On Apr 24, 2023, the Texas House of Representatives voted on the second reading of House Bill 3, a piece of legislation that would develop safety plans for public schools, mandating school districts to have armed employees on every campus.
Authored by State Representative Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, the bill would allow each district to determine the number of armed personnel at each school but calls for a minimum of one armed officer to be present during school hours. Additionally, the proposal includes an audit scheme conducted by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to ensure compliance with the provisions of the legislation.
Initially, the bill received bipartisan support following the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, with State Reps. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, and Tracy King, D-Batesville, signed on as joint authors, but since then, lawmakers have raised concerns over the implementation of the proposed law.
According to Texas Public Radio, during the bill’s second reading on Monday, State Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos, D-Richardson, tried to include an amendment to the legislation to change the “district employee” language which would include teachers.
“We don’t want those guns in our classrooms. Teachers themselves do not want to be armed, we know that,” said Ramos. She was referring to a poll conducted by the Texas American Federation of Teachers, that found that 77% of those polled opposed arming teachers.
Burrows opposed the amendment claiming that it would create a “false narrative” that the legislation forces teachers to be armed.
While the bill does not mention teachers, the language of the bill calls for an armed officer who could be “a school district peace officer, school resource officer, a commissioned peace officer employed as security personnel, a school marshal, or a district employee.” The only requirement would be the completion of school safety training provided by a qualified handgun instructor.
State Rep. Vicki Goodwin, D-Austin, also offered an amendment to include the requirement of trigger locks on weapons brought into campuses, citing several examples of guns left unattended on campus grounds, including a 2019 incident in Bowie County where a Pleasant Grove ISD employee left a gun on a school bus that was found by a student.
“This (amendment) is one small thing that we can do to make sure that, if a gun is left unattended, (and) found by a student, it can’t be shot by that student,” she said.
This modification was blocked by Burrows as well, saying that it was “absolutely unnecessary” and that it was a precaution that should be left up to individual school districts. “I have absolutely no problem with trigger locks however I don’t know their availability,” said Burrows.
According to Fox News, Goodwin also questioned the ability of school districts to train armed personnel when so many municipalities have a shortage of police officers. “How are we going to fill those positions? How are we going to have a school resource officer on every single campus when we can't fill our law enforcement peace officer positions already?" she asked.
Finally, the bill passed 122-19 and will face one more procedural vote on Tuesday before it is eligible for consideration by the Texas Senate.
