KY Bill 103 would allow schools to appoint “armed marshals”
Frankfort KY Jan 29 2018 Schools should be able to designate marshals to keep guns on campus and use them to stop mass shootings, two Kentucky lawmakers say.
That’s according to a bill filed by Republican state Sens. Stephen West and Ralph Alvarado on Tuesday, the same day that a shooting at Marshall County High School left two students dead and 21 other people injured.
It’s a felony under state law to have a weapon on school property, with limited exceptions. But Senate Bill 103 would allow public school boards and the governing bodies of private or parochial schools to appoint “school marshals” who would legally be allowed to have a gun on their campuses and use them if there is a violent attack.
The marshals would be authorized to make a citizen’s arrest and to use their guns on school property to protect another person from “imminent death or serious physical injury,” the bill says.
The school marshal would have to be an employee of the district or private school and must hold a license to carry a concealed deadly weapon.
The goal is to give schools another tool that can improve the safety of their institutions and help protect children from active shooter situations, West said.
“It gives them another option to enhance their security within the school building and it allows them to not be a soft target,” he said.
“We would not think that that’s the right approach to the situation.”
Some districts, like Jefferson County Public Schools, already allow school resource officers to carry guns on their campuses to protect students.
In Jefferson County, sworn police officers serve as resource officers and are permitted to have guns on school property, according to a JCPS spokeswoman. The school board contracts with local law enforcement agencies to provide that service.
SB 103 wouldn’t require marshals to be active police officers or have prior experience in law enforcement, but it would allow public school boards and private institutions to add other eligibility requirements for the position.
Rank-and-file teachers at elementary, middle and high schools could become marshals, as could other employees at those facilities, West said. He suggested an ideal situation would be to appoint an assistant principal who used to be in the military or law enforcement as a school’s marshal.
West’s bill includes restrictions on the type of gun marshals could bring on campus and the number of marshals a school could have.
School boards could appoint one marshal per 400 students and staff members at a single institution.
Before appointing anyone, however, school officials would have to establish a site-specific action plan as part of local or state law enforcement’s active school shooter safety programs and devise strategies to help police identify the marshal in situations where a shooting happens.
The marshals generally would be required to store their guns in a locked and secured area that is readily accessible to them whenever they are on school property. They also would be responsible for buying their own guns and for other expenses related to their duties as marshal.
The bill would not apply to universities or other postsecondary institutions.
West said he proposed the same bill in 2016 too, although the legislature did not approve it then. He already planned to file the legislation again this year but officially introduced it Tuesday after learning of the Marshall County High School shooting.
“If we keep going the same way, we’re going to have another Marshall County, unfortunately,” West said Wednesday. “Yesterday’s events show that we’ve got to do something.”
Brent McKim, president of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, said he appreciates the sponsors’ intent, but his group does not believe this bill would make schools safer for students.
“Bringing more guns into schools I don’t think is the answer, especially if the individual that has the gun is not a law enforcement official with ongoing training,” he said. “We would not think that that’s the right approach to the situation.”
West disagreed, saying school resource officers — and potentially school marshals, if his bill passes — can save lives.
“If an active shooter comes in … the only way to effectively put them down is with another gun unless they’re willing to give up,” he said.
West said he agrees an oversupply of guns in schools could be problematic, which is why his bill limits the number of marshals each school could have.
“Every other teacher packing is not maybe ideal,” he said. “It’s a balancing act.”
