Senate Approves Firearms Educator Training Fund – NBC Chicago

Indiana senators on Tuesday introduced a bill that would make state funding available to educators seeking firearms training, a move that critics say could increase the number of guns in schools at the expense of students.

The 42-8 vote follows the National Rifle Association’s three-day conference last weekend in Indianapolis, which coincided with the second anniversary of a mass shooting in the city at a FedEx facility in which nine people were killed.

The House bill first advanced in February amid objections from educators that having additional guns in schools would worsen school safety. On Tuesday, two Democrats joined all of the state’s Republican senators in voting on the bill.

Supporters said the 40 hours of optional training will help teachers learn to stand up for themselves and students if needed, especially in situations where there is an active gunman. Currently, state law allows school districts to authorize teachers to be armed, but it does not require training.

The proposed training will be voluntary and paid for by the state. Schools can also request such funds in the event of a school shooting to “cover counseling costs” for students, teachers and other school employees, the bill says.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican Senator Travis Holdman, said before Tuesday’s vote that he wanted to make training mandatory, “but we can’t have that as a general assembly, because I’ve tried for the last few years.”

“How will 40 hours of training prepare you to photograph a child in your classroom?” He questioned Democratic Sen. Andrea Hunley on Tuesday. “This will not stop school shootings.”

Over the weekend, thousands of the NRA’s most active members gathered in downtown Indianapolis. Speaking to a cheering crowd, former President Donald Trump called for teachers to be armed.

The event also occurred after the recent mass shootings at a school in Nashville and a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, and the same day shootings broke out at a teen’s birthday party in Alabama. Last year’s NRA conference was followed by a school massacre in Uvalde, Texas.

In the previous legislative session, Indiana lawmakers eliminated a permit requirement for those carrying a gun in public. All residents over the age of 18, except for those with a criminal conviction, those facing a restraining order, or the mentally ill, may carry a firearm in public.

The bill faced opposition from the Indiana Sheriff of Police and various law enforcement groups across the state, who said repealing the permit system would put officers at risk by stripping them of a screening tool to quickly identify dangerous people.