A minor Texas school district with an enrollment of around 1,200 pupils has officially approved gun carry from its instructors to safeguard the students.
In late February, the Grand Saline Independent School District, located east of Dallas, began allowing instructors to carry weapons.
“Every time there was a shooting incident, my board and I discussed it again,” Superintendent Micah Lewis informed The New York Post.
“Could we mitigate the harm if a lunatic entered here by being armed?”
Texas school district to arm teachers with weapons https://t.co/AAvkNrZVE7 pic.twitter.com/U6xkipMnbP
— New York Post (@nypost) March 7, 2022
Justification and Support
“We are educators,” he said.
“I despise that we are forced to do so, but once again, you must consider the options. Do you take down this student if he is shooting people down? It’s a simple response. You sacrifice one to rescue countless.”
Lewis informed CBS 19 he believed they would find support in the Grand Saline region. There will be a few folks who wonder why they would want to do that.
They just considered whether they believed their children would be safer or less safe if they did this, and they believed their children would be safer if they implemented the Guardian Plan.
It can be any one of the staff that would have firearms; it can be any county employee. Then, of course, they do not reveal who that is or where they are.
They do not disclose the number of employees on each site or building. However, it could be any district worker.
Lewis stated that district employees who choose to carry guns must get a license to carry and enroll in the program, which entails 40 hours of initial training and ongoing certification with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Additionally, staff members must possess a valid firearms license.Β “At all times, the guardian retains ownership of the pistol, which is not housed on campus,” the Post stated.
Previous Legislation
“One of the guards asked me, ‘Can you believe we’ve gotten this far?’ I never imagined this would happen when I entered teaching 30 years ago!'”
“Ninety-five percent of the people here favor this,” Lewis concluded. Outsiders are the only ones who have opposed it.
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“I believe weapons in schools are required these days,” one Grand Saline local told CBS 19. “People get insane. They bring firearms to school and begin murdering students. That is, there has been far too much of it.”
As National Review highlighted in June 2019, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott signed a measure allowing teachers to become armed marshals in schools.
Teachers interested in participating in Texas’ school armed marshal program, which was created after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, must complete active shooter exercises and 80 hours of training.
School marshals must keep their guns locked up and away from students unless their main job doesn’t require “frequent, direct interaction with students.” In that case, they can carry a concealed handgun, but they must keep it in a case.
