A new push is being made to improve safety in Alabama schools.
We’re digging into that effort after a student was found with an unloaded gun at Muscle Shoals Middle School.
State Senator Arthur Orr says he’s working on a bill that will go before the legislature early next year.
He says his proposal would designate special law enforcement teams to inspect every school in the state.
Orr calls his proposed safety measures “security audits” and says highly-trained officers will visit every school in the state to perform basic safety tasks like checking locks on doors.
“Alabama is a very pro 2nd Amendment state. But, as far as the schools are concerned, there are things that we can do to make them more secure for our students,” Orr continued, “Having dedicated law enforcement officers that do nothing but evaluate schools and keep their students safe would be very helpful to improve school safety for our students.”
Paul underwood has a child at Muscle Shoals Middle School. He says the blame from this incident falls on the parent for not doing more to keep their child from taking a gun on campus.
“It starts with asking more questions,” Underwood continued, “As parents, I think it has to come back on us to talk to our children and find out why they’re doing what they’re doing and explain to them the consequences of such behavior.”
Senator Orr says the goal of his proposal is to fix potential security weaknesses in schools.
His proposal is to get funding for the security audits in the 2025 education budget, which is similar to legislation that Texas passed earlier this year.
