AUSTIN -- Arming teachers could provide a critical measure of safety for students until police arrive in the event of a campus shooting, but could also put those teachers at "high risk" of being shot by responding officers, Texas state lawmakers were told Monday.
Lawmakers are grappling with the idea of allowing more non-law enforcement personnel to bring guns into classrooms in the wake of last month's shootings at a Connecticut elementary school.The guns issue has rapidly escalated into one of the most emotional decisions facing lawmakers this session, and Monday's joint hearing of the Senate education and agriculture, rural affairs and homeland security committees was the first to take public testimony on the matter.Superintendents of three small rural school districts that allow some teachers and administrators who have concealed handgun licenses to bring their weapons to class told lawmakers that they consider it a critical safeguard for saving students' lives in the event of a shooter on campus."If you can stop it in its inception, you have an obligation to do that," said David Thweatt, superintendent of Harrold school district, near the Oklahoma border.The Van school district east of Dallas voted last week to allow concealed handguns in classrooms. Superintendent Don Dunn said it was in direct response to the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which 26 people were killed, including 20 children.Although each of the Van district elementary, middle and high school campuses are within 2 miles of the Van Police Department, officials calculated that it would take at least five minutes for police to respond to an emergency call of a shooter on campus.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
