On April 19, 2017, Senator Don White, a Republican from Indiana County, saw his bill to allow trained teachers and other school employees to carry loaded guns on campus, pass the Education Committee 9-3, ensuring its consideration by the full Senate. The bill, SB 383, would amend the Public School Code of 1949 to grant School Directors the power to allow trained teachers and other school employees to carry firearms in schools “providing for protection and defense of pupils.”
The bill applies to all schools in the Commonwealth, public, private, and parochial schools. Three Democratic Senators – Williams of Philadelphia, Dinniman of Chester County, and Leach of Montgomery County – voted against the bill, and Governor Wolfe said he will also veto the bill if it crosses his desk.
At the present time, two federal laws and two Commonwealth laws prohibit weapons in schools, on school property, or in school buses, but the laws have exceptions.
The first federal law, the Gun-Free School Zones Act (GFSZA) of 1990, prohibits the possession in a school zone of any firearm that has moved in interstate commerce or otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce.
The second, the Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA) of 1994, prohibits student possession of guns in schools and requires local education agencies to adopt policies that require at least a one-year suspension from school for any student who brings to school or possesses a gun at school, the so-called “zero tolerance” rule.
State laws track the federal laws. The first, 18 Pa. C.S. § 912, makes it a misdemeanor of the first degree to possess “any knife, cutting instrument, cutting tool, nun-check stick, firearm, shotgun, rifle and any other tool, instrument of implement capable of inflicting serious bodily harm” in a public, private or parochial school, on its grounds, or in related conveyances of transportation. One of the exceptions to this statute is if the weapon is “possessed for other lawful purpose.” Therefore, if the individual possesses a valid Pennsylvania License to Carry a gun, District Attorneys who interpret this exception broadly may hesitate to enforce this law when an individual is found to have a gun in a school zone.
The second Pennsylvania statute, 24 P.S. 13-1317.2, amends the school code to mandate expulsion “of not less than one year” for any student bringing or possessing a weapon “on any school property, at any school-sponsored activity, or any public conveyance providing transportation to a school or school activity.”
However, Pennsylvania is actually behind an emerging national trend to arm school employees. At least 18 states now allow either open- or concealed-carry in K-12 schools and/or at colleges and universities, and additional states are considering adopting such provisions. In the majority of cases, all that is required is the approval of the School Board, principal, or trustees of the school, or of someone with equivalent authority. For example, sister states New Jersey and New York both simply require such authorization and that the authorization be in writing.
Pennsylvania’s SB 383 requires school employees who would be armed to (1) have a license to carry a concealed firearm, and (2) maintain a current and valid certificate of training under the Lethal Weapons Training Act, another similar act, or any firearms training program approved by the Commissioner of the State Police “of sufficient scope and duration.” Although the Act specifies that the license to carry be for a “concealed-carry” weapon, the Act does not specify that the firearms carried must actually be in concealed-carry mode. The Act fails to elaborate that the Commonwealth does not require licensing for open carry of guns. The Commonwealth has no law prohibiting open carry of guns, except in the city of Philadelphia.
Advocacy for allowing school employees to be armed arose after the Columbine massacre in 1999, and escalated after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School killings. As one teacher in Pennsylvania said, teachers need “something more powerful than an eraser” to throw at an intruder. And not only at intruders…
In the latest nationwide Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Study (YRBSS) from 2015, 4.1% of high school students reported they had carried a weapon to school at least once in the last 30 days. A larger percentage, 5.6%, reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property within the last year. YRBBS data for middle school is limited to surveys in six states, but the results indicate anywhere from 25-46% of middle school students carried a weapon of some sort to school in 2015. According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 1.7 million children have access to an unlocked, loaded gun at home.
Pennsylvania has not been immune to weapons violence in schools. In addition, the Commonwealth has the dubious distinction of having had perhaps the first school shooting recorded: the Brown Massacre in Greencastle in 1764, where three Native Americans killed the schoolmaster Enoch Brown and nine students during the Pontiac War. Between 1872 and 2016, nearly 20 incidents of violence in schools occurred in the Commonwealth, including the 2006 Nickel Mines tragedy.
Despite the worrying statistics, those opposed to arming school employees point to the danger that an angry employee might use a gun inappropriately, that a student could gain access to a teacher’s gun, or that school liability insurance might soar. In addition, when police arrive at a scene of a school shooting, they look to see who has the gun. When the “good guys” have guns, confusion can result. Rural schools have the added concern that response times for police and first responders in an emergency can be at least 30-45 minutes.
Bottom Line for Schools
Notwithstanding whether the idea of arming school employees is a good or bad public policy, the prospect of unintended injury raises a whole new level of concern over enhanced civil liability for schools and their employees. It can only be expected that insurance companies will respond with higher premiums, or more likely, exclusions in policy.
If you have a question about guns in school, please contact your legal counsel or one of the Education Law Practice Group attorneys at KingSpry.
School Law Bullets are a publication of KingSpry’s Education Law Practice Group. They are meant to be informational and do not constitute legal advice. John E. Freund, III, is our editor.
