TexasCHLforum.com

"Immediate reach" is going to be impossible to accomplish when you have a stationery location and a mobile "Marshall" that works with students. "Works with students" is a very broad definition and will eventually require a court case to define. The schools will be better off going with full time law enforcement on site if they want to consider the Marshall plan (not the one developed for post World War II Europe).

The other issue you have with a lock box is you invite burglary to see if someone might have left a gun over night or even during the day when the room is empty. If the staff member can't keep control of a weapon or is in a situation where the students they work with would be subject to trying to take a weapon from a staff member, they don't need to have one. And, since it is supposed to be confidential who is armed and who is not, you will have to put lock boxes in all classrooms or you will then identify who is armed by the fact that their room (location) has a lock box. I am a school board member and my district has been looking into this issue prior to the Newtown incident. It is a difficult decision and one that is a sad commentary on our society in general. Since I have a law enforcement background, I have taken the lead on the issue up till now. We have looked for input from local law enforcement and the State. We have spent money on beefing up our physical security in a number of areas and beefing up our security planning and drills.

I sincerly believe this law will not help and takes away the ability for local authorities to implement the few good parts of this law as it would best benefit the district. Maybe it can be cleaned up in the next session. Again, my informed opinion.

This bill was not good. It created a new class of peace officer called a School Marshall. But they can't carry a weapon if they are with students. That makes them useless in an active shooter situation. "Excuse me while I go get my weapon out of that box over there". Also, one per 400 students. The armed staff are most vital in small districts. If you have 900 students on three campuses, now what. And if the "Marshall" is out that day, then what. Not a well thought out piece of legislation. Small schools will stick with the current model, IMHO. My school district will. You don't need peace officers. You need armed staff that can act as speed bumps until the peace officers arrive or to act as a deterrent in the first place. You need to make your school less inviting than the next school down the road.