A bill seeking to expand concealed carry regulations on public school grounds continues to move through the statehouse.
While framed as a safety measure, opponents said it will certainly lead to more guns in school settings.
The bill would allow for certain approved individuals to conceal carry on school campuses. That decision would be made by principals, superintendents or other persons with general control of the school.
It was brought by Sen. Brent Hoffman, a Hartford Republican. He said in House Judiciary Committee Monday it’s a proactive countermeasure to school shooters in settings that might not have a school resource officer – or SRO.
“According to one study, it says armed response can reduce the number of casualties in a mass shooting situation by up to 70 percent by at the very least slowing an attacker," Hoffman said. "Now, some do have SROs, we have about 55 of those statewide but the majority of those are in three to five school districts. We also have sentinels, but those aren’t widespread as well.”
To qualify for this privilege, one would have to hold an enhanced conceal carry permit in South Dakota. That requires an FBI background check and pass a 6-to-8-hour NRA-sponsored training program. In turn, to qualify as a school sentinel, an individual would need to take 80 hours of training.
While proponents suggest it would likely be school employees named as carriers, nothing in the text of the law says it must be an employee of the district. That means any community member with potentially as little as 6 hours of training could be approved to carry a firearm in that schools’ facilities.
This proposal is widely opposed by the state’s education lobby, though they said some changes could be made to make the bill more palatable. Namely, moving that decision-making authority from a single person. Rob Monson with the School Administrators of South Dakota explained.
"Our organization is not opposed to law-abiding citizens carrying weapons," Monson said. "What we are concerned about is the prospect of simply more weapons being brought into schools by individuals other than trained law enforcement or trained sentinels. Our preference truly is the decision of who should be allowed to bring a weapon into a school or when a weapon can be brought into a school to be made by the local school board.”
However, each of the proposed amendments to do just that failed, and the bill advanced with a lone no vote.