North Carolina state legislators introduced a bill that would give trained public school teachers who carry weapons a 5 percent raise.
The effort by Republicans in the state Senate is aimed at teachers who have basic police training and are called in the bill “teacher resource officers,” who would be allowed to carry firearms on school premises both openly and concealed and would have greatly expanded citizen arrest powers, similar to police officers’.
President Trump revived the debate over arming teachers following the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed. A Federal Commission on School Safety recommended in December that districts consider having staff carry firearms.
State Sen. Warren Daniel, who is one of the lead sponsors of the School Security Act of 2019, says that the bill would allow schools to use resources it already has at its disposal to increase security measures. While according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction most state public schools have at least one armed and trained resource officer, Daniels says that the hiring and maintenance of a resource officer is too expensive for some school districts.
“It’s extremely costly to put a school resource officer in every school … and there’s a great shortage of the number of applicants to law enforcement agencies. This bill is an attempt to bridge that gap,” Daniel said.
The idea of arming teachers has been a point of contention among lawmakers and educators since the Florida shooting. Investigations following the horrific episode highlighted lapses in security protocol and weak entry points. A commission in that state tasked with investigating the shooting finalized a report in January 2019 calling for arming and training more teachers.
