Ohio wants to buy 'shoot houses' for training armed school employees in 67 districts
The state of Ohio plans to buy two "mobile modular shoot houses" to help train armed employees in 67 school districts how to respond to an active shooter.
The Ohio Department of Public Safety is asking the state Controlling Board on Monday to approve the $78,000 purchase from North Carolina-based Kontek Industries, which sells surveillance systems, body armor, gun turret systems and more.
The shoot houses can be assembled on site − indoor or outdoor − and can be configured to resemble houses, offices or other buildings. "The more realistic we can make the training, the better prepared armed school staff will be to respond to an active shooter," said Bret Crow, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.
Sixty-seven school districts in 36 counties arm employees within the buildings, according to rosters submitted to the state. The names of teachers and school personnel carrying guns are not public records, nor are the total number of armed staff in each district.
The districts that agreed to train and arm school personnel tend to be more rural, where police response times can be longer due to distance. For example, there are six districts Belmont County and six in Shelby County that have employees carrying firearms.
Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 99 in September 2022 that lowered the required training hours. The classes must include:
scenario-based training
mitigation techniques
de-escalation techniques
tactics for responding to critical incidents
how to neutralize potential threats and active shooters
tactical live firearm training
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio plans to buy 'shoot houses' to train armed school employees
