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Governor to sign bill allowing Ohio teachers to carry guns in classrooms
Ohio Governor Mike Dewine tells 21 News that he plans to sign a bill on Monday allowing Ohio teachers to carry guns in classrooms.
Monday, June 13th 2022, 4:37 AM EDT
Updated:
Ohio Governor Mike Dewine tells 21 News that he plans to sign a bill on Monday allowing Ohio teachers to carry guns in classrooms.
Speaking to 21 News at a Mahoning Valley Scrappers game at Eastwood Field, DeWine said, "What this new bill says is the school board can authorize someone to carry a gun but that individual has to have 24 hours of training and that training has to be specific schools."
Although Police are required to undergo 700 hours of instruction, the Governor said that training also includes instruction on laws, searches and seizures, and similar regulations.
"No school has to do this. This is up to a local school board. We believe in local control in Ohio. A local school may have a security officer in there," said DeWine. "The best thing is to have a police officer in the schools. They can be plain clothes, but some schools may not be able to do that."
The first year will require 24-hour training specific to schools.
"One thing I want to make sure is they have training on 'when do I shoot, when do I not shoot?' We want that training as close to real-life as possible," said DeWine.
The governor says he will also disclose information about money for mental health help on Monday.
Monday marks the date when adults will be allowed to legally carry a gun in Ohio without a permit and mandated training.
Asked if he believes this will lead to more violent crimes, the governor said about half of the states in our country have adopted similar laws.
"We talk about school shootings, we talk about gun violence, none of that is going to be impacted by this because they don't care about the laws anyway. They have guns and they don't care," said Dewine.
Governor DeWine also reiterated to 21 News that he has no plans to reduce Ohio's gasoline tax to give drivers relief from soaring prices, saying the cost of road repairs, paving, and infrastructure repairs have also increased and said this would not be a solution to the problem.
"What we lose in money you will start seeing on our roads so in six months from now you will see our roads not being repaired and that's not what we want. We want our roads maintained."