Ark. school district's plan to arm teachers nixed by AG

Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

A plan by a small Arkansas school district to arm 20 teachers and staff with 9 mm handguns has run aground after the state attorney says the program is not covered by state law.

The Clarksville School District was trying to mount its program using a little-known state law that is meant to apply to licensing private security agencies.

A state lawmaker requested the opinion a day after The Associated Press reported on a plan by the school district in western Arkansas to use more the teachers and staff as volunteer security guards armed with concealed handguns.

"Simply put, the code in my opinion does not authorize either licensing a school district as a guard company or classifying it as a private business authorized to employ its own teachers as armed guards," Attorney General Dustin McDaniel wrote.

The school district's volunteer guards underwent 53 hours of training this summer to get ready for fall classes, according to KARK-TV.

David Hopkins, superintendent of schools in Clarksville, a community of 9,200 people about 100 miles northwest of Little Rock, says the move was in response to last year's tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that left 20 students and six staff members dead.

"We lock the door, and we hide and hope for the best. Well that's not a plan," he told KARK.

The district planned to post signs at each school about the armed guards, but the identities of faculty and staff carrying weapons would be kept secret

Hopkins said he had spoken with McDaniel earlier Thursday about the opinion, the AP reported. Hopkins said he was still reviewing it but that "it sounds like he's saying that we can't do the program."

"Obviously we're going to comply with the law. We're not going to break the law," said Hopkins, who had appeared on NBC's "Today" show Thursday morning to tout the program. "We wanted to provide the training and give the sense of a secure place for our parents and students. I tell you, this has really thrown a monkey wrench into it."

He also noted that the Legislature has the power to change the law prohibiting school employees from carrying guns on campus.

After the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings, the National Rifle Association declared that arming teachers and staff was the best response to serious threats.

Many schools have resisted such a plan, however, because of objections from educators or warnings from insurance companies that schools would face higher premiums.

Contributing: Associated Press