HB 1890 - Pennsylvania General Assembly

On Thursday of this past week (March 10), HB 1890 (here) was referred to the Education Committee of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.  The bill is sponsored by Rep. Donna Oberlander (R–63) who provided a detailed legislative memo with the bill.  I agree with one of her points and disagree with most of the others.  Here are two of Rep. Oberlander's statements from the memo:

• In the aftermath of a number of tragic school shootings, there is a debate across the country on how we can better protect our children.  While most of this discussion surrounds whether or not more gun control measures are needed, I believe we must look at all options when it comes to improving the safety and security of our children, teachers and school staff. 

Agree.  There are very often a variety of possible solutions to problems.

• As we weigh our options, I believe we need to consider providing school employees with more choices than just locking a door, hiding in a closet or diving in front of bullets to protect students.  With the legal authority, licensing and proper training, I believe allowing school administrators, teachers or other staff to carry firearms on the school premises is an option worth exploring. 

Disagree.  Here’s why:

In my opinion, when we give serious thought to permitting administrators, teachers and other staff members working in schools to carry deadly weapons in order to stem gun violence and protect children, we have begun a steep tumble down a very dangerous and slippery slope.  Guns in the hands of law enforcement is a good thing because those women and men spend their entire careers training and re-training on how to react in situations in which they need to make split second decisions about the application of deadly force.  Guns in the hands of administrators, teachers and staff members is a very bad idea because, well…they don’t do this.  

How will someone whose professional preparation and practice is related to teaching and learning - and not law enforcement - react under such compelling circumstances?  How will they know how to make those split second, life and death decisions?  How can we think that asking them to do that when surrounded by children can end well even some of the time?  What kind of incredibly difficult position would we be placing police officers in when they realize, upon responding to a school shooting, that they will need to enter a building in which there are armed teachers and other school personnel who will be making split second decisions about the use of deadly force for which they have not been prepared to the same level as the police?  Can those officers be confident that those teachers will be able to differentiate between them and active shooters, given the harrowing situation in which these teachers have suddenly found themselves?  Is it possible that police officers will encounter other adults with guns in the building and, despite their training, err in their own choice to use deadly force?  That is, will the proliferation of guns in these incredibly stressful situations hinder the ability of the police to differentiate as quickly as they need to the good actors from the bad ones?

I wonder.

Until next time…