“The Pennsylvania State Senate approved SB 383 in late June,” witf.org reports in their article Giving Teachers Guns. “The bill that would allow school district employees to bring guns to school. The bill is currently before the House Education committee.” Did you catch that? “Allow.” The presumption being, of course, that teachers don’t have a Second Amendment-protected right to keep and bear arms; it’s a “privilege” that might be bestowed upon educators by state government. Under the following conditions . . .
The text of the bill states “THE board of school directors in a school district may establish a policy permitting school personnel access to firearms in the buildings or on the grounds of a school.” Essentially, the district would draw up a firearms “safety plan” and submit it for approval with local law enforcement. The plan would be held confidentially under a 2008 “right-to-know” law.
Personnel would need a carry permit and proof of firearms training to bring a gun to school. They would also be required to pass a psychological screening. The bill has met opposition from the Education Law Center, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, and the National Rifle Association.
The NRA was behind the bill in its original form and revoked that support when State Senator Sharif Street (D-3rd) added the provisions for a safety plan and psych screening as amendments.
Safety plan? See school shooter, shoot school shooter. Psychological screening? Now that’s a toughie . . .
Given the inherent difficulty of pre-crime perp identification, I reckon potential pistol-packing PA teachers should take the test at the end of The Five Love Languages. Once a shrink knows a teacher’s primary love language, the mental health professional could regularly check to see if the teacher’s “love tank” is full.
Mine isn’t — when it comes to protecting our schools from crazies and terrorists.
The NRA’s 2013 National School Shield Report laid out a comprehensive approach for protecting our children from a violent attack on school grounds — including target hardening and best practices for dealing with assaults. Sad to say, it seems a safe bet that its words will come back to haunt educators who failed to heed its warnings and advice.
Meanwhile the belief that “allowing” teachers to exercise their gun rights in schools is a bad idea — or even that it should be the only idea — is dangerously delusional. If the Sandy Hook slaughter didn’t make the educational community wake up to the deadly danger that could walk through the school gate at any time, what will?