Last week a panel investigating the Parkland massacre suggesting arming teachers. Today, President Trump’s commission on school safety said the same thing. Arm more school personnel. Adults trained to store, carry, handle, and use firearms. With one caveat.
Related: Obama Era School Meddling Results in Increased Violence, Drug Use, and Gang Activity.
The option of arming more trained adults must rest with state and local governments, senior administration officials said. But they said it should be an option. Especially in rural jurisdictions where the response time of local law-enforcement officials to a shooting could be longer than in other communities.
But it’s not the only option. The commission made several other recommendations.
Out With Another Failed Obama Era Policy
The 2014 School Discipline Guidance package is going away. The Obama Era program meant to soften disciplinary policy with regard to “minority” students. A policy with a direct connection to the Parkland massacre.
The government-will-protect-you-narratives of the gun-ban left took a few more hits this week. Broward County School Officials finally admitted (discovered?) that Parkland Shooter Nikolas Cruz was referred to the Obama-Era program. It prevents arrests for behavior that would have prevented Cruz from buying the gun he used in the shooting spree.
One suggestion that will get plenty of pushback from the right is extreme risk protection orders.
The commission also recommends the more frequent use of “extreme risk protection orders” by courts to confiscate firearms from people who are deemed a high risk of danger to themselves or to others. Gun-rights groups generally oppose such steps, and the senior administration official said the action must take into account an individual’s due process rights.
One Red Flag
This would be a hybrid version of a Red Flag law. Red Flag laws typically deny individuals of due process. Law enforcement takes your firearms on some variation of hearsay and the “defendant” is forced to invest time and money to convince a court otherwise.
It’s never a good idea to give the state that power. Not that the commission is handing it out. State and local authorities are free to embrace or ignore any of the recommendations.
The commission, which was chaired by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, made nearly 100 policy recommendations, mainly for state and local governments to consider. She said there is no “one size fits all” solution to prevent school shootings…”
“Local problems need local solutions,” Mrs. DeVos told reporters.
Now if we could get everyone in DC to agree to stop laundering local money through DC and we’ll be getting somewhere.