Exclusive: Mike Garcia Pushes Bills to ‘Harden’ School Security in Wake of Nashville Shooting

Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) reintroduced a pair of bills Thursday designed to prevent violence, including shootings, in schools in the wake of the Covenant School tragedy in Nashville that left six people dead, including three children.

The bills, called the Safe Schools Act and the Strengthening School Security for Students Act, effectively direct government funding toward improving school safety.

The first bill would take certain unspent funds that had been allocated toward schools’ coronavirus-related needs and redirect the funds toward expenses for the installation of metal detectors in schools, specialized training for law enforcement and school officials, an upgrade to locks on doors and windows, and salaries for armed school resources officers.

The second bill would allot funding for state educational agencies to hire and train two school resource officers for every 500 students at an elementary or secondary school.

Garcia first introduced the bills last year in the aftermath of the Uvalde, Texas, shooting, during which 21 individuals were killed, including 19 children.

This year’s school safety proposals from Garcia come after police said that the Nashville shooter targeted at least one other location but had determined that unlike the Covenant School, the location had “too much security,” which deterred the shooter, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said, according to NBC 4.

“Following the horrific events that have occurred in our schools across our country, in particular the recent events in Nashville, TN, I am reintroducing these commonsense bills to help harden our schools against violent crimes and individuals with intent to harm our students,” Garcia said of the bill package.

He added that “nobody in this country wants to see these tragic events continue, and now we must work together to find solutions to deter future violence from taking place.”

The California Republican said he is hoping Democrats, who continue to aggressively push for stricter gun laws over stronger school security measures, will join him in support of the legislation.