NH State Rep Melissa Litchfield is being attacked by the NEA for suggesting an LSR (a precursor / placeholder for an actual bill) that would allow a School District, as she states below, to allow school staff to be trained to handle firearms and then District to store “First Responder” firearms to use in case of an emergency where someone is (or trying to) kill students or staff (emphasis mine):
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Melissa litchfield<melissalitchfield@comcast.net>
Date: On Thu, Sep 29, 2022 at 8:45 AM
Subject: Fwd: LSR# 2023-0212, NEA-2nd Amendment
To: Melissa litchfield <melissalitchfield@comcast.net>
Cc:LSR that I have put forward…
In response to LSR# 2023-0212, the NEA has come out condemning it- this is just an LSR- bill has not been written and there is no official language.
Here is a link to what the NEA put out there last week: https://neanh.org/2022/09/22/nea-nh-condemns-rep-litchfields-bill-to-arm-new-hampshires-educators/
Reproduced in full below.
Here is my official response:
Surprisingly, the NEA has chosen to oppose LSR# 2023-0212, which they have never read. I say that they’ve never read it simply because no one has ever read it – the final draft won’t be available for at least another week. While terms, such as “weapons of war” or citing surveys about feelings, rather than data, may help them fight their own “culture wars”, they do very little to explain the actual bill.
Not surprisingly, their solution is to hire more dues paying members for their organization. The NEA is, after all, a labor union, with one of their main purposes being lobbying and advocating for educators – not students.
To clarify this proposal for people, I’ll introduce two concepts which were not addressed by the NEA: Student safety and facts.
The origins of this bill came about during my almost ten-year tenure on school boards, including our local Safety and Security committee. During this time, the idea of school safety was (and still is) a major concern. I was able to work with and receive suggestions from law enforcement, Homeland security, and educators. All of these groups suggested the idea of letting teachers have the ability to protect their students. The bill is not intended to have teachers carrying guns around schools or to be forced into harm’s way.
The bill allows for small firearms to be securely stored on campus. The only people permitted near these are staff members who have volunteered, trained and had background checks done on them. While every local law enforcement officer would race to a school with an intruder, they couldn’t get there as fast as someone already inside the building.
While it’s very easy to exaggerate the specifics of any proposed bill, this bill, as with all proposed bills, is subject to hearings with input from all sides involved. I invite the NEA to attend these hearings.
On a personal note, I also had to look at this bill as the mother of four school aged children. Hopefully, nothing ever happens in our schools. If it does, I would want the quickest response possible, whether it’s law enforcement or teachers who have volunteered, been vetted and properly trained.
I could have just summed it up, “NEA is shutting down explorations of Safety: Attacking 2nd Amendment
Sincerely,
Rep Melissa A Litchfield
Our Kimberly Morin, also of the Women’s Defense League of NH (which also happens to have a Teachers Discount!) has a post on all the Gun Control LSR that have been filed by the Democrats. Each one of them reduces your Constitutional Right to self defense. The one that sends my ire rising is the last one:
LSR 2023-0069 Relative to possession or is charge of a firearm in a school zone.
There’s no underlying text associated with it yet but it is targeting LAWFUL gun owners. The current Federal Gun-Free Zone law has exceptions in it for carrying on school property – here’s the one that Steve Shurtleff is targeting (pun intended):
(ii) if the individual possessing the firearm is licensed to do so by the State in which the school zone is located or a political subdivision of the State, and the law of the State or political subdivision requires that, before an individual obtains such a license, the law enforcement authorities of the State or political subdivision verify that the individual is qualified under law to receive the license; [So if you have a concealed carry permit, license, or another official document which permits you to possess the firearm assuming that there is some qualification standard in order to receive that permit/license.]
