Would allowing teachers to have guns at school for protection lead to injury lawsuits?
There is a movement afoot to allow teachers in schools to carry firearms while at school.
A bill was just introduced in Pennsylvania to allow this very thing to occur.
Legally the question is whether the bill would spark lawsuits against the school district when something goes wrong.
It would be easy to see situations where the school district would open themselves up to claims if a teacher used the firearm in a careless manner.
In that situation Pittsburgh school law and injury lawyer Bernie Tully believes the legal exposure of the school district would be devastating.
It is not hard to imagine a single disgruntled teacher deciding to take his frustrations out on anyone around him with his firearm.
The school district would be liable for his grossly negligent actions in shooting others at the school.
The damages could be in the millions of dollars.
That’s why Pittsburgh school law and injury lawyer Bernie Tully does not think this is a good idea at all.
School districts are struggling as it is.
The last thing they need is a multimillion dollar lawsuit filed against them.
What do you think about this proposal?
Should teachers be allowed to carry firearms at schools?
Read the article below from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review and decide for yourself
Thanks for reading.
Bernie the attorney.
“Teachers with guns? Senate Bill 383 gives OK in Pa.State Sen. Don White wants to give school districts more options to keep students safe.
But according to several statewide education groups, allowing teachers to carry firearms on school property is not a viable option.
The Indiana County Republican’s Senate Bill 383 — it was approved this week by a 9-3 vote of the bipartisan Senate Education Committee — would allow school districts to grant properly licensed and trained personnel access to firearms or permission to carry a concealed firearm.
White put forth similar legislation in 2014, which was not enacted.
Ken Trump, president of Cleveland-based National School Safety and Security Services, said teachers are not trained law enforcement officers.
“It’s a high-risk, high-liability proposition,” Trump said. “School districts are educational organizations; they’re not police departments. Superintendents and principals are educators, not police chiefs. Police officers are trained to assess situations and make life-or-death decisions with every call they take.”
The nonprofit Education Law Center, with offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, also opposes the bill.
“There is reason to believe arming school personnel is more dangerous than the harm it seeks to avoid,” the center’s executive director, Deborah Klehr, wrote in a March 27 letter to the Senate Education Committee.”