China Daily Global Edition (USA)
After Florida, changes to school security elusive
White House does not want to ban sale of an entire class of firearms
US President Donald Trump does not want to ban the sales of an entire class of firearms, the White House said on Thursday, despite mounting pressure to put assault weapons such as the one used in last week’s deadly school shooting out of civilian reach.
“We don’t think the immediate policy response would be to ban an entire class of firearms,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said at a daily press briefing. “What we’re looking for is solutions that don’t ban a class of firearms for all individuals but ban all weapons for certain individuals who are identified as threats to public safety.”
Two weeks before a gunman fatally shot 17 people at a Florida high school, Bill Lee, the president of the state’s school administrators association, warned that lorida’s schools were vulnerable to an attack.
“It’s not a matter of if, but when,” he wrote in the Orlando Sentinel on Jan 29, urging legislators to boost spending on school security after two school shootings in other states in January.
“Florida is one instance away from becoming the next Kentucky or Texas, and we must do something about it.”
Following last week’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Lee has renewed calls for more funding for matters ranging from mental health counseling to emergency lockdown systems.
State lawmakers, facing pressure from angry students, have signaled they will boost security funding after failing to do so for years.
“I wish the words had not been so prophetic,” Lee said in an interview on Wednesday.
Florida’s Safe Schools program provides millions of dollars to more than 70 school districts for safety and security. Since 2002-03, however, funding for the program has dropped 25 percent.
The current budget includes $64.4 million for an eighth straight year, according to state figures. Before the shooting, Governor Rick Scott had proposed adding $10 million.
Some parents have expressed anger that security measures at Stoneman Douglas were not more robust.
“Who do they have on campus? I think there’s only one security person,” said Elana Cohn, 45, who has a child at the school. “That’s for a school with 3,200 students.”
School officials in Broward County, where the school is located, did not respond to requests for comment on security and Safe Schools funding.
In many ways, last Wednesday’s massacre highlighted the limits of school security measures, both physical, such as fencing and officers, and preventative, such as counseling.
Stoneman Douglas has a single entry point that requires proof of identity.
But as dismissal time approaches each day, exterior gates are opened to allow students to leave, said Jerry Graziose, the district’s former head of school safety. That appears to be how the accused shooter, 19-year-old former Stoneman Douglas student Nikolas Cruz, entered the campus unhindered.
“At dismissal, unfortunately, you’ve got to open the gates to let everyone out,” Graziose said. “You’ve got 3,000 people.”
“Security was not adequate,” said Angela Burrafato, 51, who has one child at the school. “We know we can get around the single-point front door entrance, and it’s a problem.”
Safe Schools funding helps districts pay for school resource officers, or SROs, who are sworn law enforcement personnel assigned from local police departments.
The armed SRO assigned to the school from the sheriff’s office, Scott Peterson, stayed outside the building during the attack instead of trying to engage Cruz, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said on Thursday.
Peterson resigned after being suspended as a result of his inaction. Israel did not say whether he could face criminal charges. Reuters was not immediately able to contact Peterson or a representative.
State data shows that Broward County had 160 SROs in 2016, the latest year available.
Florida is one instance away from becoming the next Kentucky or Texas, and we must do something about it.”
Bill Lee, the president of the state’s school administrators association