CLARKSVILLE, AR — Candidates for Attorney General and school officials across Arkansas are reacting to Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s opinion that arming teachers in schools violates state law.
The opinion put a kink in Clarksville’s plan to arm teachers and staff as security.
The Clarksville School District has already spent about $50,000 on training more than 20 staff members to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Attorney general opinions are not binding, but the one McDaniel issued on Thursday says the law doesn’t allow Clarksville’s plan.
“I’ve heard from some parents, they are taking their children out of this school district simply because of that reason, they don’t feel secure with guns in the school, and I know there are teachers and administration and education support professionals that are being trained, only in 50 hours, in order to carry a concealed weapon,” Arkansas Education Association President Brenda Robinson says.
McDaniel’s opinion says school districts can still contract with private security companies or have law enforcement resource officers on campus, or ultimately the general assembly could choose to modify the law.
To see what other attorney general candidates are saying in response to the opinion, click here.
The opinion put a kink in Clarksville’s plan to arm teachers and staff as security.
The Clarksville School District has already spent about $50,000 on training more than 20 staff members to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Attorney general opinions are not binding, but the one McDaniel issued on Thursday says the law doesn’t allow Clarksville’s plan.
“I’ve heard from some parents, they are taking their children out of this school district simply because of that reason, they don’t feel secure with guns in the school, and I know there are teachers and administration and education support professionals that are being trained, only in 50 hours, in order to carry a concealed weapon,” Arkansas Education Association President Brenda Robinson says.
McDaniel’s opinion says school districts can still contract with private security companies or have law enforcement resource officers on campus, or ultimately the general assembly could choose to modify the law.
To see what other attorney general candidates are saying in response to the opinion, click here.