URGE SCHOOL BOARDS TO VOTE AGAINST GUNS IN SCHOOLS

URGE SCHOOL BOARDS TO VOTE AGAINST GUNS IN SCHOOLS

From the LWVIL Friday, October 8, 2021
 
URGE SCHOOL BOARDS TO VOTE AGAINST GUNS IN SCHOOLS
This November at the annual meeting of the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) two resolutions regarding legislative positions and firearms will be considered.

  • Resolution #2 involves allowing school employees to carry firearms on school property as part of a Student Safety and Protection Plan. 
  • Resolution #15 involves requiring safe storage of firearms in homes with students under the age of 18 years. 

Ask your school board to direct their delegate to the IASB Delegate Assembly to vote NO on Resolution #2 and YES on Resolution #15.

The League of Women Voters of Illinois contends that school districts should be concerned with preventing guns from being brought to schools.
 
Resolution #2: The presence of concealed weapons in a school setting is detrimental to student safety. For background information please see The Everytown for Gun Safety report Keeping Our Schools Safe and a recent Giffords Law Center report on incidents of mishandled guns in a school setting.
 
Resolution #15: Current law requires safe gun storage if a minor under the age of 14 may gain access. Raising the age to 18 could reduce the potential for a child to gain access to an unsecured firearm and bring it to school. It is well documented that in most school shootings, those using the gun are between the ages of 13 and 21 and obtain the unsecured firearm from their home, a friend’s home or that of a relative. Additionally, teen suicides with a gun typically obtain an unsecured firearm from their home, a friend’s home or that of a relative. 
 
Read the complete IASB Resolutions Report for 2021, including the text of 16 new resolutions and the Resolutions committee recommendations and rationale for each.