Which states allow school staff to be armed? The answer changes day to day.
The recent murders in Florida left many of us wondering if we could do something to help protect our students. Many states allow armed staff in schools. Once the first school district in a state establishes such a program, then other districts often follow their lead. Other early adopters have moved forward and taken lessons from other states with long standing first responder programs.
The states marked in green [below] have at least one program approved by a school board or authorizing body. When we look at the map, most of us could put a program in place. We could protect our schools and our students today.
The laws that govern firearms near schools are often a leftover feature of the war on drugs. For very good reasons we didn’t want armed drug dealers standing at the front of our schools. Today, those same laws keep our children unprotected by disarming trained volunteers.
There are ways to protect our students even in the states that prohibit guns on school grounds. Some Florida sheriffs appointed selected school staff as auxiliary deputies. Auxiliary Deputies usually handle traffic at the county fair. They block traffic for funerals and parades. Now, that classification of law enforcement officer is being used for a different purpose. A sheriff deputized trained teachers to protect our schools. The lesson is simple. There is often a way once there is the will.
Ask your local school board what they are doing to protect our children. Maybe they need your help.
Image: Excerpted from: https://pixabay.com/en/gunpoint-handgun-firearm-pistol-308107/
