Senator Mark Christensen, of Imperial, recently introduced legislation that would allow teachers and school staff, who are properly trained, to carry concealed handguns in schools.
Christensen says in his district, there are smaller schools that are located anywhere from 20-30 minutes from the closest local law enforcement office.
He says having trained teachers carrying handguns would help if a shooter situation took place.
Christensen says the bill, LB879, would allow each school to make its own decision about whether to allow staff to carry handguns and each permit would have to be individually approved by the school board.
"So the intent is to have the protection for them to be able to have maybe a teacher that’s retired military or a teacher that’s grown up hunting and has handled guns before. These individuals will have take an additional 24 hours of training on top of the 8 hours they have to have for concealed carry.”
Christensen says many rural schools don’t have the budget to hire security. And he says he doesn’t like the idea of increasing property taxes so schools may hire more security.
LB879 is currently waiting for a hearing date.