Following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton suggested that the answer may be arming teachers and administrators.
Paxton made the suggestion while speaking on the Uvalde incident, in which 19 children and two adults were gunned down by an 18-year-old.
“We need to continue to try to focus on preventing this,” Paxton said. “We can’t stop bad people from doing bad things. They’re going to violate murder laws. They’re not going to follow gun laws. I’ve never understood that argument.”
Paxton said Texas should at least consider arming teachers or providing funding to ensure every school has an armed police officer. He said as it stands, the state cannot afford an armed law enforcement officer on every campus or guarantee a swift response from local police departments.
The idea of arming teachers is nothing new. Texas law provides guidelines on who can be permitted to carry a firearm in a school and policies that school districts can implement.
Similar ideas surfaced in 2018 with the Marjorie Stoneman High School shooting in South Florida.
President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos both championed the idea and suggested using federal education funds to purchase firearms for use in schools.
A Gallup poll at the time showed that 73% of teachers were opposed to the idea.