Following the Newtown, Conn., massacre and the death of Chicago teen Hadiya Pendleton, many city and state leaders have been mulling over gun control actions, but South Dakota has made a decision "authorizing school employees to carry guns on the job," reports the New York Times.
Passage of the law comes amid a passionate nationwide debate over arming teachers, stoked after 20 first graders died in an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., in December. Shortly afterward, the National Rifle Association proposed a plan for armed security officers in every school, and legislation to allow school personnel to carry guns was introduced in about two dozen states. All those measures had stalled until now …
The law leaves it up to school districts to decide whether to allow armed teachers. It remains to be seen, however, if many schools will permit guns in classrooms and whether the measure will reverberate nationwide. Mr. Daugaard, a Republican, said he did not think that many schools would take advantage of the option, but that it was important for them to have the choice available.
While many gun control advocates are horrified by the notion of guns in schools, Laura Cutilletta, a senior staff lawyer with the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said that what South Dakota did would not spark a national trend. "For South Dakota to do this is less of a concern than if we saw it in Colorado or somewhere else like that," she said, referring to states that have advocated for gun-control legislation.
Read more at the New York Times.