State legislators in Arizona are working on a new budget that will strengthen school safety in the wake of the horrific shooting that claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, TX. Several GOP congressmen are urging the federal government to spend more money on school security.
According to the plan, around 415 school resource officers would be hired at an extra annual cost of $50 million. Not all legislators, on the other hand, agree. Rep. Reginald Bolding, the state’s leading Democrat in the House, is opposed to the proposed state budget plan. He asserts that because of the high rate of gun violence in the United States, it is imperative that measures such as criminal background checks and red flag regulations be implemented. It doesn’t seem like the right approach to just put more firearms in classrooms.
He also said that he didn’t believe that increasing the number of policemen would fix the overall problem. “(Student resource Officers) in and of themselves don’t solve the problem we have when people go into churches, when they go to entertainment districts, when they go to grocery stores. If a child has a mental health issue and they get their hands on a gun, this doesn’t solve that problem,” said Bolding.
Sen. T.J. Shope, a Republican from Coolidge, supports the revised idea. In his opinion, the money spent on school security is wisely spent. The greatest approach to safeguard children and teachers, according to Shope, while still preserving the rights of law-abiding gun owners. The amount of votes needed to approve the budget plan makes it unlikely that it will be adopted as presented.
