While SB 7026 does contain certain important provisions, arming people in our schools that are not School Resource Officers (SROs), whose ONLY job is to protect the school, will not properly protect our schools and will ultimately cost more money in the long run.
We call on the Senate to strip any plan that will arm administrators, teachers, or staff before sending a bill to the House. If the Senate fails to act as we have outlined, we call on the House to fully debate SB 7026 and fully remove provisions arming teachers, administrators, or staff.
The issues are too grave and the stakes too high not to fully debate all issues related to school safety in Florida.
To read more about this Senate Vote, read this article in the Tampa Bay Times by Mary Ellen Klass.
- From a technical perspective, there is no mention of follow up, in-service training, either with defensive tactics or firearms
- No mention of periodic re-qualification with issued firearms; no mention of safe storage of firearms
- No mention of civil or criminal liability exposure or insurance requirements; no mention of reporting requirements, or training to document uses of force
- No mention of who will pay for the 100 hours of training, the firearms, maintenance, storage, periodic re-training (assuming it exists) and administration of the program
- Former professional law enforcement use of force trainers say that barely trained armed civilians will only make things worse. Trained police officers reliably miss their target 50% of the time.
Call or email your Senator and Representative today and ask that they reject fully remove provisions arming teachers, administrators, or staff from SB7026 Continue to ask for a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity magazines, and for background checks on all gun sales.
