Every year, all kinds of bad ideas are introduced in state legislatures nationwide. Some of the most outlandish generate national attention, but they’re routinely ignored or defeated before becoming law. There’s generally little point in paying attention to such bills.
For example, when I saw some local reporting out of Ohio recently about a proposal to make it easier for teachers to carry guns in public schools, it seemed like a bizarre plan that stood little chance of success.
Yesterday, as NBC News reported, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine told reporters that he’d signed the bill into law.
The measure drastically reduces the amount of training teachers and other staff are required to undergo before they can possess a firearm on school grounds. Instead of 700 hours of training, teachers will be able to finish in less than 24 hours.
Some of the headlines and tweets about this have suggested that Ohio has now opened the door to teachers carrying guns in schools, but that’s not quite right: The Buckeye State already allowed teachers to be armed. That was the status quo before this new policy.
What’s different is that the previous policy required educators to get school-board permission and complete 700 hours of training. Under the new policy approved by Ohio Republicans, teachers won’t have to bother with nearly that much preparation and instruction: The training requirements have been slashed by about 97 percent.
NBC News’ report added, “The measure was opposed by teachers’ unions, the state’s Fraternal Order of Police and gun safety groups.”
The GOP governor, who’s up for re-election this year, signed it anyway.
It was nearly three years ago when a gunman in Ohio killed nine people and wounded 17 others near the entrance of a bar in Dayton. Soon after, DeWine faced a crowd of constituents who’d gathered for a local vigil, but his remarks were soon drowned out: The assembled Ohioans chanted, “Do something” with such volume and intensity that the Republican was effectively shouted down by the crowd. Yesterday, a reporter reminded the governor of what he heard in Dayton and asked, “Do you feel that what you’re doing today is exactly what those people intended?” DeWine replied, “I don’t know.” Do you get the feeling that maybe the governor did know and just didn’t want to say?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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