RALEIGH, N.C. — Today, the North Carolina chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots network, issued the following statements after lawmakers voted to override Governor Stein’s veto of HB 193, a bill that would allow teachers, employees, and volunteers of private schools in North Carolina to carry firearms with minimal requirements and training. School personnel looking to carry would only need school board approval, a concealed handgun permit from any state – including those with weaker standards than North Carolina – and an 8-hour gun safety course.
“Lawmakers just made a reckless, indefensible decision that will make our children less safe,” said Elizabeth Hoane, a volunteer with the North Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Instead of listening to parents, students, teachers, and research-backed safety experts, they chose to flood our schools with more guns and less training. Arming school staff does not prevent gun violence, it creates more opportunities for it. This is a betrayal.”
“They had the chance to do the right thing, and instead, these politicians just voted to put our safety at greater risk,” said Stella Kaye, a volunteer with Students Demand Action in North Carolina. “We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: arming teachers or allowing more guns in our schools will not make us safer. We won’t forget who voted to put our lives at stake. ”
Allowing teachers and other school personnel to carry loaded firearms around students while skirting meaningful training requirements makes everyone less safe. Even the most highly trained law enforcement officers in the country see their ability to shoot accurately decrease significantly in an active shooter situation. Expecting a schoolteacher with minimal training to do the job of a law enforcement officer is not only unrealistic—it’s dangerous. Arming school staff puts students and educators at greater risk, increasing the chance of unintentional shootings, and creating confusion for law enforcement in an already volatile situation. Instead of putting more guns in schools, lawmakers should focus on enacting sensible gun laws, such as secure storage laws, to keep guns out of the wrong hands.
In an average year, 1,714 people die by guns and 4,197 are wounded by guns in North Carolina. With a rate of 15.9 deaths per 100,000 people, North Carolina has the 23rd-highest rate of gun deaths in the US. 53% of gun deaths are by gun suicide. Read more about gun violence in North Carolina here.