Despite this impassioned and broad advocacy against this legislation, it was passed into law with the signature of Gov. (Mike) DeWine while he all but abandoned his commitment to enact moderate changes in Ohio gun policies and practices to fulfill his commitment to “Do something!” in response to the mass shooting tragedy in Dayton and the heartrending pleas from a traumatized Miami Valley community.
It is interesting to note that in a response to criticism regarding his signing of Senate Bill 215, Gov. DeWine specifically noted that the bill “did not address rifles or long guns, as concealed carry laws generally only address handguns and rifles/long guns cannot be concealed.”
Painfully ironic, the Oregon District mass shooter concealed his semi-automatic pistol (adapted to function as a rifle), 100-round drum magazine, additional magazines and ammunition in a backpack which he carried to a rear alley, where he assembled the weapon and the drum magazine within minutes and then began his rampage shooting, killing nine persons and wounding eighteen additional persons.
Concerns about increased gun violence in response to more lax gun policies are well founded. In late April 2022, a new report was released from the John Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions that examined gun fatality data for 2020, “a year that saw the highest number of gun-related deaths ever recorded by the CDC.” The John Hopkins Center media release regarding this study stated, in part:
“The year 2020 also saw a record number of gun sales…(and) nearly twice as many of these new guns showed up at crime scenes in 2020 than in 2019. The report found wide variations among states…(and) researchers note(d) that the states with the lowest gun death rates have stronger gun laws. Each of the five states with the lowest gun death rate had both the following gun laws in place in 2020: 1) a firearm purchaser licensing law or a waiting period; and 2) an Extreme Risk Protection Order law. Purchaser licensing laws require an individual to apply for and obtain a license before purchasing a firearm. Extreme Risk Protection Order laws are mechanisms to temporarily remove firearms from individuals at risk for suicide or violence against others.
Conversely, states that had the highest gun death rates in 2020 had stand-your-ground legislation, or laws that authorize individuals to use lethal force even in situations they might have otherwise been able to walk away from, and three of the five had permitless carry laws, which allow individuals to carry a concealed gun in public without a permit.”
Given the intense scrutiny on use of force by law enforcement officers, particularly deadly force, and the need to make every effort to prevent these incidents, these findings are disturbing.
HB 99 removes the requirement that armed teachers and school personnel complete 700 hours of peace officer training in order to carry a gun. Instead, it requires no more than 24 hours of training and eight hours of annual requalification training thereafter while allowing school districts to require more training than the state requires. This legislation was opposed by many of the organizations that opposed SB 215 was well as many educational institutions that also opposed the bill.
Opposition to such an incomprehensibly low standard is well founded. The response to active shooter incidents requires highly skilled, highly motivated, and well-equipped personnel to optimize safety to innocent persons and to those intervening to prevent violence. This is also true of other incidents of potential gun violence. These are not skills that can be developed in a minimal 24 hours of training or maintained with eight hours of annual training.
The hiring of properly screened, highly trained individuals that are singularly focused on school safety and who are properly supervised is the only reasonable approach to allowing armed personnel in schools.
However, the greatest contribution to school safety can only be derived by uncompromising attention to the human environment and the well-being of students and staff “BEFORE THE FIRST SHOT!”
While (active) school shootings are extremely rare, those that have occurred have common elements:
· Most school shootings are committed by students, former students, or school staff. A Police Foundation study of completed and averted school attacks from 1999-17 indicated that more than 82% of the perpetrators of completed attacks and 90% of those in the averted attacks were a current or former student (or school official). Thus, those who are most likely to pose a threat are known by students and school staff and are familiar with the school environment and safety practices.
· Active shooters often engage in leakage of their potential hostile intents via social media, technology, statements and even at times, school assignments. Thus, their potential intention to commit violence is not hidden. A culture within schools, among students’ friends and family members must be created to encourage prompt reporting of alarming or concerning behavior.
In order to rapidly respond to potential threats, school systems and law enforcement agencies that serve them must form dedicated, ongoing multi-disciplinary assessment teams to promptly assess and respond to potential threats.
Further, facilities that are designed and built with evidence-based safety features wherein student and staff compliance with safety protocols is meticulously adhered to can provide an overall enhanced safety environment.
Ohioans would be better served by a legislature and executive branches that support research on and implementation of best practices to prevent gun violence, particularly targeted violence and mass casualty assaults, rather than implementing piecemeal, unproven, and ineffective policies to do so.
Richard Biehl is the former chief of the Dayton Police Department
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