Lawmakers in Oklahoma are moving to keep secret the names of public school teachers and staff who carry concealed weapons around students.
After concerned parents requested the names of armed school personnel, the Oklahoma House approved legislation on Monday exempting these names from open records requests. The bill now moves to the Oklahoma Senate, where it will likely be approved. Governor Mary Fallin (R) has not indicated whether or not she supports the bill.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jeff Coody (R), says secrecy is for the safety of the armed personnel.
But Rep. Jason Dunnington (D) thinks parents have a right to know. “I voted against this bill as a parent with children in the Oklahoma public school system,” he told ThinkProgress. “If a teacher has firearms in the classroom, parents should be able to know who that is. What if the teacher is a notorious gun lover or mentally unqualified?”
“This bill limits Oklahomans’ use of the Open Records Act, and I don’t think that’s right,” Dunnington added.
The bill is an update to legislation passed last year that legalized arming public school staff in Oklahoma, provided they attend training, receive a certificate to carry a handgun, and receive approval by the board of education.
Rep. Coody says the bill protects rural Oklahoma schools that cannot afford campus security. “A gun-free zone is a target, a soft target,” he told the Tulsa World.
Critics remain skeptical of the “good guy with a gun” argument — in other words, the idea that armed security is a deterrent for people who commit mass school shootings. “Many of these shooters intend to die, either by their own hand or by suicide by cop. There was an armed guard at Columbine. There were armed campus police at Virginia Tech,” Dr. Peter Langman, a clinical psychologist, told Politico.
Langman’s claim is supported by an FBI investigation of 160 domestic active shooter incidents between 2000 and 2013. Researchers found that while 3 percent of incidents ended when armed civilians exchanged gunfire with the shooter, 23 percent of incidents ended when the shooter committed suicide at the scene before police arrived.
Nonetheless, in recent years it’s become increasingly popular to allow teachers to carry guns. College faculty members in states like Texas and Wisconsin have spoken out against concealed carry laws, saying they represent a threat to education.