BREAKING: Arkansas Attorney General Nixes Plan to Arm Teachers

Last week we reported that one school district in Arkansas would begin a program to arm teachers before this upcoming fall semester.  Clarksville School District in central Arkansas decided to create an “Emergency Response Team” in response to the Sandy Hook Tragedy.

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“We continue to have these school shootings, and we continue to do the same thing,” Superintendent David Hopkins told NBC station KARK.

“We’re going to lock the door, and we’re going to hide and hope for the best,” he said. “Well, that’s not a plan.”

The district opted for a different approach, training over 20 staff members and turning them into security guards.  But according to a new report from NBC, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has called for an end to the program.

The new plan — which would have armed about 20 volunteer teachers and staff members — troubled some legislators, who sought a ruling on its legality from state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.

In an opinion issued Thursday, McDaniel said state codes don’t authorize “either licensing a school district as a guard company or classifying it as a private business authorized to employ its own teachers as armed guards.”

McDaniel told the district that if anyone wants to arm staff members they’ll have to change the law first.  The district is reevaluating their options and could discuss hiring private, armed security guards–which are legal in Arkansas.

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