Ohio governor Mike DeWine signed a bill on Monday to allow school employees to carry guns on school property.
The law requires employees who wish to come to school armed to complete 24 hours of training in programs approved by the Ohio School Safety Center. Additionally, the bill requires eight hours of annual training for approved employees. School districts may choose not to allow armed employees if they wish under the new law.
“This does not require any school to arm teachers or staff,” DeWine said at a press conference on Monday after signing the law. “Every school will make its own decision.”
The bill also allocates funds for mental-health programs and other school-safety measures.
The signing comes weeks after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which left 21 people dead including 19 students and two teachers.
“Although this bill was in development before the recent tragedy in Texas, that heartbreaking school shooting certainly, certainly increased the urgency to enact it,” DeWine told reporters.
After the bill was passed by Ohio’s state legislature earlier this month, DeWine said in a statement that “I look forward to signing this important legislation.”
Responding to the signing on Monday, Nan Whaley, Ohio’s Democratic candidate for governor, wrote on Twitter that “Mike DeWine has made Ohio less safe.”