COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio school districts could begin arming employees as early as this fall under a bill signed Monday by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
The law, as enacted, requires up to 24 hours of training before an employee can go armed and up to eight hours of annual training. Training programs must be approved by the Ohio School Safety Center, and DeWine announced that it requires the center to require a maximum of 24 hours and a maximum of eight hours.
Schools can offer additional training if they wish, DeWine said.
Prior to announcing the signing of the bill, the governor described several other school safety measures he and lawmakers have promoted, such as $ 100 million for school safety improvements in schools and $ 5 million for school safety measures. updates to universities.
The state is also adding 28 employees to the school safety center to work with districts on safety issues and to provide training under the new law. Ohio has also provided $ 1.2 billion in welfare funds for schools to address mental health and other issues, the governor said.
The new law “is giving schools an option, depending on their particular circumstances, to make the best decision they can make with the best information they have,” DeWine said.
The governor said his preference remains for school districts to hire armed school resource officers, but said the law is another tool for districts that want to protect children. He stressed that it is optional, not a requirement.
Several mayors in the big city of Ohio, all Democrats, rallied Monday afternoon to criticize the measure and the failure of Republican lawmakers to consider any arms control proposal. Mayors call for universal background checks, red-flag laws to ward off firearms from anyone considered a threat, raising the legal age to buy weapons at 21 and banning assault rifles like those are used at the school in Uvalde, Texas. shooting that killed 19 elementary students and two teachers.
“All of this is common sense,” said Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz. “We are in a situation where we cannot pass legislation that 95% of our citizens support.”
Also Monday, former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, DeWine’s Democratic opponent of the governor, criticized DeWine for signing the Armed Forces Employees Bill, saying he had not fulfilled his promise to address armed violence later. of a mass shooting in Dayton killed nine people and injured. more than two dozen in August 2019.
Whaley also criticized DeWine for having previously signed bills that removed Ohio residents’ obligation to withdraw before using force – the so-called “keep on the ground” law – and made a permit to do so. Hidden weapons were optional for those legally authorized to carry a weapon. The change of concealed weapons went into effect on Monday.
“Politics got tough and Mike DeWine folded,” Whaley said. “Nine people in Dayton were worth the political risk.”
In the wake of the Dayton massacre, DeWine announced his “Fort Ohio” plan to address armed violence. Her proposals include higher penalties for violent offenders caught with guns and ensuring that the mentally ill do not have guns if a court deems them dangerous to themselves and others.
Repressing violent criminals is also a way to protect children, the governor said. “We’re seeing a lot of kids being murdered not at school, but in their own homes, on their own streets,” DeWine said. “And they’re murdered by violent criminals, and they’re usually repeated violent criminals, who are shooting at random or shooting someone and the child gets in the way.”
Last year, 120 children were shot dead, up from 96 in 2020 and 71 in 2019, according to the state Department of Health.
DeWine on Monday again called on other Republican lawmakers to pass such measures, though they have so far shown no interest in the bills.
Democrats have said the law sends the wrong message so soon after the Uvalde massacre. Republicans say the measure could prevent such shootings. Lawmakers rushed legislation to counter the impact of a court ruling that said, under current law, armed school workers would need hundreds of hours of training.
The measure is opposed by the main law enforcement groups, gun control advocates and state teachers’ unions. It is supported by a handful of police departments and school districts.
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Gillispie reported from Cleveland.