School Safety Recommendations
by TIFFANY CALDWELL
Utah’s Safe School’s Commission announced on Wednesday their recommendations for how school districts can protect their students against shootings. The commission brought together representatives from the education sector, the legislature, law enforcement, and the Utah Shooting Sports Council. The majority of these representatives united on a handful of suggestions, such as an emergency alert app for teachers. However, many of these either already exist or are implemented by school districts. As for the rest, the next step lies with the legislation.
In some cases, the process has already begun. This is the case of the recommendation to create a new protective order category to allow the seizure of weapons from a person believed to be a danger to him or herself, or to the general public (current laws allow for a weapon to be confiscated only after a specific threat). Rep. Stephen Handy (R-Layton), who sat on the commission, is preparing a bill to address the protective order recommendation.
Under this bill, family or household members — or a law enforcement officer — could petition a court to confiscate a person’s weapons. A judge would then make a determination based on “clear and convincing evidence,” and the person in question would receive mental health treatment. The commission also recommended a mechanism for the return of the firearm after a protection order is lifted.
The commission also agreed on the creation of trained mental health teams available for students, an idea Rep. Ray Ward (R-Bountiful) is optimistic would help reduce suicide rates in the state. Ward indicated that protecting students from someone entering a school with a gun is one focus of the Utah Safe Schools Commission, preventing student suicide is another. He further explained, “To me, of those recommendations that we talked about, I think the one that has the best chance to reduce that number [of student deaths] are the high-risk mental health teams being available to the schools.” There was also support behind funding for social work, as well as incentives and penalties for firearm storage.
The first six recommendations in the commission’s report had support from the majority of the commission. In the report, the commission also included several ideas that were discussed with active opposition. These include waiting periods on obtaining firearms and universal background checks. According to Ward, members of the commission disagreed about the effectiveness of both of these suggestions. Ward indicated that at least one of those will likely be debated during the next legislative session. This is largely because Rep. Paul Ray (R-Clearfield) is preparing to propose a bill about universal background checks.
Three final ideas were also included in the report although they didn’t receive majority support from members of the commission: lockdown training (which school districts can seek out on their own, the commission reported), tightening campus access and establishing supportive “hope squads,” (trained students who work with their peers and local mental health professionals).
Read more about gun violence, gun ownership and attitudes toward guns in Utah.