PANAMA CITY— Do more guns on school campuses, in trained hands, make for safer students?
Rep. Greg Steube thinks so, and it’s why he spent months crafting legislation that could allow teachers to carry concealed weapons in the classroom.
The bill (HB 1097) has yet to receive a committee hearing, but if passed, it would dramatically change the landscape of gun-free school zones. It would let principals choose one or more school district employees to carry a concealed weapon or firearm on campus — provided they took a training course.
“In the bill, it requires them, before being designated, to go through the same exact training that is required of every armed security guard in the state of Florida,” said Steube, R-Sarasota.
Principals also would have the option to require additional training.
The bill was motivated by the dearth of school resource officers on campus, Steube said. It would remedy that, requiring every public school — elementary, middle, junior high or secondary — to either have a resource officer or employee designated to carry a concealed weapon.
“Right now somebody can stroll on to any of the school grounds and know that there is no one there that is armed, especially if they don’t have a school resource officer,” he said. “On the Columbine incident, those individuals waited for the school resource officer to go to lunch before they went on the campus.”
Locally, officials aren’t keen on the “more guns means a safer campus” mantra. Bay District Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt is in that crowd.
“I have serious concerns about anyone having weapons on our school campuses other than trained law enforcement officers,” he said in a prepared statement. “It just seems that it would provide an opportunity for too many scary scenarios that could be harmful to students and staff.”
Steube pushed the bill as an “option” for principals who want a safer school. He said all the elementary schools in his district don’t have resource officers, but trained personnel packing heat could protect children from potential gunmen.
“If there’s no school resource officer, it’s going to take law enforcement awhile to get there. Why take away the ability for law abiding citizens who go through proper training to be able to defend themselves and defend the children at the school,” he said.
Steube said a lot of teachers are former military and law enforcement, so they have extensive firearm training — often more than school resource officers — but currently they can’t carry their guns on campus. But if the bill passes, the tables could turn.
A gunman “could theoretically be walking into a school where there’s 10 people that have been designated to carry,” he said.
Bay resource officers
Husfelt said the schools should focus their energy on educating students, not a job that should be done by law enforcement.
BayDistrict SchoolBoard member Steve Moss feels the same way. He said though some teachers and staff may have concealedcarry permits, he wouldn’t want them bringing their guns to school.
“I would feel much more comfortable with an actual (school resource officer) — whether it be a licensed deputy from the county or the municipalities — being able to carry [a gun] on campus,” he said.
Moss said Bay County’s public schools don’t have resource officers on every campus, but there is one at every public high school, at several elementary schools and ones that “float” among the middle schools. He added that the school district could be open to liability if an employee, legally carrying a weapon, were to accidentally fire the gun.
Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, the bill’s Senate sponsor, said the legislation is about ensuring Florida doesn’t experience a Newtown, Conn.-style shooting.
“We have seen a pattern of gun-free zones being the sites of these massacre-type activities,” he said.
Hays also touted the bill as a cost-saver. Putting school resource officers on campus costs about $100,000 each, so arming a few staff members would be less expensive, he said.
“If you knew that there could be faculty members packing heat, would you be as likely to go in and attack that school?” he asked.
Hays’ bill (SB 1418) would not present school boards with an either/or option, requiring they have resource officers or armed staff. He said that would be an “unfair” and unfunded mandate.