North Carolina GOP Pushing Higher Pay for Armed Teachers

training Thursday for 200 Utah teachers. The Utah Shooting Sports Council said it would wa
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North Carolina Sens. Jerry Tillman (R), Ralph Hise (R), and Warren Daniel (R), are pushing legislation to implement salary increases for teachers who undergo the training necessary to be armed on campus.

The Carolinian reports that the Republicans are sponsoring the School Security Act of 2019. The Act puts in place a five percent raise for teachers who take part in “specialized police training to carry firearms on public school campuses.”

A similar bill failed to pass last year but Sen. Tillman believes this year will be different. He said, “This is an idea whose time has come. With the heightened awareness of the legislature, I believe this bill will see success.”

CNN quoted Sen. Daniel explaining the financial advantages of armed teachers: “It’s extremely costly to put a school resource officer in every school … and there’s a great shortage of the number of applicants to law enforcement agencies. This bill is an attempt to bridge that gap.”

WFTS points to teachers unions that remain opposed to allowing teachers to be armed to defend themselves and their students. For example, North Carolina Association of Educators president Mark Jewell said, “We don’t need firearms in our schools. Guns could endanger both students and other adults in the building.”

Jewell’s statement misses the fact that there is not a single incident in America where an armed teacher lost control of his or her firearm or committed a crime with the gun on campus. Nevertheless, Jewell contends that “teachers need to be armed with support specialists such as psychologists, counselors and nurses” instead of guns.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

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