Dear 2nd Amendment Supporters:
As you may know, my bill to protect school students and personnel was sent to a Governor’s Task Force to be studied last Friday. HB 1557 will be heard by the Public Safety Workgroup of the Governor’s Task Force on School and Campus Safety on Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 4:00PM in the East Reading Room of the Patrick Henry Building located adjacent to the Capitol on Broad Street. This is a public hearing so please come and support HB 1557 if you are able. The contact information for some of the members of the workgroup is below and the rest of the members are at the bottom of this message. Please contact them to ask them to support HB 1557.
Public Safety Workgroup of the Governor’s Task Force on School and Campus Safety:
The Honorable Marla Decker, Secretary of Public Safety / marla.decker@governor.virginia.gov
Donna Michaelis, Director of the Virginia Center for School Safety / donna.michaelis@dcjs.virginia.gov
Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Supdt. of the VA Department of State Police / tom.bradshaw@vsp.virginia.gov
Garth Wheeler, Director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services /
Garth.wheeler@dcjs.virginia.gov
Mark Gooch, Director of the Department of Juvenile Justice /
Mark.gooch@djj.virginia.gov
Amy Atkinson, Executive Director, Virginia Commission on Youth /
aatkinson@vcoy.virginia.gov
The Honorable Margaret Ransone, Virginia House of Delegates /delmransone@house.virginia.gov
John Childrey, Deputy Attorney General / JCHILDREY@OAG.STATE.VA.US
Hugh “Skip” Blanchard, Fraternal Order of Police and School Resource Officer / vafop@aol.com
The tragic slaughter of the innocents at Sandy Hook Elementary School has the President promising to issue Executive Orders to bypass Congress to enact “gun control,” even though criminals never obey the law. No legislation can end all evil but I believe that my HB 1557 will be a step toward protecting Virginia’s school children, teachers and staff.
The School Protection Bill, HB 1557, will allow local school boards to identify volunteers who will receive professional weapons training similar to what our police receive. These individuals, designated to carry concealed weapons on school grounds to protect students in a shooter situation until the arrival of law enforcement, will be teachers, principals, administrators or retired police and will have worked or volunteered in the school for three years.
Once they receive this training they will be certified to carry a concealed weapon in their school. Other states like Utah have allowed teachers to carry concealed weapons for nearly 12 years without incident and Utah teachers do not receive nearly the level of training I am proposing. Ohio allows school divisions to determine whether they will allow teachers to carry concealed weapons. They have had 1,000 teachers apply for training this year alone.
Support HB 1557 to ensure our students have a line of defense in an active shooter situation.
Other Members of the Public Safety Workgroup of the Governor's Task Force on School and Campus Safety:
Vincent Darby, Principal, G. H. Reid Elementary School, Richmond
Dr. Deborah Pettit, Superintendent, Louisa County Schools
Dewey Cornell, Ph.D. Professor of Education, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia; Director, Virginia Youth Violence Project
Chief Jim Williams, Chief of Police, City of Staunton
Captain Steve Carey, Stafford County Sheriff’s Department (former School Resource Officer)
Gene Deisinger, Ph.D. Deputy Chief and Director of Threat Management, Virginia Tech
Jillian McGarrity, Student, Lynchburg College
John Lindstrom, Ph.D., Director of Administration & Access, Emergency Medical Services, Richmond Behavioral Health Authority
Chief Dave McCoy, University of Richmond Police Department
Chief Jim Cervera, City of Virginia Beach
Shannon Taylor, Commonwealth’s Attorney, County of Henrico
Weet Baldwin, Coordinator Pre-Hospital Emergency Services
Chief Chris Perkins, City of Roanoke Police Department
Kathy Butler, Tuckahoe Volunteer Rescue Squad
Chief Doug Middleton, Henrico County Police Department
Sheriff Danny Diggs, York County
Michael Reilly, Fairfax County Deputy Fire Marshal
Lee Day, Deputy Public Safety Director, Amherst County and Volunteer in Bedford
Robert H. Foresman, Rockbridge County, Office of Emergency Management
Craig L. Branch, Chief of Police, Germanna Community College
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