The idea of attempting to protect children in schools by putting more guns into schools won’t seem to go away.
It should go away.
Good politics, or popular politics, do not make good laws. House Bill 99, now to be considered by the General Assembly after passing favorably out of the Criminal Justice Committee last week, is such a bill. Perhaps well-intended, perhaps a political statement. The bill does not have the makings of a good law.
The bill guts current requirements for those who would carry handguns in schools. You’d think to protect kids you’d want a person with more training carrying a gun in school, not less. Current law requires that carrying a gun in schools by security personnel not on active duty requires either 20 years of service as a police officer or completing a basic peace officer-training program. That requirement makes sense. The vast majority of witnesses testifying on the bill opposed it, including some law enforcement organizations,
H.B. 99 would significantly reduce those requirements to those required for a concealed carry permit and about 20 extra hours of training.
More guns in schools is not the answer, and in fact, could lead to disaster. In poorly trained hands, guns could add to the chaos in an emergency and threaten the very children needing protection.
In fact, statistics show that even highly trained police officers struggle in confrontations with active shooters.
FBI analysis of responses to active shooters by law enforcement shows high casualties for officers when they encounter an active shooter in various venues.
Yes, there are a few cases where a shooter or would-be attacker is scared off, wounded, or killed, but those instances are rare.
Since tragedies ranging from Columbine to Sandy Hook, most school districts took steps making schools safer in the event of an attack by an armed individual — surveillance cameras, video monitoring, more secure exits and entries, policies to encourage reporting of suspicious activity. In many districts, students practice drills on taking cover in the event of a shooter.
Guns are not the most effective protection for students. The funding of additional training and security measures makes more sense than adding to the number of guns on school premises.
First Published November 15, 2021, 5:00 a.m.
