School-shooting panel skipping input from political groups
A legislative committee undertaking a review of ideas to prevent school shootings is not planning to hear from gun control advocates until after lawmakers formulate their own plan of action.
That was the response the committee’s chairman, state Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, gave to gun control advocates Monday when they objected to being blocked from speaking at the end of a three-hour meeting that largely focused on arming more school resource officers and teachers.
The advocates were with the state’s chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a group known for their easily identifiable red T-shirts at the state Capitol.
They said they had written the names of two members who wished to speak on a sign-in sheet that had been set up outside the committee room, only to have their request denied.
Irvin’s committee, Joint Performance Review, had invited a conservative researcher based in Virginia, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and a police training academy instructor to present their views on school safety, along with members of a gubernatorial commission that has separately been studying the topic.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, echoing the preliminary recommendations of his commission, said last week that no Arkansas school should be without an armed resource officer or teacher. Both panels are working in response to school shootings across the country.
Irvin and the committee’s co-chairman, state Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, said Monday’s meeting had been reserved for “fact finding” and that political groups — including the National Rifle Association — would not be invited to speak un-
til legislative members had developed the policies they wished to pursue.
At least one advocate of gun-control policies — Irvin couldn’t recall who — had emailed the chairman asking to be put on the agenda, Irvin said, but had been left off her chosen panel for Monday.
“Unless there is a proposal that we could potentially take action on, that I feel is the more appropriate time [for comment],” Irvin said. “I have had members that have asked to present their policies to this committee and I’m not opposed to that and they’re from different sides of the aisle.”
John Lott, the author of
More Guns, Less Crime, told Arkansas lawmakers Monday that such efforts should be taken a step further: Each school should have several armed staff members in plainclothes.
Other measures, such as having uniformed police in schools, better access to mental health services and making schools “gun-free,” were less effective, he said.
On Twitter, as the meeting was underway, the founder of Moms Demand Action, Shannon Watts, weighed in to dispute Lott’s findings, calling him a “debunked gun lobby ‘researcher.’”
In a 2003 article in The Washington Post, Lott admitted to using an online pseudonym to defend himself and post positive reviews of his work. Lott has said his work isn’t funded by gun lobbyists.
The committee also heard from retired Army Lt. Col. Ed Monk, who said multiple armed faculty members would be effective at stopping school shooters in the early stages, and Dan Keithley, a police training instructor who argued that teachers should be trained and have to keep their weapons locked in a classroom.
After Irvin rapped her gavel to close Monday’s meeting, the members of Moms Demand Action, along with Little Rock mayoral candidate Vincent Tolliver, protested the decision to adjourn.
“I think they are missing an important piece of the puzzle and need to focus on keeping guns out of the hands of these dangerous people,” said Eve Jorgensen, the Arkansas chapter president for Moms Demand Action. “Once a gun is in a school, we’ve already lost.”
Tolliver, who said he had also signed up to speak as an individual, called the lack of
public comment “unfair and disrespectful.”
The committee chairman has discretion over holding public comment, except in the Rules Review Subcommittee of the Legislative Council, according to Bureau of Legislative Research Director Marty Garrity. Legislative staff routinely place sign-in sheets outside committee rooms, she said.
The subject and the length of the meeting, which ended around 4 p.m., led to the decision not to hold public comment, Irvin said. It was the second meeting on school safety she has scheduled for the committee, and neither meeting included testimony from gun control researchers or advocates.
“No one is going to stay on for a five-hour meeting,” Irvin said.
Another member of the committee, Rep. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, was more assertive.
“I won’t be bullied by people who want to outscream and yell,” Garner said after the meeting.
At least one Republican appeared to disagree with the decision. Sen. Alan
Clark, R-Lonsdale, who is not a committee member, approached the Moms Demand Action group after the meeting and said that while he likely disagreed with them, “We should have allowed you to speak.”
Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, also took issue with the committee’s approach and the lack of public comment.
A former teacher, Elliott had questioned the testimony of those who said teachers should be trained to carry weapons in schools. Afterwards, she told a reporter that she was concerned the committee has reached its conclusions before hearing from all sides. She had permission from Irvin to participate even though Elliott isn’t a committee member.
“Where I have the most concern is in the testimony that was given to the committee today where it seems there is only one way to make schools safe,” Elliott said.
Irvin said her committee’s recommendations were not pre-ordained, noting that Democrats on the committee were free to provide input.
On Twitter, as the meeting was underway, the founder of Moms Demand Action, Shannon Watts, weighed in to dispute Lott’s findings, calling him a “debunked gun lobby ‘researcher.’”