North Dallas state representative-elect Jason Villalba will file legislation allowing Texas public schools to appoint trained faculty members to carry concealed firearms on campus, he said in a statement to the Morning News.
“We need to talk very frankly about how we can protect our children if the unthinkable should occur,” Villalba said in the statement. “By providing our schools with the option to have a trained school marshal to act as the last line of defense, we are empowering ISDs with the ability to protect our children and faculty against those who would seek to destroy human life.”
Said “trained school marshals” would be existing faculty members with concealed handgun licenses. Those individuals would have to provide their own firearms, and undergo additional firearms training, the bill will read. Villalba also proposed that the school marshals would be known only to the principal, law enforcement and certain district administrators.
Quick question: what’s the liability of this? Of a civilian-trained (not law-enforcement trained) faculty member, bringing his/her own gun into a school, and being responsible for the safety of its children? Well-trained, tactical police officers make mistakes – “NYPD Gunfire In Empire State Building Shooting Wounded All Nine Bystanders, Says Ray Kelly” – so what about an art teacher with a Browning in her boot?
