Employees in rural Arizona schools could soon be armed. The Republican-heavy Arizona Senate on Monday passed a bill allowing designated employees in certain rural schools to carry handguns.
The bill, if passed by the House and signed by the governor, would allow school boards to
authorize any employee to carry a concealed gun on campus if the school
has fewer than 600 students, is more than 30 minutes and 20 miles away
from the closest law-enforcement facility, and does not have its own
school resource officer, reports Alia Beard Rau of the Arizona Republic.
The bill would allow boards to
authorize any staff member who is also a retired law-enforcement officer
to carry a concealed weapon on school grounds, she writes. Schools would have to provide secure gun lockers, and the bill restricts
staff to carrying a concealed handgun, pistol or revolver.
Phoenix Sen. Steve Gallardo, a Democrat, said that even if the bill becomes law,
rural schools likely won’t be able to pay the astronomical fee required
to insure schools with gun-carrying teachers. “And if they can afford
that amount of money, they can definitely afford school resource
officers,” he said.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Rich Crandall, has said his bill is a measured
response to school safety issues and is designed to provide some
protection to rural schools that are far from law enforcement centers, reports Bob Christie of the Associated Press.
Earlier this month South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed a bill enabling state school boards to supervise the arming of school employees or hire security personnel, Sara Gates notes on the Huffington Post. South Dakota is believed to be the first U.S. state to sign such legislation into law, writes Gates.
M. Alex Johnson reports that a study conducted in January by NBC found that more than one third of states already allow teachers and other adults
to carry guns to school. In most cases, all you need is the equivalent
of a note from the principal.
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