McCormick, educators & activists team up to keep guns out of schools

RAHWAY, N.J. - March 10, 2017 - PRLog -- The Sandy Hook massacre has given rise to the once-unthinkable idea of arming teachers as a way of improving school safety, but educators, activists and candidates are launching new efforts to organize and fight back against efforts to put guns into schools and colleges.

Through the grassroots powerhouse Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (http://momsdemandaction.org/), a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, educators are tapping into the fights in their states and pushing back against dangerous efforts to put more guns in more places, with no questions asked.

Lisa McCormick Photo available at http://lisamccormick.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Lisa_McCormick_46_hires-200x300.jpg
"Educators have opposed guns in schools long before 20 children and six adults were fatally shot on December 14, 2012, in Connecticut, (http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/07/us/connecticut-shootings-fast-facts/) but now they are being organized to defeat the dangerous legislation that some maniacs are promoting around the nation," said Lisa McCormick, a Democratic candidate for governor in New Jersey whose rivals have neglected firearms safety or even profited off of gun manufacturing. (https://app.robly.com/archive?id=c089c2a6cc48a86a61fec591...)

McCormick said legislation permitting guns in K-12 schools have been introduced in 15 states (CO, FL, IN, KY, MD, MN, MO, MT, ND, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV and WY) and 14 states are considering bills permitting firearms on college campuses (AR, FL, GA, IA, IN, KS, KY, MN, MO, OK, SC, TN, WV and WY).

"We're not trained sharp shooters, we're not trained first responders," said Abbey Clements, who was a 2nd grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School during the massacre. (http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/03/01/educators-jo...) "We are caregivers. … I'm sure every educator out there would say that we want school safety, but arming teachers is not the answer."

President Donald Trump, who was endorsed by the National Rifle Association, promised to repeal a federal law that prohibits unauthorized persons from carrying or firing guns within 1,000 feet of a school grounds.

Moms Demand Action is recruiting teachers, administrators, counselors, school nurses to join the fight to stop reckless policies and instead advance the enactment of common sense regulatory measures that close loopholes in current law and reduce harm from gun violence.

McCormick said those efforts are already seeing success, as lawmakers in Montana defeated a guns in K-12 schools bill (http://everytown.org/press/everytown-montana-moms-demand-action-applaud-houses-rejection-of-legislation-that-would-have-forced-school-boards-to-allow-hidden-loaded-guns-in-k-12-schools/) and lawmakers in Wyoming rejected a guns on campus bill (http://everytown.org/press/everytown-wyoming-moms-demand-action-applaud-senates-rejection-of-bill-aimed-at-forcing-guns-onto-college-campuses/).

"Teachers have such an incredibly powerful voice on this issue because they are in the classroom and they really do know what's best for students," said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action.