(NAME-MCE) Mich. Lawmaker Wants to Arm Educators

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 (http://abcnews.go.com/) 

 
Mich. Lawmaker Wants to Arm Educators
Under Bill, Specially Trained Faculty and Staff Could Carry Concealed  
Pistols on Campus
By DAVID SCHOETZ
Sept. 11, 2007 — _http://abcnews.go.com/_ 
(http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3586066)  
Anyone other than a member of law enforcement who carries a gun into a  
Michigan school right now is breaking the law and, according to one freshman  
lawmaker, likely intent on harming students, faculty and staff.  
And there are horrific examples to illustrate Rep. David Agema's point: 32  
shot dead on the Virginia Tech campus in April, five girls shot to death at an  
Amish school in Lancaster County, Pa., in 2006 and 13 people gunned down at  
Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.  
With precisely those school rampages in mind  as well as the notion that  
Islamic extremists may start targeting American academic institutions  Agema  
has filed a controversial bill that would allow gun-owning faculty and staff  
with proper training and permits to pack concealed pistols inside a school or 
on  school property.  
Agema, a Republican from outside Grand Rapids, introduced the bill this month 
 with the support of 15 Republican sponsors.  
"What motivated me to do this is a form of disaster preparedness," Agema told 
 ABC News. "To me, it's about safety for kids first. I just think we have to 
have  something like this if something starts happening with al Qaeda."  
Under Michigan House Bill No. 5162, teachers, administrators and staff could  
carry a concealed pistol on school grounds if approved by a principal. The  
principal at an individual school could require interested educators to take  
additional training, perhaps with a police department.  
The proposed legislation would also allow parents and legal guardians who  
already possess proper gun permits to carry concealed pistols on school property 
 while picking up or dropping off a child.  
Agema said entrenched partisan bickering with a Democratic-controlled  
Michigan House would probably prevent the bill from even emerging out of  committee 
hearings.  
Politics may not be Agema's only roadblock. Already, a stream of Michigan  
educators have come out against the legislation.  
Doug Pratt, a spokesman for the Michigan Education Association, the state's  
biggest educator union, said his organization has always come out against  
concealed weapons. Still, he also described Agema's proposal as having "no  
logic."  
"You talk to the average person on the street and this just doesn't fly,"  
Pratt said. "Why would we take the chance of something tragic happening by  
simply introducing guns into the environment. Nothing about this makes sense."  
Grand Rapids Superintendent Bernard Taylor, for example, told the local  
newspaper the proposed bill left him "speechless," before saying, "If that's  what 
we've come to, I need to find a new line of work."  
Larry Johnson, the school system's head of security and a former  police 
officer, called the proposal a "ridiculous" bill and a "knee-jerk  reaction." "If 
you miss, your backstop is other kids," Johnson said.  
But Agema stands by the proposed legislation, which he said was similar to  
one recently offered by a Wisconsin lawmaker. That bill, however, stalled. In  
Utah and Oregon, he added, educators are already allowed to carry concealed  
weapons because those states do not have "gun-free zones" around schools.  
"The misconception is always that a gun in the hands of a law-abiding citizen 
 is bad," Agema said. "The only person right now who enters the school with a 
gun  is the guy who's intent on doing harm."  
Agema, a licensed gun owner and former commercial airline pilot, said that  
the knowledge alone that a teacher may be armed would act as a crime deterrent  
in classrooms. He added that the policy would be optional, not mandatory.  
And in the case that there is a student rampage, a madman on campus or even a 
 terror attack, the school would be better equipped to respond if trained  
educators were armed.  
"What do you do in the 10 to 20 minutes or even longer for police to arrive  
at a scene like this?" he asked.  

 
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet  Ventures




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