US schools take hard-line approach to shootings

Line of defense

For gun-rights activists and Republican state lawmakers, training and arming school personnel and adding armed guards have become the main and first line of defense against situations involving active shooters.

In Georgia, gun-rights groups have pushed for more educators to be armed.

Jerry Henry, executive director of Georgia Second Amendment, said in an interview with Reporter Newspapers, which is based in Atlanta: "Schools are a soft target, but once people understand that there's someone there who is armed, no one's going to go in there and shoot. Had one of those teachers in Uvalde been armed, then they could have not stepped in."

The Cobb County Board of Education near Atlanta voted to allow certain school staff members to carry guns. A law adopted in 2014 allows Georgia teachers and other employees to carry weapons in schools if local school boards authorize this.

In June, Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine signed a law allowing teachers who receive 24 hours' training to carry a gun in schools.

He also announced that 1,183 schools across the state would receive nearly $47 million to cover expenses for security enhancements such as surveillance cameras, public address systems and automatic door locks.

In Florida, more than 1,300 school staff members across the state serve as armed guards in 45 of 74 school districts, according to state education records. The heightened security followed the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where 17 people were killed by a 19-year-old gunman.

In Brevard County, Florida, Sheriff Wayne Ivey said in a video posted on social media last month that school resource deputies would wear new uniforms with a "tactical appearance that clearly signifies that we mean business", and carry a rifle at all times, according to the Local 10 News website.

Ivey said that previously deputies had to go to their patrol car to get a rifle before heading back into a building to deal with an active shooter.

He said making schools hard targets is his top priority, adding, "Let me be very clear, you are not coming into my schools and killing our children."

Ivey said some people have expressed concerns over the new tactical look and the level of preparedness, saying it reminded them of walking through an Israeli airport.

He said: "My response to them was simple. 'When was the last time you read about someone shooting up an Israeli airport? You haven't.' And the reason for that is that they are better prepared, better armed and better trained than anyone else. And they have won the war long before the battle was ever fought."

US President Joe Biden does not support hardening schools against potential shooters, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in June. "He believes that we should be able to give teachers the resources to be able to do their job," she said.

On June 25, Biden signed into law the first major gun safety legislation passed by Congress in nearly 30 years. "There are too many other schools, too many other everyday places that have become killing fields, battlefields here in America," he said.

In June, a PDK national survey showed 80 percent of respondents support placing armed police officers on duty when classes are in session and screening all students for mental health problems. Allowing teachers and other staff members to be armed was supported by 45 percent but opposed by 55 percent.