DES MOINES — A bill that would allow trained school staff to carry firearms on school grounds is headed back to the Iowa House.
Senate Republican lawmakers on Wednesday amended a House bill that would create a new permitting process for Iowa school districts to arm trained staff.
School districts would not be required to arm staff. Rather, the bill provides requirements for those districts that choose to do so.
The measure also provides qualified immunity to school districts and school employees from criminal or civil liability for all “damages incurred pursuant to the application of reasonable force.”
Approved staff would be allowed to carry concealed weapons during school hours. It would be up to districts to decide what firearms staff could carry and whether the district would provide those or allow use of personal firearms.
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House File 2586 cleared the GOP-controlled Senate, 30-14. Sen. Charlie McClintock, a Republican from Alburnett, joined Democrats in voting against the measure.
Senate lawmakers, however, removed a provision in the bill that would have established a school security personnel grant program that would match up to $50,000 for employing school resource officers or security personnel, sending it back to the House.
The legislation comes in the wake of January’s fatal shooting at Perry High School. Eleven-year-old Ahmir Jolliff and Principal Dan Marburger were killed and six others were injured. The 17-year-old shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Tennessee lawmakers advanced a similar proposal Tuesday.
Supporters
Supporters of the bill said the fastest way to respond to a school shooting is to have armed personnel on site, trained and available to respond at a moment's notice.
“The bill gives school boards the option how best to protect the children” and strengthens what is already allowed under Iowa law, said Sen. Lynn Evans, a Republican from Aurelia and former school administrator who floor-managed the bill.
“We live a pretty comfortable life in Iowa, and it only takes seconds for that comfortable life to be taken away,” Evans said.
Parents, law enforcement and school superintendents from rural communities, as well as gun rights activists, have said while school resource officers play an important role in Iowa schools, it is unrealistic to expect a single police officer is always going to be at the right place at just the right time should tragedy strike.
They argued that it could be particularly helpful in rural counties with limited law enforcement resources.
“Seconds count when law enforcement are minutes away, even in the quickest response,” said Sen. Chris Cournoyer, a Republican from LeClaire. “… In most mass shootings, the shooting stops when the good guys show up. The bad guy with a gun is stopped by the good guy with a gun.”
Cournoyer stressed the bill doesn’t force districts to participate. But, for those districts that wish to arm staff, it could create a deterrent to shootings.
“An evil individual will not go to a place where they know there is armed resistance,” Cournoyer said. “… There are people in this building carry concealed, including in this chamber, and we are all safer because of it.
“This bill is prescriptive. The training is thorough and ongoing, and it is a way to keep our kids safer at school. And it’s the decision of the local boards and people who choose to participate.”
Opposition
Senate Democrats contend arming teachers puts the lives of students, teachers and law enforcement in danger, and warned of the potential for firearms at school to be stolen or misused.
There have been more than 100 publicly reported incidents of in the last five years of students and teachers finding unsecured firearms in bathrooms, locker rooms and even sporting events, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
“The only thing I want to arm teachers with are books and supplies,” said Sen. Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City.
Democrats also disputed the notion of a highly trained teacher armed with a gun being able to respond as quickly as trained law enforcement. Law enforcement officers receive hundreds of hours of training. But the bill would allow armed personnel to carry in schools, potentially with much less training, they argued.
The Iowa Chapter of Brady United Against Gun Violence criticized Iowa Senate Democrats for not proposing a safe storage amendment to the bill.
The proposed amendment would have required the Iowa Department of Public Safety create a mandatory statewide standardized system for the safe storage of any firearms brought on to school property by school employees, according to the group. It would have provided strict procedures for loading and unloading firearms placed in or removed from safe storage.
Most professional education organizations have rejected the call to arm teachers, as has the National Association of School Resource Officers and the American Bar Association.
Instead, Democrats urged Republican lawmakers to prioritize violence prevention, intervention and gun safety laws, such as universal background checks and extreme risk protection orders, and increase mental health supports for students.
“There are a lot of ways that we could proactive instead of reactive to protect our students,” said Sen. Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids who has worked for 33 years as a special-education teacher.
Volunteers from the Iowa chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, joined Senate Democrats in voicing strong opposition to the bill.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result, and that’s exactly what’s happening here,” said Chloe Gayer, a Drake University student, gun violence survivor and volunteer leader with Students Demand Action chapter, a student-led group advocating to ending gun violence.
“Guns are turning our schools into graveyards, and yet Iowa lawmakers are hellbent on arming our teachers as a response,” Gayer said. “It literally defies all common sense.”
Hundreds of students across Iowa walked out of school to protest gun violence, calling for an end to the “massacre” of children and called on lawmakers to consider stronger gun laws following the Perry High School shooting.
Statehouse Republicans have pushed to loosen gun laws over the years, including allowing the permitless carry of handguns in 2021.
What does the bill do?
Iowa Code currently allows approved school staff to carry a gun on campus, should they choose. Two districts in northwest Iowa put policies in place but rescinded them last year to avoid being dropped by their insurance carrier for liability coverage.
This year’s legislation looks to address insurers’ concerns by putting in place a new permitting process that allows employees at Iowa’s public and private schools and colleges to carry a firearm on school grounds during school hours.
Republican lawmakers said their intent is to bring insurers back to the table and said they’re confident the permitting, training and immunity provisions in the bill will alleviate insurers’ concerns.
In order to receive a professional permit to carry weapons, school employees would have to pass an annual background check and complete a firearms safety course, in addition to one-time legal training on issues like qualified immunity, as well as annual communication and emergency medical trainings, plus quarterly live firearms training.
Identities of school staff issued a weapons permit would be confidential and not subject to disclosure under Iowa’s open records law.