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As featured today at ABCNews.com:
Mich. Lawmaker Wants to Arm Educators
Under Bill, Specially Trained Faculty and Staff Could Carry Concealed Pistols on Campus
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Under a Michigan bill proposed this month, specially trained teachers, administrators and staff could carry a concealed pistol on school grounds if approved by a principal. The controversial idea grew out of recent school shootings like those at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School in Colorado.
By DAVID SCHOETZ
Sept. 11, 2007
Anyone other than a member of law enforcement who carries a gun into a Michigan school right now is breaking the law and, according to one freshman lawmaker, likely intent on harming students, faculty and staff.
And there are horrific examples to illustrate Rep. David Agema's point: 32 shot dead on the Virginia Tech campus in April, five girls shot to death at an Amish school in Lancaster County, Pa., in 2006 and 13 people gunned down at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.
With precisely those school rampages in mind — as well as the notion that Islamic extremists may start targeting American academic institutions — Agema has filed a controversial bill that would allow gun-owning faculty and staff with proper training and permits to pack concealed pistols inside a school or on school property.
Agema, a Republican from outside Grand Rapids, introduced the bill this month with the support of 15 Republican sponsors.
"What motivated me to do this is a form of disaster preparedness," Agema told ABC News. "To me, it's about safety for kids first. I just think we have to have something like this if something starts happening with al Qaeda."
Under Michigan House Bill No. 5162, teachers, administrators and staff could carry a concealed pistol on school grounds if approved by a principal. The principal at an individual school could require interested educators to take additional training, perhaps with a police department.
The proposed legislation would also allow parents and legal guardians who already possess proper gun permits to carry concealed pistols on school property while picking up or dropping off a child.
Agema said entrenched partisan bickering with a Democratic-controlled Michigan House would probably prevent the bill from even emerging out of committee hearings.
Politics may not be Agema's only roadblock. Already, a stream of Michigan educators have come out against the legislation.
Doug Pratt, a spokesman for the Michigan Education Association, the state's biggest educator union, said his organization has always come out against concealed weapons. Still, he also described Agema's proposal as having "no logic."
"You talk to the average person on the street and this just doesn't fly," Pratt said. "Why would we take the chance of something tragic happening by simply introducing guns into the environment. Nothing about this makes sense."
Grand Rapids Superintendent Bernard Taylor, for example, told the local newspaper the proposed bill left him "speechless," before saying, "If that's what we've come to, I need to find a new line of work."...
The complete article can be found at; http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3586066&page=1
- Janq
Note: In 2004 VA passed legislation allowing parents to carry firearms concealed on their person and/or store said firearm in their car while on K-12 public school grounds. This came to be as a result of concern and complaints from parents who otherwise can legally carry in the state but could not do so when picking up their child or even waiting parked in queue. They prior would have to wait far down the the road from the school because prior the law was no possession within like 200 yds. or so of a schools grounds. Grounds meaning the furthest point which isn't necessarily the schools front door or student pickup/drop off zone. Following the passage of that law which was controversial there have been zero cases of a concealed carry or firearm stored in car parent going off the reservation and discharging their weapon on a school grounds.
Mich. Lawmaker Wants to Arm Educators
Under Bill, Specially Trained Faculty and Staff Could Carry Concealed Pistols on Campus
Under a Michigan bill proposed this month, specially trained teachers, administrators and staff could carry a concealed pistol on school grounds if approved by a principal. The controversial idea grew out of recent school shootings like those at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School in Colorado.
By DAVID SCHOETZ
Sept. 11, 2007
Anyone other than a member of law enforcement who carries a gun into a Michigan school right now is breaking the law and, according to one freshman lawmaker, likely intent on harming students, faculty and staff.
And there are horrific examples to illustrate Rep. David Agema's point: 32 shot dead on the Virginia Tech campus in April, five girls shot to death at an Amish school in Lancaster County, Pa., in 2006 and 13 people gunned down at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.
With precisely those school rampages in mind — as well as the notion that Islamic extremists may start targeting American academic institutions — Agema has filed a controversial bill that would allow gun-owning faculty and staff with proper training and permits to pack concealed pistols inside a school or on school property.
Agema, a Republican from outside Grand Rapids, introduced the bill this month with the support of 15 Republican sponsors.
"What motivated me to do this is a form of disaster preparedness," Agema told ABC News. "To me, it's about safety for kids first. I just think we have to have something like this if something starts happening with al Qaeda."
Under Michigan House Bill No. 5162, teachers, administrators and staff could carry a concealed pistol on school grounds if approved by a principal. The principal at an individual school could require interested educators to take additional training, perhaps with a police department.
The proposed legislation would also allow parents and legal guardians who already possess proper gun permits to carry concealed pistols on school property while picking up or dropping off a child.
Agema said entrenched partisan bickering with a Democratic-controlled Michigan House would probably prevent the bill from even emerging out of committee hearings.
Politics may not be Agema's only roadblock. Already, a stream of Michigan educators have come out against the legislation.
Doug Pratt, a spokesman for the Michigan Education Association, the state's biggest educator union, said his organization has always come out against concealed weapons. Still, he also described Agema's proposal as having "no logic."
"You talk to the average person on the street and this just doesn't fly," Pratt said. "Why would we take the chance of something tragic happening by simply introducing guns into the environment. Nothing about this makes sense."
Grand Rapids Superintendent Bernard Taylor, for example, told the local newspaper the proposed bill left him "speechless," before saying, "If that's what we've come to, I need to find a new line of work."...
The complete article can be found at; http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3586066&page=1
- Janq
Note: In 2004 VA passed legislation allowing parents to carry firearms concealed on their person and/or store said firearm in their car while on K-12 public school grounds. This came to be as a result of concern and complaints from parents who otherwise can legally carry in the state but could not do so when picking up their child or even waiting parked in queue. They prior would have to wait far down the the road from the school because prior the law was no possession within like 200 yds. or so of a schools grounds. Grounds meaning the furthest point which isn't necessarily the schools front door or student pickup/drop off zone. Following the passage of that law which was controversial there have been zero cases of a concealed carry or firearm stored in car parent going off the reservation and discharging their weapon on a school grounds.
