We’ve written a lot about the changing gun laws in Kansas over the past couple if years. They’ve had a lot of debates over concealed carry on campuses there, for one thing.
Now the debate is continuing about whether guns should be allowed in Kansas workplaces, including schools. After the Parkland shooting in Florida, several states passed laws giving teachers the ability to carry guns in schools. But Kansas is considering a law that would legally hold schools responsible for any tragedy that took place on school grounds if they refuse to allow teachers to carry weapons.
Kansas Rep. Blake Carpenter, a conservative Republican who helped write the legislation that holds schools liable, said he is confident armed and trained teachers will save lives. It could take police too long to respond to a school shooting, and when there is no funding for school resource officers, teachers might be the first line of defense.
Opponents of the measure argue that it is effectively mandating that teachers carry, rather than simply allowing it, and they don’t like that. Democratic Rep. Brett Parker, who is also an Overland Park school teacher, says most of the teachers he has heard from oppose it, because they are unhappy with the prospect of needing to be armed or working alongside other teachers who are armed. What say you all?
