Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, some organizations are offering gun training and concealed-weapons classes for free. NBC's Janet Shamlian reports.
By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News
With the debate over gun violence reshaped by the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school last month, lawmakers across the country are pushing proposals to arm teachers in the classroom. But many of them may be wasting their time.
More than a third of the states already allow teachers and other adults to carry guns to school. In most cases, all you need is the equivalent of a note from the principal ? you usually don't even need law enforcement approval.
NBC News reviewed the firearms and education laws in all 50 states and found that 18 of them allow adults to have a loaded gun on school grounds, usually as long as they have written permission.
That's for pretty much any reason; the list doesn't include states that generally ban guns but carve out narrow exceptions for specific activities like safety demonstrations or military formations and parades.
During a Tea Party forum in Fort Worth, Texas Gov. Rick Perry became one of the first prominent officials after the Dec. 14 shootings to call for teachers to be allowed to carry firearms to work ? even though Texas already allows any qualified adult to do so as long as the principal OKs it.
Since then, lawmakers in several states have jumped on board with proposals that mirror laws already on the books.
In Alabama, for example, state Rep. Kerry Rich, a Republican representing DeKalb and Marshall counties, has proposed legislation that would give schools the option of letting their teachers or administrators carry guns.
They already have that option.
In Kentucky, lawmakers said last week they're contemplating ?legislation that would let teachers and administrators pack a weapon after completing safety training.
Kentucky school boards already have the authority to allow that.
Oregon state Rep. Dennis Richardson, a Republican representing Central Point, said in an e-mail to schools superintendents in his district that, he too, supported allowing teachers to carry weapons at school.
Oregon school boards can already give that permission.
Self defense
The real debate is over proposals to create exemptions from gun bans in states that don't have them. Such measures have been introduced or proposed in Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee. (The Michigan Legislature passed a bill last year, but Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed it.)
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