Gov. Greg Abbott signs new law mandating armed security at all Texas schools

 

This is the first piece of school safety legislation Texas has passed since the Uvalde tragedy but sadly, it falls way short.

Sure on the surface putting an armed security guard at every campus in Texas sounds good until the fiscal reality set’s in. What about smaller rural school districts who are already operating on a shoestring budget? Let’s not forget Texas has the largest budget surplus of all 50 States so why are some schools getting left out in the cold?

According to the bills ‘exception clause’ school districts who did not have adequate funding to pay for a armed security guard could instead hire a District employee as long as they completed the 15 hours of required firearms training.

15 hours of firearm training?

You see where this is going folks?

Think Paul Blart: Mall Cop for the proper mental picture.

As Paul Howe discussed in a previous video, the State refuses to improve their Firearms Training Standards as it pertains to both Armed Security personnel and Local and State Law Enforcement.

As an example, this bill would give $330 Million to build “Security Centers” at every campus but not provide adequate funding or grants to help pay for more highly trained security personnel to man those centers?

Bottom Line: simply being “Armed” is not enough in an active shooter situation, especially when you have innocent kids running around. The level of training needs to be stepped up to improve the odds of success.

Plus what about funding and grants to help harden the physical security of schools like metal detectors and reinforced steel doors?

The sad fact is that Texas Public Schools despite Local and State efforts are no safer now than 5 years ago.

My advice: Home school your kids and keep them close.