AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, released the following response after the Texas Senate voted to advance SB 243, which would gut the current law requiring school marshals who have regular direct contact with students to store guns in locked safes, and would instead allow them to carry guns on their person.
“As a parent, I’m distressed about this law because I know how risky it is to have an improperly stored gun around children,” said Hilary Whitfield, volunteer leader with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “There’s so much that can go wrong when teachers are armed, and stripping standards for gun storage in schools will just make a bad situation worse.”
Texas’ School Marshal Program allows teachers and other school staff to be armed, despite the fact that there is no evidence indicating that arming teachers makes schools safer. In fact, research shows that access to a gun increases the risk posed to children, particularly if guns are not properly stored. Last year, a teacher’s gun was stolen by a student in school in Missouri. And in Detroit, a student found a loaded gun in a school bathroom stall after a county sheriff unintentionally left it behind.
More information on the dangers of arming teachers is available here, and information on unintentional shootings is available here.