Bill would allow guns in private, religious schools
A bill filed in the state Senate would allow private and church-affiliated schools to have armed guards or other concealed-carry permit holders on site.
Posted — UpdatedState Sen. Stan Bingham, R-Davidson, has filed a proposal to allow private and church-affiliated schools to have armed employees or volunteers on site.
Under Senate Bill 27, to be allowed to carry a gun on a public or charter school campus, an employee or volunteer would have to be trained and certified by the N.C. Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission. They would also have to be approved by either the local school board or the charter's board of trustees.
The private school bill, in contrast, carries no certification requirement other than a concealed-carry permit and allows a single person – a school administrator – to approve the armed employee or volunteer.
Senate Bill 146 would also allow concealed-carry permit holders to carry a gun on church-affiliated school grounds if he or she is attending, coming to or leaving a religious service or event.
Reached late Wednesday, Bingham said he stands by his earlier comment, but he said he's running the bill at the request of "representatives of private Christian schools all around the country" who came to meet with him.
"They were also interested in some kind of protection," he said. "If they get this bill passed in North Carolina, they're going to run it nationwide."
Bingham said he suggested the group should require higher training standards, but they supplied the wording they wanted.
"Whether they'll get it through the legislature, I don't know," he said. "I would say it would be difficult, unless they make it tougher than what they have presently."
Critics warn that the measures could fall afoul of a federal law known as the Gun-Free School Zones Act.
Passed in 1996, the law bans guns in zones defined as on the grounds of a public, parochial or private school or within 1,000 feet from the grounds of those schools. Schools found to be in violation of the GFSZA could risk the loss of federal funding.
However, supporters point out that the GFSZA makes an exception for "firearm possessors licensed by the state or locality to possess the gun, whose law requires that, before the person obtains a license, state or local law enforcement verify that the person is qualified to receive the license."
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