A North Carolina bill allowing concealed handguns for teachers and several other individuals in children's schools passed a Senate panel.
The proposal is among two pieces of legislation that were recently passed and each requires gun holders to have written permission from school leaders. They are also required to have a valid concealed handgun permit to carry firearms on school grounds.
North Carolina Passes Bill for Concealed Handguns for Teachers
Additionally, the Senate bill would allow parents, teachers, or others to serve as volunteer armed guards for the school. However, they are first required to take eight hours of annual training before they are allowed to do so.
In a statement, private school parent Rachel Brady said that children are the most vulnerable in today's society. She said it is good that there are protections in place to ensure that responsible adults, who go through the requirements, could be designated by the school to serve as kids' protectors, according to WRAL News.
Currently, private schools can hire private security, but supporters of the new bill argue that not a lot of establishments have done so. This comes as many schools are relatively small and only have a few dozen students and do not have the necessary funding for professional security units.
On the other, larger schools choose to instead spend funding on different purposes and simply rely on volunteers to provide free security. Almost all public schools in the state have armed sheriffs' deputies providing security on campus.
The latest proposal is part of a larger trend in North Carolina where Republican lawmakers are trying to address the rise in the number of school shootings. A similar bill passed the House Judiciary 2 Committee a day before the latest one, NCNewsline reported.
Addressing the Increase of School Shootings
That particular bill allows schools to store tasers, pepper spray, and other "less-than-lethal" weapons. A separate provision in the latest bill allows for firearms to be carried by attendees of worship services, funerals, weddings, and other religious events that are held at places of worship located on the grounds of private schools.
Rep. Keith Kidwell said that it is common sense to have more than just a knife when a bad guy shows up with a gun. On the other hand, opponents of the bill argue that it would only make private schools more dangerous by having more carnage when an incident breaks out.
Rep. Julie von Haefen said that adding more guns to school environments will only bring more chaos. She said that guns are already the leading cause of death for students and children in North Carolina, as per the News Observer.
