Troy parent petitions school board to let teachers conceal-carry

A parent presented a petition to allow teachers to carry concealed weapons to the Troy Public School Board during the public comment portion of their March 12 meeting.

After Jennifer Meyer presented her petition, which contains almost 200 signatures and comments of support, Board Chairman Craig Pierce said that the school board could not comment on or discuss the subject because it was not on the agenda. However, he invited public comment.

The topic is on the agenda for the school safety committee, which meets March 21 at 4 p.m.

The petition states, “We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens of Troy who urge our school board to act now to allow teachers to conceal carry.” It does not specify restrictions on types of weapon or where teachers would be allowed to carry them concealed.

Due to a 1990 federal law, only law enforcement and authorized staff of schools can possess a firearm in or around a school. This extends to properties leased by schools for school activities and locations where sanctioned school activities are taking place.

Meyer has a personal connection related to her concerns for arming teacher, she said.

“When I was 12 years old, I got shot in the abdomen with a .357 by a 14-year-old deranged boy, and I never intend on allowing that to happen again to me or somebody I can protect,” she said.

Meyer said she carries a pistol and believes people need to be able to defend their kids and themselves.

Meyer said that she would want teachers who carry to be trained, and would support training intended specifically for educators.

Meyer said it is not an option to hope that nothing happens in Troy.

Most people Meyer talked to when seeking signatures were supportive, she said. Some opposed to the petition were concerned about teachers harming students.

Meyer said that she felt that if a teacher wanted to harm a student with a gun, they would bring it into school anyway.

As to accidental injury, she said there are holsters available to secure a firearm close to the body.

Meyer also suggested teachers could carry tasers as an alternative to firearms, and offered to seek more signatures if needed.

How probable is it?

In February, criminologists at Northeastern University released their findings after examining various claims regarding school shootings that have emerged from different groups in recent months.

When the criminologists looked among all the scenarios offered by news organization and activist groups, James Alan Fox and his Northeastern associates found 16 incidents since 1996 with four or more victims and at least two deaths that took place in a school for students from kindergarten to 12th grade in the United States.

Out of those incidents over two decades, eight were classified as “mass shootings,” involving four or more deaths including the assailant.

The researchers also concluded that mass murders are 20 to 30 times more likely to take place outside of a school than in a school.

Despite recent high-profile events, the team determined that shootings in schools have declined since the 1990s, Fox said.

In a column that Fox wrote and was published in the Feb. 19 issue of USA Today, he explained that other figures have been reached in part by including incidents that took place at technical schools and colleges.

Nearly half of the 290 school shootings cataloged by the national gun control activism organization Everytown for Gun Safety were either attempted or completed suicides or accidental discharges and included no injuries, Fox said.

Public response

Henry Roy, a parent and officer with the Troy Police Department, said he would want to have limited the number of teachers who carry weapons.

“In a stressful situation like that, a shooting, we need to limit the amount of firearms we have on the campus,” he said.

Roy said that specifying which teachers carry a weapon could help avoid confusion for law enforcement responding from outside of the area who may not know the teachers.

“Our kids are the most important resource in the world,” he said. “We protect banks, jewelry stores, everything with firearms. Let’s protect our kids.”

Roy also said he would want to see extended training, and that he would volunteer his time to give firearms training to any teacher who would carry.

Kay Randall said that she would like to see active shooter training that included students similar to the training staff received in the past year.

As an educator, she said she found the training eye-opening, and she preferred that option to arming teachers at school.

Randall said she does not own a gun, but would fight to maintain the right to own one.

“But I would be more comfortable, personally, as a teacher, training students how to interact and react with the faculty in a situation like that,” she said.

Roy said that regardless of other measures taken, he would favor training students how to respond to an active-shooter situation.