Bismarck, N.D. (Prairie Public Radio) – The North Dakota House has approved a measure to allow trained staffers to carry concealed firearms in schools.
The bill’s sponsor, Bismarck Republican Representative Pat Heinert, said the measure is aimed at rural schools that don’t have access to a “school resource officer” and where response time from law enforcement is an issue.
“There are at least eight small schools [that] are currently looking closely at this bill to determine if this would benefit their local school district,” Heinert said. “We also heard that there is a larger school district administrator who wants to take a close look at this program to supplement his current SRO program.”
Grand Forks Democratic Representative Matt Eidson opposed it. He told the house that, as a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, he knows what it’s like to be shot at.
“There is absolutely no way to know how you will react in a situation where you are being shot at until you are in a situation where you are being shot at,” Eidson said. “And to assume that any teacher, administrator or janitor could pick up a gun and stop an active shooter without accidentally harming someone else or even themselves is wishful thinking at best – especially if they’ve never been in a similar situation beforehand.”
The bill passed 77 to 15 – and will now be considered in the state senate.
