Ohio Senate OKs bill allowing teachers to carry guns at school without needing peace-officer training

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Ohio teachers and other school personnel would be expressly allowed to carry firearms on school grounds without needing prior peace-officer training or experience, under legislation passed 21-10 by the state Senate on Wednesday.

Senate Bill 317, which now heads to the Ohio House, comes in response to a 12th District Court of Appeals ruling against the Madison Local School District Board of Education in Butler County. The district had allowed school employees to voluntarily carry concealed firearms so long as they have a conceal-carry permit and undergo active shooter training. The case is now before the Ohio Supreme Court.

State Sen. Bill Coley, a Butler County Republican sponsoring the bill, said the “court went off the reservation” with its ruling. The legislation, he said, would ensure that “school districts in my area of the state can have the same rights that all of your school districts in your areas of the state have.”