Ohio Governor John Kasich signed a possibly dangerous gun law this week.
The big part of this bill is that it allows people to carry concealed weapons into daycares and colleges. Also, people are allowed to have guns in their cars in their employers’ parking lots.
The bill would allow people with gun permits to carry their weapons in the following places:
- state and local government buildings that lack metal detectors and other security measures, except for county buildings housing children’s services
- childcare centers and in-home daycares that do not post signage prohibiting concealed weapons
- on college and university campuses if the boards of trustees choose to allow them
- school safety zones, so long as guns are left in a vehicle
- public areas of airports
Many gun-control advocates in Ohio are disappointed with this move. We should be passing more gun control laws not taking them away. Michele Mueller, head of Ohio’s Moms Demand Action chapter, said:
“Governor Kasich ignored the concerns of law enforcement, business leaders, gun violence survivors, moms, daycare providers, campus stakeholders and students. By signing Senate Bill 199, Governor Kasich is siding with gun lobby interests over public safety.”
Many people think that they would be able to intervene if there is a shooting, but civilians really don’t help in those cases.
Jennifer Thorne, Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence Executive Director, said:
“All of the credible information we have shows having civilians with concealed carry in active shooter situations doesn’t help. It makes a really difficult job of determining who’s the bad guy and who isn’t that much harder.”
Also, active duty military members are allowed to carry their weapons without a permit. At least they have training, but that still just seems unnecessary.
Haven’t we had enough school shootings? This is not going to help. Also, having guns around children in a daycare just really seems like an accident waiting to happen.
Featured image via Twitter
