OH Supreme Court - Madison School District Can Arm Teachers Awaiting The Final Ruling
Madison School District can keep its staff armament program while the Court considers the legal challenge to the program, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled. The school district is embroiled in a court battle with several parents backed by Bloomberg's gun-control groups, Everytown For Gun Safety, and its in-house law firm Everytown Law, which represents them in the case.
Madison school district appealed the decision by the 12th District Court of Appeals that prohibited the school from arming its staff. A group of parents led by Erin Gabbard sought to prevent the school from arming its staff unless they received firearm training equivalent to that of law enforcement officers.
The parents demanded a 728-hours training program while the school district was offering 26. Additionally, the litigants demanded disclosures of the policies and procedures used in selecting the armed staff. The parents had lost a legal challenge when Butler County Common Pleas Judge Charles Pater ruled that staff members were not peace officers, thus not required to undergo the extensive training program.
The current ruling received a nod from the majority of the Supreme Court justices. Four of them agreed to allow the practice as the Court deliberated on its fate, while two dissented to the decision. Justice Patrick Fischer voted against the decision.
In its ruling, the Court took a precautionary approach to ensure that students were not put into harm's way the court hearings dragged on.
"A stay while this Court decides the merits of this appeal not only honors that policy choice until and unless this Court decides that policy choice is not permitted – it also ensures that the district is not made less safe in the meantime by what might turn out to be an erroneous lower court decision," the new ruling stated.
The Bloomberg-paid gun control activists were unhappy with the ruling. They claimed that lifting the ban on the staff armament program would endanger the students. They also protested that the school district had enough time to implement the new training requirements, but failed to do so.
Evidently, the parents are playing politics with the lives of their children because no evidence exists showing that having armed adults in schools poses any significant risks to the students. On the contrary, "gun free" signs have proven ineffective in preventing criminals from bringing their firearms. The only hope is that the Ohio Supreme Court will rule in favor of the school district and allow it to choose its security strategies to fit its circumstances.
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