Justice
Are Armed Guards in Schools a Civil Rights Violation?
Instead of funding an armed guard program, the Mississippi legislature should invest in a more holistic approach to discipline.
The NRA is in the headlines again, promoting “School Safety Shield,” its initiative to get more guns in schools in response to the Newtown shooting. The plan calls for arming select school personnel, who would receive 40-60 hours of training and also undergo background checks to qualify.
In Mississippi, they weren’t waiting for the NRA. Legislators have been working on a proposal to spend $7.5 million on armed guards in that state’s schools and to allow school staff to carry concealed weapons, and are hammering out a final version of the bill now.