Cincinnati teachers prohibited from carrying guns in schools under just-passed resolution

The Cincinnati school board passed a resolution on Monday evening preventing teachers from carrying guns in schools, hours after the state’s governor signed legislation easing requirements for school employees to become armed.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) confirmed earlier on Monday that he had signed the bill, which grants school boards the ability to allow teachers and education staff to carry guns in schools after 24 hours of training. It was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature earlier this month.

The school board in Cincinnati responded by passing the resolution, which only authorizes Cincinnati Police Department officers and other law enforcement to carry firearms in the city’s schools.

The state bill had been introduced in February 2021, but lawmakers passed the bill in the wake of a string of recent high-profile mass shootings, including one at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and another at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. 

The legislation stipulates that school boards can arm employees after they complete 24 hours of training, including 18 hours of general training, two hours of handgun training and two hours of “additional” training for each of those categories.

Previously, employees had to complete 700 hours of peace officer training to carry a gun in schools.

DeWine had called for the legislature to pass the bill and two other pieces of legislation in response to the shooting, an NBC affiliate in Columbus reported.

The bill passed largely along partisan lines. In the state House, all but three Republicans voted in favor alongside unanimous Democratic opposition, while one Republican in the state Senate joined Democrats in opposing the measure.

GOP lawmakers in state legislatures and Congress have pushed for bolstering school security in the wake of the recent shootings, often through proposals to arm teachers like the new Ohio law. 

Many gun control advocates have dismissed the idea, arguing it would harden schools into a prisonlike environment.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona last week railed against the concept of arming teachers, calling it one of “the stupidest proposals” he had heard.