After a unanimous vote by the school board, Kingsburg Joint Union High School District teachers will be allowed to concealed carry on campus.

On Monday, with little opposition at the meeting, the school board approved the measure citing with the school, which houses about 1,200 students, and it’s lack of a surrounding fence, no police officer on campus, and their open campus which allows students to leave school grounds at lunchtime. Staff with valid concealed carry permits are welcome to fill out an application to carry in school.

Chosen employees will still need to complete training, which will be approved by Superintendent Randy Morris, and their discipline record and school conduct will be taken into consideration.

“I am a proponent of the Second Amendment, and I’m also the biggest proponent of protecting the kids,” Morris said, “and personally, the expectation of the superintendent is, given the situation, you will protect staff and students with your firearm that you’ve been granted permission to carry.”

The Fresno Bee reported:

Mary Lou Swenning, who has grandchildren in the district, compared the policy to something from the “Wild West” and said it will create an unnecessary burden for teachers.

“Now we’re going to add something else for teachers to think about? Shooting people, really?” she said. “That’s a difficult thing for a police officer to do who’s been trained to do this, and you have a split second to decide if you should kill this person or not. I wouldn’t want that responsibility, and I wouldn’t want it for our teachers.”

 

“It would be comforting, or nice to know, that somebody was on campus armed and could stop the violence,” said Neil Dadian, Kingsburg Police Chief.

The policy went into effect immediately, making Kingsburg High School the second district in California to allow staff to carry.