Assembly panel rejects arming teachers against campus intruders

A state legislative committee on Wednesday rejected a proposal to allow school districts to train teachers and administrators to use guns to protect campuses against armed intruders.

Only one member of the seven-member Assembly Education Committee voted for the bill introduced by Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R-Twin Peaks) in response to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

“What we’re talking about is protecting kids,” Donnelly told the committee regarding AB 202.

Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo) said student safety could be put at risk if students knew a teacher had a gun in the classroom.

“I wouldn’t want my child in a classroom with a teacher who had a gun,” Buchanan said.

Donnelly said his school marshal program would serve as a deterrent to campus violence because school districts would openly act to participate.

Criminals would not know which teachers, if any, might be carrying a firearm, he said.

“It would send a very clear signal to a would-be deranged killer,” Donnelly said.

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patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com