COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine held a press conference Monday morning regarding school safety where he also confirmed he had signed House Bill 99, which would permit school employees to be armed.
The law would require school workers who carry guns to have up to 24 hours of initial training with up to eight hours of requalification training annually.
"It is important to emphasize that the bill does not mandate the arming of school staff members but leaves the decision entirely to local school boards, which have the best understanding of the needs of their individual districts," according to a press release from Gov. DeWine's office.
We streamed the full press conference, which you can watch below.
RELATED: School leaders, community members respond to potential of Ohio's HB 99 being signed into law
He was also joined by the following people during the press conference, which was held at the Ohio Department of Public Safety in Columbus:
- Lt. Governor Jon Husted
- Rep. Thomas Hall (R-Madison Township)
- Sen. Frank Hoagland (R-Mingo Junction)
It comes just a few weeks after Gov. DeWine announced $4.8 million in grants had been awarded to nearly 100 schools throughout Ohio in the state’s K-12 School Safety Grant Program “to help them improve the overall safety and security of their buildings.” The funding can be used to cover expenses associated with security enhancements like cameras, automatic door locks, public address systems and visitor badging systems.
The list of schools receiving the grant money include 19 in Cuyahoga County, seven in Lorain County and two in Summit County. You can see the full list of recipients and how much money each school is getting HERE.
Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published in an unrelated story on June 12, 2022.