Hi there, here’s your friendly @MomsDemand volunteer dropping in to explain why SB 64, Handgun Training for Teachers bad policy. Because the arguments yesterday were compelling. #INLegis

Some background:

In Indiana school boards can already enact a policy to arm their teachers

5 school corps arm their teachers in Indiana. SB 64 looks to standardize that training, so if a school decides to arm their teachers, they must be trained. Right now, no such standard exists.

Sounds like basic sense, if teachers and staff are armed, they better be highly trained

Yes. Agreed.

However, this bill only requires 40 hrs of training. The average police officer receive 168 hours of weapons, self-defense, and use of force training. Why would we require less of someone firing a gun in a crowd of children than police officers?

SB 64 uses funds from the Secured Schools Fund to provide this standardized training.

What we don’t want to see is schools, who are already under massive budget constraints, seeing a financial benefit to arming teachers over hiring a well trained, dedicated SRO.

Mass shooters often have a connection to the school. Most (78%) obtain their guns from their own home, their relatives’ home or from friends. There are often warning signs. In 93% of cases there were behavioral warning signs that caused others to be concerned.

So what could #INLegis do instead of encouraging schools to arm teachers with a cost savings plan?

1. Pass SB 285–the safe storage of firearms to address the most common source of guns used in school violence.
2. Raise the minimum purchase age for semiautomatic firearms to 21.

3. Require background checks on all gun sales to keep guns out of the hands of minors.

School boards could:
1. Build public awareness campaigns about our Red Flag Law ( http://onethingtodo.org ) and Responsible Firearm Storage ( http://besmartforkids.org )

2. Develop and implement an evidenced based threat assessment program such as VSTAG
3. Upgrade schools so they can meet safety standards recommendations
4. Train staff (not students) on what to do during an active shooter situation
5. Establish safe and equitable schools

Yes, we have 5 school corps in Indiana who arm their teachers and staff, but if a school chooses to go that route (they shouldn’t), then allow their school boards to find the funding and be held accountable to their voters.

We should not be encouraging this dangerous practice.