As if you didn’t already have enough to worry about, state Sen. Doug Mastriano wants to put more guns in our public schools. This will endanger students, school staff, and first responders.
Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor, said recently that he plans to introduce a bill allowing school employees to be armed while on school property, provided they possess a valid Pennsylvania concealed carry permit and undergo a firearms course.
This is a terrible idea. The last thing we need is more firearms in our schools, creating even more opportunities for students and staff to be injured or killed.
PSEA is strongly in favor of strategies that will actually keep students and our members safe. We know all of you are experts in educating and caring for our students, not in using firearms in dangerous situations.
This is just another in a long line of Doug Mastriano’s bad ideas. Mastriano:
- Wants to cut public school funding IN HALF
- Believes public schools are overfunded and educators are overpaid
- Wants to make it harder for educators to collectively bargain for better salaries, benefits, and working conditions
His policies would be an unmitigated disaster for Pennsylvania’s public schools. And now he wants to make them less safe on top of it.
We are all devastated by the recent mass shootings that have occurred in public schools across America. And PSEA is committed to working with our elected leaders to find ways to ensure that these tragedies never happen again. That’s why we strongly oppose bad ideas like this one.
