After the Parkland, Florida mass school shooting that left 17-people dead and more injured, the Florida legislature and other states are seriously considering arming their teachers. Bill Proctor, the commissioner of Florida's Leon County, is very, very against that idea, USA Today. reports.
A proposed Florida Legislature bill would add restrictions to buying firearms; one aspect of the bill, however, The School Marshal Programs, is causing controversy over its goal to arm teachers.
Proctor responded to the marshals program by writing a strongly-worded letter of warning to the Florida Legislature, arguing that the legislation would put young black lives at risk.
In the letter, Proctor writes that it would only a matter of time before “the unarmed children of black taxpayers will become nothing more than target practice,” for “trigger happy school teachers."
Proctor added, "Arming scary and fearful teachers who are afraid of black boys and who dislike black boys is a formula for disaster that tragically will disproportionately see countless numbers of black children fall victim to potential trigger happy school teachers."
The letter went on to call out the differences in how blacks students are perceived compared to their white peers.
"The extraordinary disparity in suspension rates between black and white students in Leon County School District, reported in the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper today, suggests black school children will more likely be victims of gun shootings and gun deaths at the hands of their white school teachers."
The commissioner also pointed to the stories of police officers shoot unarmed teenagers because they feared “losing their lives.” Proctor believes that the same mindset will creep into schools, leaving black bodies on school floors.
Leon Country Schools superintendent Rocky Hanna agreed that teachers shouldn't be armed but disapproved of how Proctor voiced his concerns, taking the commissioner's words as a sleight against the district's teachers.
Hanna said recently that "if you're going to carry a weapon [at a school], in my opinion, you're going to have a badge. You're going to be an officer of the law."
About Proctor's letter, however, the school leader said, “Commissioner Bill Proctor should be ashamed of himself for the letter he sent to legislative leaders yesterday. He should immediately apologize to the thousands of teachers in Leon County, including my wife, who wake up every day to make a difference in the lives of students — no matter the color of their skin.”
Over the concerns of Proctor, and most of the survivors of the Parkland shooting, the School Marshal Programs passed in an a 18-9 vote, according to Tampa Bay Times. The program will cost $67 million and will implement a three-day waiting period for gun purchases; it hopes to arm 37,000 teachers statewide.
