Ohio to purchase mobile home for firearms training for public school employees |

Ohio appears to be the first state to purchase shooting ranges (mobile homes designed for indoor firearms training) to better prepare public school staff to “respond to active shooters.” is.

The Ohio Board of Supervisors, which oversees state budget changes, approved public safety officials' comments. $78,028 request Last month, it purchased two shooting ranges to help train public school employees who are allowed to carry firearms on the job.

“Currently, we have movable canvas walls that can be configured to simulate responding to an active shooter, such as walking down a hallway in a school, but there are limitations,” said Jay Carey, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Public Safety. he said. “The more realistic the training can be, the better prepared armed school personnel will be to deal with an active shooter.”

Carey said the state is “purchasing” gun cabins because they “have doors and windows that allow armed school personnel to open the doors and look through the windows just like they would at a school.” This is because there are advantages such as windows.

Although Ohio is still in the “early stages of procurement,” ranges could be incorporated into teacher firearms training as early as this summer, Carey said.

Shoot house purchases are the latest winning streak Gun rights advocates in Ohio have regularly used deadly mass shootings to loosen restrictions on firearms in the state, especially in classrooms. The largest expansion of gun rights in Ohio in 2022 comes after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an Ohio elementary school. Uvalde, Texas. Ohio Republicans responded by lifting workplace firearms restrictions for school teachers, custodians, and bus drivers.

Under the 2022 law, school employees, who were previously required to undergo the same 700 hours of firearms training as law enforcement officers and security personnel, will now receive 24-hour instruction with permission from their local school board. After that, students will be able to carry guns at school.

Some of that training may soon take place at government-purchased shooting ranges.

“It's a waste of money,” said Kara Batlien Cohen, a high school science teacher in Ohio. “It doesn't make much of a difference where they got their training. How can you trust someone who has only had one or two days of firearms training? You want that person to be carrying a gun around kids. mosquito?”

For Republicans, Most likely candidate for president Among gun rights activists, calls for teachers to be armed and trained have become a key response to high-profile school shootings. But most American teachers oppose proposals to bring guns into the classroom, with nearly three-quarters of American teachers opposed.special trainingAccording to a Gallup poll conducted shortly after the 2018 Parkland massacre, it's to arm schools.

“We don't think union members should be required to be both educators and security guards,” said Jeff Wensing, vice president of the Ohio Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union.

According to the Ohio Department of Public Safety, there are currently 67 school districts in the state that allow armed employees. Most of these school districts are in rural Ohio, and Wensing said a “very small percentage” of teachers are concerned about what would happen if gun violence occurred on their campuses. Due to distance, law enforcement agencies tend to be slower to respond to calls from rural areas.

“If you live in these neighborhoods, it's a difficult decision to make,” Wensing said.

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If a local school district determines a gun is necessary, “we must put that student through advanced training,” Wensing said, “within 24 hours of state-mandated initial firearms training.” It is a difficult goal to achieve.

Contec IndustriesThe North Carolina-based defense company that manufactures the shooting facility that Ohio is preparing to purchase claims its model provides “realistic training” to “prepare tactical teams for missions.” .

“Oh yeah, let's put Sally and Joe into a video game simulation with the guns they bought,” said Laura Green, leader of the Ohio chapter of Moms Demand Action. We work to end gun violence.

Green, who lives in rural Ohio, remained skeptical about the need for firearms in rural school districts.

she pointed to something 2019 survey According to Everytown for Gun Safety, armed school personnel pose a risk of gun violence on campus, even if those personnel have received significantly more firearms training than required by Ohio law. It was found that it increases.

“Putting guns in these classrooms is not going to solve anything,” Green said. “Instead of paying tens of thousands of dollars to have a few teachers cosplay as being in Fallujah, why not put that money toward actually making schools, kids, and teachers safer?”