Ohio teachers who keep guns in their classrooms will have to leave them at home or attend peace officer training thanks to a 4-3 ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court.
The Wednesday ruling struck down a Southwest Ohio school's policy that let employees with concealed handgun licenses and a 24-hour training course carry weapons while in school. The court said state law requires full peace office training, which takes about 700 hours to complete.
State lawmakers could write a new law with standards for armed school personnel. The justices were clear on that point. But if they want it to take effect before kids return to the classroom this fall, they need to act by June 30.
Legislation in the works
Republicans in the House and Senate have introduced bills that would lower the requirements for districts wanting to arm their employees.
In the House there's House Bill 99, which would require a “person authorized to go armed within a school safety zone” to get a concealed handgun license. Any additional training would be at the discretion of the district.
"We simply give local control to the school boards and local governing bodies to decide what amount of training is necessary," Rep. Thomas Hall, R-Middletown, said back in April.
The bill is opposed by Ohio's Fraternal Order of Police, the Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers.
The other option, Senate Bill 168, would create a statewide school safety chief and 16 regional "training officers" who would offer their expertise to local districts on emergency plans for bomb threats, bus accidents, natural disasters and school shootings.
The bill doesn't specify what kind of training teachers should have, but its sponsor, Republican Sen. Frank Hoagland, said arming teachers might not be the best solution.
The former Navy SEAL runs a weapons training company that has held school safety trainings in the past.
"Most of those jackasses don’t have a clue. They think they do. But they don’t have a clue ... ," Hoagland said. "I had these supposed teachers who wanted to carry a gun crying because they didn’t want to take a shot."
What about the state budget bill?
Whatever they decide to do, time is running out.
The Legislature is set to leave for summer break June 30, and lawmakers don't plan on returning until September.
House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, told reporters that Hall had "a little fine-tuning he wants to do" on HB 99, but he didn't know whether some version of it would find its way into the state budget.
“One can never say about those things, but it would seem to me to be better as a standalone bill," Cupp said.
Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, wasn't sure whether the legislature needed to act before June 30. He told reporters he needed to read the decision first.
Another option is to add standards for arming school personnel into the state's two-year budget. The House and Senate are still hashing out the final budget bill, which must be signed by Gov. Mike DeWine before July 1.
The massive budget bill outlining how Ohio will spend its state tax dollars already includes $200,000 a year for schools that want to send their employees to a private training run by Buckeye Firearms Foundation called FASTER Saves Lives.
But adding all or parts of these bills into the budget isn't something Democrats can support.
“If it happens, we’ll all know Republican leadership caved to Buckeye Firearms Association instead of putting the well-being of our children first," Rep. Dave Leland, D-Columbus, said. "That would mean sticking this in a 3,000-page budget bill at the 11th hour instead of continuing the legislative process that brought hundreds of concerned citizens to the Statehouse."
Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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