{"id":99424,"date":"2024-01-19T18:27:42","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T00:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=99424"},"modified":"2024-01-19T18:27:42","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T00:27:42","slug":"99424","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=99424","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill would require Alaska schools to have trusted adults carry handguns on campuses<\/a><\/p>\n

n an effort to ensure that Alaska school districts enlist qualified adults to carry concealed guns for the protection of students and educators, State Sen. Shelley Hughes has filed a bill entitled, \u201cThe Safe Schools Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 173<\/a>\u00a0aims to deter active shooting tragedies from occurring in Alaska\u2019s K-12 schools.<\/p>\n

According to Hughes, she was inspired to file the bill after being approached by a retired teacher who previously worked at Bethel High School when a\u00a0tragic shooting occurred<\/a>\u00a0on Feb. 19, 1997. That day, two people were killed, and two others injured when 16-year-old student Evan Ramsey arrived at the school with a shotgun. Ramsey shot and killed 15-year-old Josh Palacios and Principal Ron Edwards, before surrendering to police.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do nothing, it\u2019s not a matter of if, it\u2019s a matter of when,\u201d Hughes said upon filing her bill. \u201cThis is a critical conversation, and it is time for critical decision-making. If we want to prevent the deaths of school children in Alaska, we need to act. If we wait to address this matter until after precious children have died, what a dreadful shame and inexcusable mistake that will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students deserve every opportunity to participate in our education system without fear of losing their lives,\u201d Hughes added.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to\u00a0K-12 Shooting Database<\/a>, there were 346 shooting incidents in 2023 resulting in 249 victims either wounded or killed. Over the past five years, the number of school shootings has skyrocketed with 1,073 students and staff being wounded or killed nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike you, over the years I\u2019ve watched with horror the news reports of shootings at schools: Columbine, Parkland, Uvalde,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cI\u2019ve wondered too like you, what if there had been intervention to help that person? But I\u2019ve also asked, what if the school had been better prepared? What if that school campus had permitted concealed carry? Maybe the incident would not have occurred at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hughes emphasized that every second, every minute counts when a person begins to shoot in a school building.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to distance, when law enforcement response in Alaska can take from a few minutes to a few hours, or with inclement weather in remote communities, even longer, our children, our teachers and staff are sitting ducks,\u201d she noted. \u201cOur officers do their best to respond quickly but Alaska is a state of mammoth proportions. We need well-trained individuals on-site who can respond immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Current Alaska law does not prevent superintendents and school boards from setting policy to allow concealed carry, but none have done so.<\/p>\n

Hughes bill would change this by requiring schools to \u201cgrant one or more persons who meet the requirements\u201d of the law to \u201ccarry a concealed handgun on the person on school grounds for defensive use.\u201d The only exception is when no qualified person can be found.<\/p>\n

School districts would also need to develop a written policy establishing the standards and requirements for conceal carry in schools, and document and fund firearm training and education for those who conceal carry in schools.<\/p>\n

Hughes said she hopes her bill will give communities a path forward to begin assigning concealed carry duty to \u201ctrusted, stable, respected, and well-trained individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students deserve every opportunity to participate in our education system without fear of losing their lives,\u201d Hughes added.<\/p>\n

The bill is set for its first public hearing on Jan. 24 at 1:30 p.m. in the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee. Testimony at this initial meeting will be by invitation only.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill would require Alaska schools to have trusted adults carry handguns on campuses n an effort to ensure that Alaska school districts enlist qualified adults to carry concealed guns for the protection of students and educators, State Sen. Shelley Hughes has filed a bill entitled, \u201cThe Safe Schools Act.\u201d Senate Bill 173\u00a0aims to deter active … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education-schools","category-safety","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99425,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99424\/revisions\/99425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}