Ohio governor signs bill making it easier for teachers to have guns in schools

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday that he has signed a bill into law that makes it much easier for teachers to legally carry guns in schools.

The measure drastically reduces the amount of training teachers and other staff are required to undergo before they can possess a firearm on school grounds. Instead of 700 hours of training, teachers will be able to finish in less than 24 hours.

DeWine, a Republican, said in a statement June 1that the bill would allow “local school districts, if they so chose, to designate armed staff for school security and safety,” adding that it was more practical than the state’s previous standard.

June 3, 202202:07

“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,” he said.

The new law, which comes just weeks after the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, calls for eight hours of prequalification training every year, as well as training on stopping an active shooter, de-escalation techniques and first aid care.

The measure was opposed by teachers’ unions, the state’s Fraternal Order of Police and gun safety groups.

“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,” Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association, and Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, said in a joint statement June 3.

The bill’s sponsor, state GOP Rep. Thomas Hall, has said response challenges in Ohio’s rural areas was one of the reasons he believed the law was necessary.

“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 2 minutes, 3 minutes. Some of these schools are not as fortunate,” he said.

A 2020 Rand Corp. study found at least 28 states, including Texas, allow teachers or school staff to be armed in the classroom under varying conditions.