Des Moines, Iowa — In response to last month’s school shooting in Perry, Republicans in the Iowa House are proposing that Iowa school or college employees with professional gun permits be allowed to carry weapons on school grounds.
Nathan Gibson is school board president of the Interstate 35 district in Truro. He says the bill could help districts that want their staff to be armed, but can’t get liability insurance.
Angela Olsen, director of special projects for the Spirit Lake School District, says her district had armed staff for six months, but canceled the program after struggling to find an insurance carrier. Olsen says having a school resource officer in the high school isn’t enough.
Catherine Lucas, a lawyer with the Iowa Department of Public Safety, says the agency has a lot of questions, like what kind of weapons would school staff be allowed to carry and who would do the required training for armed school staff.
Hannah Hayes, a Des Moines high school senior, is in the Students Demand Action group that supports new gun restrictions. She’s urging lawmakers to oppose the bill.
The bill also would require the state’s 11 largest school districts to hire at least one officer from the local police department or a private firm to provide security in high school buildings. There would be no mandate for other Iowa high schools, but all school districts could apply for a 50 thousand-dollar state grant to cover the cost of a security officer.
