Ohio Gov. DeWine could soon sign bill to arm teachers 6/02/22 Transcript

Brittany Bailey: (00:01) Also, this morning at the State House, four major bills are making their way through the legislature. Topics include transgender athletes, money for the future Intel plant, guns in schools, and funeral home regulations. But one bill is catching the attention of many parents. It proposes allowing teachers to be armed with guns in schools. 10TV's Tino Ramos is live at the State House with the final legislation now heading to Governor DeWine's desk. Tino? Speaker 2: (00:29) Yeah. What we can tell you, Brittany, is the possibility of this happening, arming teachers in the classroom right here in Ohio is now becoming a reality. You're right. We're learning this morning that Ohio governor Mike DeWine is looking to approve this, this following a lot of action right here at the State House late last night. Now, this is a controversial bill we've been telling you about for some time now. Speaker 2: (00:47) It's called House Bill 99. It's had a lot of scrutiny over the last several months here. And that's because it would allow school districts to decide whether it's employees can carry handguns on school grounds. But these employees would have to go through proper training, including 24 hours of initial training and training that would include active shooter situations. It was on Wednesday the bill passed the House and Senate, and now awaits the signature of governor Mike DeWine, who stated last night that he would sign it. This was an issue that moved forward, following the school shooting last month in Uvalde, Texas. And it was clear the issue on whether to arm teachers in the classroom in Ohio was very divisive. Speaker 3: (01:27) It may be that the police and FOP and some folks officially say we don't like this, but I think there's a real disagreement. And so I think the answer is there can be people who are capable of protecting children in this crisis situation. Tina Fuentes: (01:43) I honestly think this is the most insane thing ever. Speaker 2: (01:51) Yeah. Clear division we're hearing from both sides. No doubt about it here. Now the governor, again, he's expected to sign that bill, probably sometime maybe even this week here, but you have to remember too, this only gives options to schools. So they can either arm an employee or a teacher in the classroom, or they cannot. So they do have that option. We'll keep you updated. Tino Ramos, 10TV News.