Kansas Bill Would Arm Teachers, Hold Schools Liable In Shootings

TOPEKA, KS — As America becomes further embroiled in a debate to arm teachers, a new bill in Kansas goes further than most under consideration: It would not only arm teachers, but hold schools that didn’t allow them to carry guns legally responsible in the event of a school shooting.

The bill is among a flurry of proposals to arm teachers filed in response to the Feb. 14 massacre in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were killed and many more were injured by a gunman armed with an AR-15 assault rifle. At least nine states already allow teachers to carry guns on school campuses.

“It’s not if our kids will be killed,” said conservative Republican Rep. Blake Carpenter, one of the bill’s authors. “It is when they will be killed and what we are going to do to prevent it.”

House Bill 2789 provides: "In any action against a unified school district arising out of acts or omissions regarding the possession or use of firearms on the premises of such school district, there shall be a rebuttable presumption of negligence on the part of such school district when it is shown by evidence that such school district did not authorize any employee of such school district, other than school security officers, to carry concealed handguns ..."

The bill was met with swift opposition in a hearing Tuesday before the House Insurance Committee. Among the complaints: The bill wouldn’t just allow teachers to be armed, but places such an onerous burden on schools that would effectively mandate it.

"It would certainly open the door for that conversation," said Democratic Rep. Brett Parker, an Overland Park school teacher. "The further we go down this rabbit hole, the more chance there is for even more obnoxious legislation moving forward."

Teachers in Kansas already have the right to carry guns in schools if they have permits and meet school policies under a 2013 law, but several schools forbade the practice after EMC Insurance Companies, the primary provider of school insurance in Kansas, refused to insure schools with armed staff, the Kansas City Star reported.

Insurers wouldn’t have that option under the bill as it’s currently written.

"No insurance company shall charge unfair discriminatory premiums, policy fees or rates for, or refuse to provide, any policy or contract of real or personal property insurance, liability insurance or policy containing liability coverage for any unified school district solely because such school district authorizes employees of such school district to carry concealed handguns on the premises of schools and attendance centers operated by such school district..." the bill states.

Parker said on Twitter that he has gathered more than 5,000 petition signatures and written testimony from hundreds of Kansans who “do not want guns in their classrooms.”

"We're inventing new ways, it seems, to drive people out of the teaching profession in Kansas," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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