The recent school shootings have sparked a nationwide conversation concerning school safety and gun laws. The conversations have led to movements, like #NeverAgain which calls for an end to school shootings. Questions have also surfaced about whether teachers should be able to conceal carry on school property. The current federal laws do not allow teachers or faculty, with the exception of school marshals, to carry on school campuses.

      “Gun violence is a crisis in the United States, especially for children, and a huge number — one that needs no exaggeration — have been affected by school shootings,” according to the Washington Post website. “An ongoing Washington Post analysis has found that more than 150,000 students attending at least 170 primary or secondary schools have experienced a shooting on campus since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.”

     So far in 2018,  according to CNN.com, there have been 17 alleged school shootings that have resulted in at least one injury or casualty, not including the gunman. These statistics include any shooting that occured on school grounds or at universities, regardless of whether or not it was gang related violence, domestic violence, or accidental discharging of a firearm.

     “Often, discussions about the Second Amendment focus only on the right of citizens to possess firearms,” according to the CNN website. “But those who openly express obsessions with arsenals of firearms and profess the desire to kill others should be seen by law enforcement and school professionals not as citizens expressing a constitutional right, but citizens who are dangerous to others.”

     After 17 people were killed in the Parkland School shooting, Florida senators passed a new school safety bill. It puts new restrictions on rifle sales, allows some teachers to carry guns in schools, and creates new mental health programs for schools. The bill won with a vote of 20-18. Many people on both sides,however, were not satisfied with the result.

     “Few, if any, senators were completely happy with the legislation,” according to the local CBS Miami website. “Many Republicans don’t like the idea of raising the minimum age to buy rifles from 18 to 21 or creating a waiting period to purchase the weapons. Many Democrats think the bill didn’t go far enough because it doesn’t include a ban on assault-style rifles or large-capacity magazines. The Senate amended the bill to put limits on which teachers could participate in a proposed program to carry guns in schools.”

     Under current Texas law, teachers in most districts are not allowed to carry weapons on campus. However, some districts, especially those in rural areas where local law enforcement assistance can take some time, have opted to allow certain teachers to be armed. For instance, roughly three years ago, the Lometa Independent School District voted to allow certain members of their faculty and staff to carry on the school’s campus, according to March 30 Lampasas Dispatch Record article.

     “By the time help got here, it would be too late,” Lometa Superintendent David Fisher told Alexandria Randolph of the Dispatch Record. “We’re 20 miles from San Saba, 20 miles from Goldthwaite, and 15 miles from Lampasas.”