Texas seeks more armed school personnel after mass shooting
By: The Associated Press, policeone.com
AUSTIN, Texas — Nearly a year after a mass shooting at a Texas high school in which eight students and two substitute teachers were killed, lawmakers in the gun-friendly state are close to passing measures that they say would harden campuses by adding more armed school personnel, beefing up security plans and boosting student mental health resources.
As for restricting gun sales or access to weapons, there’s likely no chance of that happening in a state where the Republican leadership has long pledged to protect gun rights. Texas allows the licensed carry of handguns and the unlicensed open carry of long guns, such as assault-style rifles.
“We can make soft targets harder for a person with violent intent to get to, and we can try to find these people earlier, but in Texas leaders are loath to touch the guns themselves,” said Cal Jillson, political science professor at Southern Methodist University. “It’s part of the broad Texas ethos, the Texas image, this sort of cowboy image from history.”
