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Bill Would Require Armed Officers in Schools

Missouri's Capitol Building in 2017.
Meiying Wu / KBIA KEYWORDS

After Sandy Hook and Parkland, communities have remained extremely focused on school safety. Gov. Mike Parson created a task force on student safety. A bill heard in the House represented one piece of the proposed solution.

The bill would require every campus to have an armed school protection officer, which could be a teacher, administrator and/or those designated as volunteers to carry guns in school buildings. The teacher or administrator would first need to be designated as a school protection officer. A volunteer is anyone who has had previous law enforcement or military training.

Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, sponsored the bill. Schroer said he specifically included “volunteer” in the bill due to a former military soldier asking him why he didn’t take advantage of a skilled gunman who wasn’t busy. Schroer said at least one armed official in each school building will ensure safety, but some say otherwise. Dozens of Moms Demand Action, an activist group in support for gun control, appeared at the hearing in opposition to the bill. One of their spokespeople, Cathy Gilbert, said guns in schools would cause more problems with safety.

“There is no evidence that arming teachers will make schools safer. In fact, research shows that the presence of a gun increases the risks posed to children,” Gilbert said.

According to a study published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, “having firearms in schools increases the risk of injury or death from accidental firearms discharge.”

However, speaking in support of the bill, Rep. Dottie Bailey, R-Eureka, said the bill could open opportunities for community members.

“What a great kind of mentor the kids can have. And this will give a lot of people, especially a lot of former military men and women a new purpose to protect a school full of kiddos,” Bailey said.

There was no mention on how a “volunteer” would go through a background check if working on the school grounds.