Indiana lawmakers advanced a bill this week that would make state funding available for teachers who want to be trained on how to use a firearm.
The legislation, H.B. 1177, which passed 42-8 in the state Senate, was first advanced in the state House in February, according to the Associated Press. On Tuesday, two Democrats joined all Republicans in supporting the bill.
Proponents of the bill said that 40 hours of voluntary firearm training would prepare educators to defend themselves and their students in the event of an active shooter situation. The training would be covered by the state, and schools could apply for this funding in the event of a school shooting “to cover the costs of counseling” for students and staffers.
State Sen. Travis Holdman, the bill’s sponsor, reportedly said that he wished this kind of training was mandatory. Previous efforts to offer this kind of training have failed. H.B. 1177 bill passed the House earlier this year in a 71-24 vote.
“I’m not wanting teachers or staff to be SWAT members and get aggressive and go out there and go into offense and hunt them, you know, I can’t put myself in their situation, and heaven forbid that ever does happen. But what this is, it teaches them proper firearm safety, weapon retention is a big thing, a lot of range time, you know, scenario-based training,” said State Rep. Jim Lucas, a Republican, told WNDU at the time it passed.
Last month, a mass shooting occurred at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee. The shooter was a biological female who identified as transgender. She gunned down three children and three adults before being fatally shot by police.
Last year, in Greenwood, Indiana, a 20-year-old man who opened fire in a shopping mall and killed three people was shot dead by an armed bystander, 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken.
“Many more people would have died last night if not for a responsible armed citizen,” the city’s police chief, James Ison, said in a news conference after the shooting.
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