It’s Revenge Legislation as most Democrat legislators / Governors / Mayors around the nation are reacting in various and sundry ways to “work around” the Supreme Court Bruen decision that has made it really hard for Progressives/anti-Constitutionalists from imposing restrictions on the “keep and bear arms” of the Second Amendment. This and the others Kimberly listed would most likely be ruled unconstitutional and rendered void (maybe the Red Flag/EPO one, LSR 2023-0042, might pass muster). It would also affect me as someone with a valid NH Pistol/Revolver license signed by my local law enforcement.
It may become “interesting” if the Democrats regain the Majority in both the House and Senate and the Governorship.
NEA-NH Condemns Rep Litchfield’s Bill to Arm New Hampshire’s Educators
Posted on September 22, 2022 Posted in NH Public EducationTeachers should be teaching, not acting as armed security guards, or receiving training to become sharpshooters.
Why not? They are legally first responders if they suspect that a child is being abused (physically, emotionally, sexully), right? How much more sever can abuse get “above” killing a student by an armed intruder bent on creating mayhem and murder?
CONCORD, NH – SEPTEMBER 22, 2022- The very last thing our schools need right now is to bring more weapons into them. But it appears that is exactly what Rep. Litchfield wants to do with her proposed legislation to arm New Hampshire’s teachers. Her legislation is extreme, out-of-step, and dangerous.
Sure, it’s only the gun-free zones that seem to attract the crazed armed intruders, right? Makes PERFECT sense to keep students and staff being sitting ducks. And I just LOVE this next strawman argument:
Arming teachers and other school personnel does nothing to prevent gun violence. In fact, a nationwide NEA survey found quite the contrary; educators would feel less safe if school personnel were armed.
No, NOTHING is going to “prevent” gun violence crime (there, I fixed it for you) as those crazed armed intruders will always have a weapon when they want one. This would be a deterrent (hopefully but not 100%) and a first responder capability. What, the NEA WANTS to see dead children if the police can’t get on site fast enough? And I seem to remember a situation where the police did get on site fast enough, and then dithered…or am I misremembering?
“Most of us want the same thing – strong, quality public schools that give every student the freedom to reach their potential,” said Megan Tuttle, NEA-New Hampshire President.
Yeah, but that potential goes to zero if someone can’t arrive fast enough to stop the gunman. Are you telling us, President Tuttle, that you’d rather see people be killed instead of eliminating a current and existential threat?
“Representative Litchfield’s bill ignores the needs of our students, their parents, and educators and instead tries to distract us by dragging right-wing culture wars into our community’s classrooms at a time when our students need our support the most.”
You REALLY want to go there, Tuttle? Transgenderism? Critical Race Theory? Social Justice, SEL?
Tell me this, what is the overall percentage of the students, that your teachers are supposed to be training, actually proficient in English and Math here in NH? Is it 95%? Perhaps lower: 90%? How low do I have to go to show what your union members are accomplishing? I dryly note not one word on that score, right?
“We all agree that there are too many shootings in our nation’s schools, which is why New Hampshire’s elected officials should prioritize the safety of students and work to keep weapons of war out of our schools, not put our children at risk by bringing loaded guns into classrooms and hallways,” said Tuttle.
Weapons of war – your own Progressive ideology is showing. And oh, by the way, why is the NEA in favor of canceling our Freedom of Speech and having teachers lie to parents??
And I’m betting she has no clue as to what a real weapon of war is, either.
Parents and educators understand that the biggest challenges facing our students and our public schools are getting students the one-on-one support they need, addressing educator shortages, and ensuring students have the mental health services they need. They want legislators and candidates to address these issues and not bring political culture wars into classrooms just to score points with their base.
No, the biggest challenge is having responsive school board member and then teachers teaching the basics such that ALL students are reaching proficiency in all subjects. Which is not being accomplished across NH (and it isn’t because of money or staff – there a case to be made that the phrase “Go Woke, Go Broke” can be applied to the current warehouse system of education as well).
How about doing that FIRST and then we’ll talk about your Left-wing issues.
And remember, it doesn’t take much to see where the union dues go in supporting elected representatives in elections – what a phony
