State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, a Republican candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, speaks at a primary night election gathering in Chambersburg, Pa., May 17, 2022. Mastriano has made a campaign staple out of the allegation that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's policy of readmitting COVID-19 patients from hospitals to nursing homes caused thousands of deaths — a baseless claim for which no investigator or researcher has provided any evidence. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano has introduced legislation allowing school employees with a valid conceal carry permit to be armed while on school property.

Mastriano, who serves in the state Senate, circulated a co-sponsorship memorandum for Senate Bill 1288 in mid-June and introduced the bill in the state Senate on Thursday. The bill is supported by several Republican senators, including Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-Oil City, who represents part of Warren County.

The legislation would allow school districts to issue school safety certifications to certified employees to have a firearm or other legal weapon while on school grounds. School employees would request certification from the school, with the district given 45 days to grant the certificate as long as the employee provides valid proof of employment, a current full-face photograph, proof of a valid Pennsylvania conceal carry permit and a signed statement by an NRA-certified instructor or other competent instructor showing the school employee has completed between 15 and 30 hours of in-person training and proficiency course for the weapon to be carried on school grounds. The signed statement would also have to show the course provided training in the protection of students, interaction of license holders with first responders, tactics for denying an intruder entry into a classroom or school facility, safe handling and storage of weapons, operating defensive weapons under duress.

“Senate Bill 1288 would not be a mandate but would give school staff the ability to be a last line of defense if they choose,” Mastriano wrote in an op/ed posted on his Senate website.

The proposal has already been opposed by the Pennsylvania State Education Association. The PSEA does not oppose the use of appropriately trained and armed school safety personnel in schools, such as school safety officers, but is opposed to allowing school employees to be armed.

“The problem we have right now is a direct result of people bringing guns into schools,” said Rich Askey, association president. “The last thing we need is more firearms in our classrooms and hallways, creating even more opportunities for students and staff to be injured or killed. There is no question that arming educators or other school staff will put students, staff, and first responders at greater risk in a crisis. Teachers, counselors, and support staff are experts in educating and caring for our students, not in using firearms in dangerous situations. It took dozens of highly trained and armed officers in bulletproof vests nearly an hour to end the massacre in Uvalde, Texas — and Doug Mastriano expects our librarians and kindergarten teachers to step into that dangerous role and do better?”

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least nine states — Idaho, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming — specifically list school employees as exempt from their ban on firearms on K-12 school grounds. Each of those states require a school employee to first get approval from a school authority such as the school board or superintendent. Seven states — Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming — also require school employees to be licensed to carry a firearm. In addition, seven states — Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, South Dakota and Wyoming — also require school employees to complete training programs, typically provided by a local law enforcement agency. New York only allows school security officials to have a gun in school.

“Mr. Askey is dead wrong,” Mastriano said in his op/ed. “Mass murderers are often attracted to “soft targets” where they know victims are not armed. According to the Crime Prevention Resource Center, there has not been a single mass shooting in a school where staff were permitted to carry a firearm. According to the Crime Research Center, there has never been an incident of lost or stolen firearms where school employees are permitted to carry. Overwhelmingly, those with concealed carry permits have proven themselves trustworthy for decades. All of these school safety best practices are tangible, rational steps we can take to protect our students and protect our constitutional rights at the same time.”