.
Ohio’s new law made it easier for educators to carry guns in school, cutting the number of required training hours from more than 700 to just 24. On Monday, Ohio Gov. Mark DeWine signed a bill that slashed hundreds of hours of previously-required training.
The move comes after the deadly Uvalde school shooting last month which sparked a nationwide reckoning over gun control and school safety.
Teachers and educational staff in Ohio were already allowed to carry guns at school if they received 700 hours of peace officer training and received approval from their local school board. However, lawmakers believe the requirements were making it difficult for educators to carry weapons.
The new law requires teachers to undergo only 24-hour training to carry weapons. they will also need to obtain final approval from local school boards.
On Monday, DeWine said in a press conference that House Bill 99 has been moving through the Ohio legislature since last year. He acknowledged that the Uvalde shooting “certainly increased the urgency to enact it.”
“My office worked with the General Assembly to remove hundreds of hours of curriculum irrelevant to school safety and to ensure training requirements were specific to a school environment and contained significant scenario-based training,” DeWine said in a press release earlier this month.
The bill has sparked outrage from teachers’ unions and law enforcement alike, arguing that arming teachers is risky and dangerous. The Ohio Federation of Teachers and Ohio Education Association urged DeWine to veto the bill. The Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio also spoke out against the law, saying that a 24-hour training is not enough training time.
Earlier this year, the Fraternal Order of Police’s government affairs director, Mike Weinman, testified that the bill would result in improperly-trained teachers and confusing chains of command during crises.
Teachers who opt to carry weapons during the school day would immediately become first responders when an emergency strikes.
DeWine has noted that local school districts still have the authority to ban firearms from school facilities.
“This does not require any school to arm teachers or staff,” he said. “Every school will make its own decision.
In 2018, a study found that arming teachers does not prevent school shootings. Research has found that increased guns in the classroom are likely to lead to more injuries and deaths.
Source: Yahoo! News
Vic
June 15, 2022 at 9:23 am
It’s not going to be 24 hrs straight, it going to be hours on each of multiple days. I’m sure if trainee feels they want to get more, it’s available. However, they can, and should be practicing between each training session and are not needing to rise to level of a Special Forces sniper, so the multiple sessions they’ll get are likely adequate. They can pursue much greater skill set themselves, if they wish.
Paul
June 15, 2022 at 10:32 am
Ask for retired law enforcement personnel, already trained, to guard every school in America! We have the time, and there is no doubt you’d get thousands upon thousands to volunteer. Our grand kids go to school; we want to help protect them!
Everett
June 15, 2022 at 12:56 pm
Just knowing that the school is ripe in guns should deter anyone thinking of coming onto campus with the sole purpose of doing harm. 24 hours of traing is better than none, and probably MORE than enough. It’s tons more protection than none at all, which is what’s been going on since all these left-wing, sicko democrat shootings for the last 40 years.
ken jenkins
June 15, 2022 at 1:36 pm
It is time to try this on a large scale. I hope this policy is tried on a large enough scale that fair and honest judgement can be made. Israel has a workable solution but for some reason our politicians don’t or wont go for it.
Mike Tracy
June 16, 2022 at 11:24 am
24 hours of training isn’t nearly enough to qualify teachers who have no previous experience using a firearm. A large crazy student could easily overpower many teachers who don’t also have training in fields of martial arts. Putting a firearm in the hands of a teacher who isn’t completely qualified and “willing” to use it is dangerous. Even elementary schools have students large enough to overpower most teachers one-on-one, and if a large powerful student happens to go crazy, a firearm in the classroom could be catastrophic if that teacher who carries it isn’t also fiscally trained to keep control of their weapon. It’s a much better approach to safeguard schools with impassable fences and entries with metal detection and instant lockdown capabilities with fully trained armed personnel who control the areas from behind bulletproof visibility of the entries and school grounds. These armed, fully qualified personnel could easily stay out of sight behind one-way bullet proof glass, so the school doesn’t resemble a prison. I’m certainly not against teachers concealed carry firearms in schools, but they must be qualified, and 24 hours won’t qualify an inexperienced user to effectively use a firearm or remain in control of it.