Renewed Debate Over Arming Teachers After Uvalde Shooting
The tragic and deadly shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde , Texas, have renewed the debate over gun control measures, but another policy idea also has been thrust back to the forefront: arming teachers.
After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., in 2013, Texas passed a law allowing teachers to sign up as firearm-carrying “marshals.” The program has not had widespread adoption. Several other states have laws allowing teachers to carry firearms on school grounds.
Now, Ohio may follow suit with its own plan to allow arming teachers with guns.
Ohio Republicans have spearheaded the issue in their state, passing a bill in both the House and the Senate this week that would reduce the amount of training teachers need to carry a gun to school from 700 hours to 24 initial hours followed by four recurring hours of training that the state’s attorney general would oversee. Ohio school districts would have the authority to add additional hour requirements.
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