Ohio law makes it easier for school staff to carry guns on premises

NEW YORK • Teachers and other school employees in Ohio will be able to carry firearms into school with a tiny fraction of the training that has been required since last year, after Governor Mike DeWine signed a Bill into law on Monday .

While employees have for years been allowed to carry guns on school grounds with the consent of the local school board, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that state law required them to first undergo the same basic peace officer training as law enforcement officials or security officers who carry firearms on campus - a process entailing more than 700 hours of instruction.

That ruling, Mr DeWine said, had made it largely impractical for Ohio school districts to allow staff members to carry firearms. Under the new law, a maximum of 24 hours of training will be enough for teachers to carry guns in school, though the local board will still need to give its approval.

Twenty-eight states across the US allow people other than security personnel 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.

Polls in recent years show that a majority of Americans, and a large majority of teachers, oppose the idea of arming teachers.

Mr DeWine emphasised that local school districts would still have the ability to ban firearms on school campuses.

"This does not require any school to arm teachers or staff," he said. "Every school will make its own decision."

Last week, Mr Justin Bibb, the Mayor of Cleveland, said his city would continue to prohibit teachers and other non-security employees from carrying guns in schools.

Ohio's new law - which moved suddenly and swiftly through the state Senate after the school shooting last month in Uvalde, Texas - was passed on June 1 along roughly partisan lines, with two Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against it. The Bill had passed the House in November, also on a nearly party-line vote; one Republican joined the Democrats in voting against it.

In a speech on the Senate floor, state senator Niraj Antani, a Republican, dismissed the "crocodile tears" of lawmakers who saw the Bill as dangerous, arguing that armed teachers would deter school shootings and calling the Bill "probably the most important thing we have done to prevent a school shooter in Ohio".

A sizeable opposition against the Bill had grown during its journey through the legislature. The opposition included gun control groups, teachers, school board members, police union representatives and police chiefs.

NYTIMES