Vegas
03-30-2007, 12:53 PM
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2007/Mar-30-Fri-2007/news/13485768.html
CARSON CITY -- State Sen. Bob Beers told a legislative panel Thursday that allowing properly trained teachers to carry concealed weapons on campuses would take Nevada's public schools off the list of "easy targets" that terrorists look for when they plan an attack.
Beers, R-Las Vegas, told the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee that terrorists proved their interest in public schools when pro-Chechen militants took over a school in Russia in September 2004. Hundreds were killed.
Beers said that though many locations are probably vulnerable and could be targeted by terrorists, he could "think of none that combine such an extreme degree of vulnerability and pricelessness as our schools and our children."
Senate Bill 286 would allow teachers to carry concealed weapons on school grounds if they completed 40 hours of training, five times more than the eight hours of training required for a concealed-weapons permit in Nevada.
Beers said that until 1989, the state had no restriction on teachers carrying weapons at schools.
He said California, Oregon and Utah do not restrict the right of teachers to bear arms. Nevada forbids anyone other than a law enforcement officer from carrying a weapon into a school without the permission of the principal.
Patrick Boylan, a former member of the state Board of Education, testified in support of the measure, also citing terrorism concerns. "I commend Sen. Beers on taking such a risky move," he said. "But it's about time we sit up and protect our children."
Boylan said floor plans of U.S. public schools have been recovered from terrorists in Iraq.
Sgt. Bob Roshak, representing the Metropolitan Police Department, opposed the bill. "We really don't feel that schools are the place for handguns to be," he said.
The 40 hours of training required as part of Beers' bill is not nearly enough, Roshak said.
And if an incident occurred, police arriving on the scene would not know whether an armed teacher was on the school grounds, which could lead to confusion and the accidental shooting of an innocent person, he said.
Also opposing the bill were representatives of the Clark County School District, the Nevada Association of School Administrators and the Nevada State Education Association.
Craig Kadlub, representing the school district, said if lawmakers think Nevada's public schools are potential terrorist targets, then they should increase funding for school police.
The school district has 135 officers now, he said. Two officers are stationed at each high schools and middle schools with large populations, with the remainder of the force roving among the other schools.
Kadlub was joined by Lt. Ken Young of the Clark County School District police, who said training in the use of a weapon is not enough. Police are trained in how to disarm a suspect and in other important areas, he said.
Without such additional training, an armed teacher facing an armed suspect could fight or flee only, Young said. "That in our estimation is a tragedy waiting to happen," he said.
Young said that after the Columbine shooting in Colorado in 1999, police across the country changed how they respond to reports of people with guns inside schools. Instead of waiting for a police SWAT team to arrive at an incident, police now are trained to enter school grounds much more quickly to eliminate the threat, he said.
Larry Struve, representing the Religious Alliance in Nevada, opposed the bill and cited anecdotal information about a school shooting in the 1970s in Reno. It involved an elementary school teacher who got in a disagreement with his principal. The teacher took a gun to school and shot the principal in the head, he said.
The shooting might have been one of the reasons the law was changed in 1989, Struve said.
CARSON CITY -- State Sen. Bob Beers told a legislative panel Thursday that allowing properly trained teachers to carry concealed weapons on campuses would take Nevada's public schools off the list of "easy targets" that terrorists look for when they plan an attack.
Beers, R-Las Vegas, told the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee that terrorists proved their interest in public schools when pro-Chechen militants took over a school in Russia in September 2004. Hundreds were killed.
Beers said that though many locations are probably vulnerable and could be targeted by terrorists, he could "think of none that combine such an extreme degree of vulnerability and pricelessness as our schools and our children."
Senate Bill 286 would allow teachers to carry concealed weapons on school grounds if they completed 40 hours of training, five times more than the eight hours of training required for a concealed-weapons permit in Nevada.
Beers said that until 1989, the state had no restriction on teachers carrying weapons at schools.
He said California, Oregon and Utah do not restrict the right of teachers to bear arms. Nevada forbids anyone other than a law enforcement officer from carrying a weapon into a school without the permission of the principal.
Patrick Boylan, a former member of the state Board of Education, testified in support of the measure, also citing terrorism concerns. "I commend Sen. Beers on taking such a risky move," he said. "But it's about time we sit up and protect our children."
Boylan said floor plans of U.S. public schools have been recovered from terrorists in Iraq.
Sgt. Bob Roshak, representing the Metropolitan Police Department, opposed the bill. "We really don't feel that schools are the place for handguns to be," he said.
The 40 hours of training required as part of Beers' bill is not nearly enough, Roshak said.
And if an incident occurred, police arriving on the scene would not know whether an armed teacher was on the school grounds, which could lead to confusion and the accidental shooting of an innocent person, he said.
Also opposing the bill were representatives of the Clark County School District, the Nevada Association of School Administrators and the Nevada State Education Association.
Craig Kadlub, representing the school district, said if lawmakers think Nevada's public schools are potential terrorist targets, then they should increase funding for school police.
The school district has 135 officers now, he said. Two officers are stationed at each high schools and middle schools with large populations, with the remainder of the force roving among the other schools.
Kadlub was joined by Lt. Ken Young of the Clark County School District police, who said training in the use of a weapon is not enough. Police are trained in how to disarm a suspect and in other important areas, he said.
Without such additional training, an armed teacher facing an armed suspect could fight or flee only, Young said. "That in our estimation is a tragedy waiting to happen," he said.
Young said that after the Columbine shooting in Colorado in 1999, police across the country changed how they respond to reports of people with guns inside schools. Instead of waiting for a police SWAT team to arrive at an incident, police now are trained to enter school grounds much more quickly to eliminate the threat, he said.
Larry Struve, representing the Religious Alliance in Nevada, opposed the bill and cited anecdotal information about a school shooting in the 1970s in Reno. It involved an elementary school teacher who got in a disagreement with his principal. The teacher took a gun to school and shot the principal in the head, he said.
The shooting might have been one of the reasons the law was changed in 1989, Struve said.