In the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting, Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is calling for retired military personnel to serve as armed school security guards.
Graham said in a Friday tweet thread that he would create a “certification process” to more easily allow veterans to qualify as security guards and carry firearms on school grounds. Forty-three percent of schools had armed security personnel during the 2015-16 school year, according to the New York State School Boards Association, with the majority of those being school resource officers (SROs).
Graham’s proposal would not place more police in schools, but would allow the “hundreds of thousands” of veterans to protect students, he explained. (RELATED: Dems Outraged About Texas Shooting Pushed Bill To Defund School Police Protection)
“We have hundreds of thousands of well-trained former military members who could bring a lot to the table in terms of school security. ROTC instructors with firearms training should be allowed to possess weapons to enhance school security,” Graham said.
We have hundreds of thousands of well-trained former military members who could bring a lot to the table in terms of school security.
ROTC instructors with firearms training should be allowed to possess weapons to enhance school security.
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— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) June 3, 2022
Graham’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment for further information about his proposal.
Some of the largest school districts in the country announced in 2020 and 2021 that they would no longer allow SROs in schools in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests and riots. Minneapolis Public Schools, which educates nearly 33,000, Denver Public Schools, with more than 93,000 students, and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), which has more than 160,000 students, all eliminated School Resource Officer positions in the aftermath of the BLM protests and riots. MCPS brought police officers back after a high school student was shot in January.
Police officers have also called for a more extensive armed presence to prevent mass shootings in schools.
“We need to ensure each school has locked doors, security cameras, metal detectors and armed police,” Maryland State Fraternal Order of Police President Sgt. Clyde Boatwright told The Daily Caller News Foundation in May. “You cannot see a judge, attend a sporting event or meet with an elected official without passing through multiple security measures. Our precious children deserve the same level of protection.”