Ohio Police May Not Know if Teachers Are Armed in Schools
Under current laws, some worry that teachers could be mistaken for gunman by first responders.
James Austin Hancock was arrested near Madison Jr./Sr. High School shortly after the February shooting.
Although there’s no law banning the arming of teachers and other school staff members in Ohio, schools are also not required to make their gun policies public.
The lack of regulations surrounding the arming of school staff members means many police departments in the state have no information about the amount of guns in local schools.
Currently, any school employee with a concealed carry permit can get approved to carry their weapon on school grounds. Whether or not the school district shares that information with local police is up to administrators.
“I just can’t imagine local law enforcement responding to a threat in a school, walking into a building and not knowing if the person standing in the hallway with a gun is a first grade teacher or an angry gunman,” National School Security Consultant Ken Trump told wcpo.
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There have been several attempts by the state legislature to pass laws to clarify the existing regulations, but no bills have passed.
The guns on campus debate was reinvigorated in Ohio by the school shooting at Madison Jr./Sr. High School on Feb. 29. In that incident, a freshman student shot two classmates in the school’s cafeteria and injured two more before fleeing. A school resource officer was stationed at the school at the time and the shooter was arrested without incident shortly after.
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