Another school district letting teachers carry guns

Another Shasta County district has decided to let teachers bring their concealed guns to school, joining a few other districts in the state in allowing them to do so.

North Cow Creek School District in Palo Cedro — home only to North Cow Creek Elementary — followed the lead of the Anderson Union High School District in adopting a policy to essentially ignore Senate Bill 707, the 2016 California law that made it harder — but not illegal — for concealed-carry permit-holders to bring their guns on campuses. The law defaulted all California school districts to gun-free zones, even for permit-holders, but let individual districts adopt policies to exempt some people licensed to carry a concealed weapon.

In doing so, both districts join only a few in California that let parents, members of the general public and teachers bring concealed guns. It's not clear how many districts in the state have similar policies, but a Breitbart article in June identified Anderson and one school district each in Kern, Fresno and Sacramento counties as the only ones in the state to allow teachers to carry at the time.

It makes sense that Shasta County now has at least two districts that support CCW permit-holders — at 5,116 permits, it had the third-highest number of them, according to 2013 California Department of Justice data compiled by the Calguns Foundation. That's a raw number, not a per-capita adjustment, and put Shasta behind only Kern and Fresno counties for total permits at the time.

Meanwhile, a Prairie Elementary School parent is asking his child’s district to consider following suit, saying trained gun-holders on campus will protect children in an emergency.

"They are representing me and my kid, and I’ve got to give them at least an official chance on the record to address this issue," said parent Rich Gallardo, who's sent a letter to Pacheco Union School District board members that he'll also read at the board's Feb. 14 meeting. "It's not just for my kid — it's for the whole district, really."

Gallardo said he agrees with Anderson's rationale, which essentially hinged on letting the sheriff decide who should carry a concealed weapon instead of a school district.

"If the sheriff can’t be trusted to allow that, well, then who can be?" he said.

Gallardo's position clashes with the stand of gun-control proponents, who generally argue that children are safer without the risk of accidental firing, a gun landing in the wrong hands or getting caught in crossfire.

"It's hard to imagine many school boards that would want to take that risk," Craig Reynolds, chief of staff for SB 707's author, now-former state Sen. Lois Wolk, told the Record Searchlight in 2016. "If something goes wrong, they're the ones who have to answer to it."

While similar, North Cow Creek’s policy is more restrictive than Anderson’s. Anderson lets anyone with a CCW come on campus, no question asked, while North Cow Creek requires permit-holders to first get written permission from the district and meet several other common-sense criteria (maintaining “peaceful and lawful activity” while on campus, for example).

It applies to district employees “with no disciplinary record in the previous four years,” though employees have to send an annual letter of intent to the district that they’ll be carrying a gun, show their current CCW permit, and present a plan for how the weapon will be stored and what other safety measures will be in place so students can’t get a hold of the weapon. They apparently can bring weapons just about anywhere on campus, as the district’s website says eligible sites for CCWs include “but are not limited to” buildings, fields, storage areas and parking lots.

The biggest challenge for districts who decide to allow weapons on campus is the rising cost of insurance that it brings, said Ted Lidie, senior instructor for Northern Firearms Instruction in Redding.

"If they had an occurrence ... that would be a huge line-item for (small districts), as far as the budget goes," Lidie said. "One darn occurrence, one person shoots themselves in the foot, whatever."

Lidie believes that's the only reason more districts in generally gun-friendly Shasta County don't allow weapons at school.

"Without a doubt," he said. "The insurance — it's very expensive."

Several other Shasta County school districts still allow concealed-carry weapons on their campuses, but not necessarily in classrooms or when carried by teachers.

Each school district has its own take on the law, so no two policies are alike. Some even completely contrast in their intent — protecting children from would-be shooters versus convenience for teachers who happen to be CCW-holders, for example.

The latter is the case for the Columbia Elementary School District, which allows only staff members with CCW permits to keep their guns in their vehicles, but not bring them into class.

Superintendent Clay Ross said the board’s decision was more about convenience and personal rights than a belief that armed teachers could protect students, which is why they limited the policy to apply to the parking lot.

“We really looked at it long and hard,” Ross said. “We have staff from rural communities that have CCWs, and because you couldn’t be within 1,000 feet of the school (with SB 707), they were parking away from the school. … They feel they have a right to have a concealed weapon.”

Like North Cow Creek, Columbia’s policy requires staff to apply for permission each year and meet certain other requirements.

The Shasta Union High School District also allows some weapons on campus, but its policy is the same as it was before SB 707 — concealed-carry weapons are OK for everyone but faculty and staff, and permission is required.

Lidie said making the decision to allow weapons on campus is always an emotional one, with both sides strongly feeling their position is the one that will save lives.

"When you start thinking about guns and children on the same property," he said, "there is a lot of emotional attachment to making that property as safe as possible."