On Monday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a bill which would allow Ohio school teachers to carry firearms on school grounds with reduced training hours.
The bill, HB99, reduces the number of hours that staff members must be trained in order to be approved to carry a firearm on school grounds. Teachers and other staff must now be trained for at least 24 hours, and staff will still be required to be approved by the presiding school board before being allowed to carry a firearm on school campus.
This training includes 20 hours of general training, and four hours of handgun-specific training, according to NBC4 Columbus.
“Our goal is to continue to help our public and private schools get the tools they need to protect our children,” DeWine said. “We have an obligation to do everything we can every single day to try and protect our kids.”
Ohio has allowed school staff to carry firearms with the consent of a school board for several years. However, in 2021 the state Supreme Court ruled that they must be subjected to peace officer training before being permitted to carry a firearm on school grounds, which equated to approximately 700 hours of training.
Ohio is one of only nine states to allow firearms on school grounds in any capacity. HB99 was introduced in February, several months before the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Governor DeWine pushed heavily for its implementation in the wake of the shooting.
The Ohio state Senate voted 23-9 in favor of the bill, and the state House approved it with a 56-34 vote, NBC4 reported.
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