Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced Monday he has signed a bill into law in order to make it easier for teachers to acquire and legally carry concealed guns in schools. The decision comes after multiple mass shootings across the United States, including the horrific Uvalde, Texas massacre at an elementary school which killed 19 children and two teachers.
DeWine stated the bill’s purpose is to allow “local school districts, if they so choose, to designate armed staff for school security and safety.” The measure allows teachers and staff to be able to finish training in less than 24 hours, instead of the700 hours of training in place to possess a firearm. It also requires eight hours of prequalification training every year, as well as training on stopping an active shooter, de-escalation techniques and first aid care.
“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” said DeWine.
The measure has been opposed by teachers’ unions, the state’s Fraternal Order of Police and gun safety groups, reports NBC News. Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association and Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers said in a joint statement:
“The safety of Ohio’s students and educators is our utmost priority, but we know putting more guns into school buildings in the hands of people who have woefully inadequate training – regardless of their intentions – is dangerous and irresponsible.”
NBC News also noted that a 2020 RAND Corporation study found at least 28 states, including Texas, allow teachers or school staff to be armed in the classroom under varying conditions.
The bill’s sponsor, GOP state Representative Thomas Hall, said one reason behind the bill’s introduction was the distance of rural schools. “I use the example of rural schools versus urban schools. Urban schools, they have school resource officers, they have a police force that can be there within two minutes, three minutes. Some of these schools are not as fortunate.”