Indiana Bill Would Fund Firearms Training for Teachers, School Staff

A Utah teacher is shown how to handle a handgun by instructor Clint Simon (R) at a concealed-weapons training class for 200 Utah teachers in West Valley City, Utah, on Dec. 27, 2012. George Frey/Getty Images

The lower chamber of the Indiana General Assembly has approved a bill allowing for state-funded handgun training for teachers and school staff.

Indiana House Republicans were able to pass House Bill 1177 on Feb. 21, which would fund handgun training for teachers to protect their classrooms and students. The bill passed the House with a 71–24 vote along party lines.

The legislation now heads to the state Senate for consideration.

Critics claim that the bill will only encourage more guns in classrooms across the state and create more violence.

Indiana state law currently permits school districts to allow their teachers and staff to be armed, but no specific firearms training is required or has been funded by the state.

So far, only a few Indiana school districts allow teachers to carry firearms in the classrooms.

Under the proposed law, the state would pay for up to 40 hours of voluntary law enforcement-style training provided by a qualified instructor.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. Jim Lucas, told Fox News that “sadly, it’s something that’s necessary for the tragic world we live in today.”

The Indiana Republican said that his bill is a common sense response to deadly mass shootings at schools across the country and that he also worked with law enforcement and public safety consultants to craft the legislation.

“This is just a standardized [training] format that the state will pay for,” Lucas said on the floor of the state Legislature.

Democrats Oppose Firearm Training for Teachers

After much debate earlier this month, the Indiana House Education Committee passed the bill in a 9–4 vote, with all Democrats voting against it.

Democrat state Rep. Tonya Pfaff, who also happens to be a math teacher, claimed during the floor debate that the proposed bill would lead to “more guns in school.”

She said that the risks associated with having guns in the classroom would increase and that students could access the weapon or grab it from a teacher.

“We want to teach, nurture, and inspire students,” Pfaff said, adding that “we don’t want to carry guns on our hips and normalize guns in schools.”

Legislators from both parties debated the bill for about 25 minutes, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

Democrat state Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn said that a better solution would be to “properly fund” school resource officers, rather than arm school teachers.

However, Lucas maintained that the bill would only ensure that teachers who are already carrying firearms are properly trained and that the provisions will actually improve safety.

“When faced with a life-or-death situation, simple drills and basic training can make all the difference,” Lucas said.

The handgun training courses would be strictly optional for teachers and staff members, but individual school boards or charter school corporations would need to give approval.

Teachers at privately-funded schools that apply would also be eligible for training.

The bill states that any teacher or school employee who receives firearms training would be protected from a suspension, investigation, disciplinary action, or criminal prosecution.

Eligible schools and districts would each be provided with an annually matching grant from the Indiana Secured School Fund for to pay for the firearms training.

Over the past decade, Indiana has awarded more than $133 million in matching grants to school districts to help boost security, and the schools in south-central Indiana, which Lucas represents, have received about $710,000 in grant funding, Just the News reported.

The measure would also authorize funding for counseling services for students, teachers, school staff and employees in the event of a school shooting

Previous efforts by Indiana lawmakers to pass a law offering additional training have failed in recent years.

This was mostly due to opposition from gun-rights advocates, who believed that mandatory gun safety training overstepped local control, and gun-control supporters who opposed any legislation aimed at arming teachers.

Responses to School Shooting Incidents

School shootings in Indiana gained attention from lawmakers following an incident in 2018 at a middle school in Noblesville in which a student shot and wounded a classmate and teacher. Another incident at a middle school in Richmond caused alarm, after a student fired at officers before killing himself, Fox News reported.

In response, Indiana lawmakers repealed a permit requirement for those carrying a gun in public at the previous legislative session.

The bill allowed all residents over 18 years of age to carry a handgun in public except those with a felony conviction, a restraining order, or a dangerous mental condition.

The permit repeal’s sponsors cited a shooting in Greenwood, a suburb or Indianapolis, in which five people were shot—three fatally—before a bystander took out the shooter with his own firearm.

However, the bill faced opposition from the Indiana State Police superintendent and several local law enforcement groups, who said that the elimination of the permit system endangered officers by denying them use of a screening tool employed to monitor people ineligible to possess guns, according to Fox News.