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Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed a bill that will allow more Florida teachers to bring guns to school, last year 's response to last year' s mass shooting. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
DeSantis signed the bill privately and issued no statement. The Republican-led House of Representatives in Florida voted to send the bill to the governor last week, while the GOP-controlled state Senate passed the measure the week before.
The new law expands the "guardian" program of an existing school and allows any teacher to volunteer to carry a weapon if its school district approves it. Potential volunteers must complete at least 144 hours of training, psychiatric assessment and drug testing by the police. Under a previous law, passed immediately after the shooting in Parkland in February 2018, only teachers with another role at school, such as the sports trainer, were allowed to carry weapons on the campus.
The new law expands the program to make all teachers eligible, whether or not they have a role outside the classroom.
Most Democrats and teachers' unions opposed the bill, arguing that the introduction of more weapons into schools would put children at risk, increase the risk of wrong shots and increase violence against children. African-American students because of inherent prejudices. Proponents of the bill said that arming teachers is the best way to protect children from future school shooters. Republicans pointed out that the program was voluntary and that in some rural districts, law enforcement could be 15 minutes or more from a school if a shooter attacked.
It is unclear how many Florida state school districts will approve the extension of the "Guardian" program. Currently, 25 of the state's 67 school districts are participating in the program, but boards in some of Florida's most populous counties have already chosen not to participate, preferring to call on police officers qualified for school safety.
"Can you imagine that someone you've taught could come to campus and protect other children and shoot at a child you've already taught?" Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins, of the Hillsborough County Class Teachers Association, told Fox News this week. "We do not think of all the mental problems that go into that."
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"We also have kids who come from places where school is the only safe place they have," said Baxter-Jenkins, "if we change that into a scenario, we think that's is not healthy for children mentally ".
The new law also contains a number of other safety measures in schools, such as wider disclosure of some students' mental health records and mental screening of struggling students. It also requires more reporting on school safety and student discipline incidents, as well as the requirement to consult with law enforcement officials about threats. .
Fox News' Allie Raffa and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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