The Governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, signed a bill on Monday that allows teachers and educational personnel to carry weapons in schools with only 19 hours of training.
The new law drastically reduces the amount of training employees statewide must receive before they are allowed to carry firearms. fire in school facilities.
Previously, teachers and staff in Ohio were required to have 700 hours of training, according to the requirements of law enforcement officers, before school boards could grant them approval to be armed on school grounds.
DeWine said the measure, called the House Bill 99, had been in the works since last year, but the recent mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 elementary school children and two dead teachers, “certainly increased the urgency of enacting it.”
The new law, which will still require school boards to approve people, is more practical than the old rule, the governor argued.
“My office worked with the General Assembly to eliminate hundreds of hours of curriculum irrelevant to school safety and to ensure training requirements were specific to a school setting and contained meaningful scenario-based training,” DeWine said of the bill’s passage.
Teachers and staff will be required to receive training on how to stop an active shooter and de-escalate violent situations, as well as conduct simulated training exercises.
DeWine insisted that local districts could ban firearms on school grounds if they wish.
“This is not requires that no school arm teachers or staff,” he said. “Each school will make its own decision.”
Ohio teachers unions were among those who had urged the governor to veto the bill, arguing that putting guns in the hands of people who were not properly trained was “dangerous.”
“In the wake of the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Ohio lawmakers are racing to take action to address school safety concerns in our state. The Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers want to be clear: the House Bill 99 will make Ohio students are less safe in their schools,” the unions said in a statement.
“The safety of Ohio students and educators is our highest priority, but we know that putting more weapons in school buildings in the hands of people who have woefully inadequate training, regardless of their intentions, is dangerous and irresponsible” .
They added: “Teachers and other school employees should not be asked to perform dual roles as educators and armed school security personnel, but if they are, rigorous standards are essential training, as set forth in current Ohio law.”
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