A vote held by the Mississippi Board of Education on July 21 opened the door to allow individuals with enhanced concealed carry permits to carry guns inside public schools. Now, one state leader is planning to work with the Mississippi legislature to have teachers certified to carry firearms in schools.
During a Friday appearance on The Gallo Show, Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell discussed possible scenarios for instructors and other staff members in educational facilities to receive a special certification in order to make schools safer.
“What we want to do, particularly when it comes to teachers and maybe staff at schools is work on some possible scenarios where we can have those teachers certified, the staff certified at a higher level so that they would essentially be Marshals for the school, but they would have extensive training and be prepared for active shooting scenarios,” Tindell said.
While agreeing that tactical training ought to be funded by the school rather than the staff member, Tindell also added that the training should be done every year.
“I think it’s gotta be something that you do annually. I don’t think it’s something where you can go in just once and do the training. There has to be recertification,” Tindell said. “There probably needs to be some input from the school district about who can do it and continuous monitoring.”
Further, the commissioner believes the Department of Homeland Security will play an integral role in organizing a certification process under a specific state standard so that willing participants can be properly instructed.
The full interview with Tindell can be watched below.
