Dewine making it scary to raise kids in Ohio

Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine signed a bill into law Monday that will allows staff members to carry firearms in schools with 24 hours of training.

Approval of House Bill 99 comes just one year after an Ohio Supreme Court decision in June of 2021 to strike down a similar policy implemented in the Madison Local School District and only months following the passage of Senate Bill 215, which allows for concealed carry without permits or training.

All of this, of course, on the heels of the tragic shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

In recent years, methods to stem the so-called “brain drain,” a phenomenon in which the most educated Ohioans are leaving the state in droves, has been a topic of bipartisan legislative discussion at both the state and federal levels.

Likewise, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce has previously addressed the brain drain as a key policy issue.

Importantly, regional brain drain, in Ohio and the American Heartland at large, has been associated with an erosion of the local economy and opportunity and is known to sow society divide.

Antagonistic to the flow of individuals out of Ohio, shortly after completing my doctorate degree I was recruited to the state of Ohio to conduct research into therapies aimed at preventing pediatric cardiac death.

On moving to Ohio, I had hoped to make this a permanent home for me and my family.

However, in the time that I have called Ohio home, Dewine’s administration has all but gotten rid of any training and permitting requirements to own, carry and conceal firearms in this state.

Now going so far as to encourage educators to carry firearms into a classroom with only minimal safety training.

All actions that dissuade me from wanting my children to grow up in an Ohio public school system and encourage me to become a net zero in the brain drain calculation.

At a time when gunshots are the number one cause of death for children in the United States, we should focus on enacting legislation to limit access to firearms and protect our children as opposed to putting guns in more hands.

It’s easy to understand the brain drain if your children’s safety is the cost of staying in Ohio.

David Ryan King is a postdoctoral scholar specializing in cardiology at The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. He recently moved to Ohio from Virginia with his wife and two children.