The state senate is likely to vote later today on a proposal requiring school boards to let the public have a say about whether anybody should be able to carry a gun in a school.
State law says school boards can let any teacher or administrator carry a concealed weapon. Kansas City Senator Jason Holsman, a former high school teacher, says guns in classrooms mathematically make children less safe. He proposes the school board hold a public hearing before designating a teacher or administrator as a school protection officer.
But Holsman runs into opposition from Senator Brian Nieves of Washington, the sponsor of a bill defining what parts of federal firearms laws the state will honor, who says he doesn’t want to “advertise” that a school does not have a gun-carrying safety officer.
Holsman thinks parents should be able to address school board members before the decision is made. Nieves says they should speak at the ballot box when they elect a school board. Holsman’s proposal likely to come to a vote later today also says the protection officer could carry non-lethal weapons such as pepper or bear spray instead of a gun.
Both his plan and Nieves’ bill Holsman wants to amend require the protection officer to go through police officer training.