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This year, state lawmakers have gone further than ever to curb the ability of schools to protect their students. Two bills currently under consideration by the state legislature would:
Remove the ability for our schools to have armed staff members on campus
Significantly complicate schools’ ability to hire or contract with armed outside security
Disrupt current school security plans and operations in a variety of ways
Curtail the ability for armed law enforcement officers to respond to violent incidents on school campuses
HB24-1310 - School Safety Measures
HB24-1310 makes a variety of changes to existing state law, including:
Eliminating the ability for trained staff with duties other than security to carry firearms in schools. The bill will make any currently armed school staff who have duties besides security into felons overnight, regardless of their level of training.
Significantly tightening requirements for armed “school security officers,” including contract security, that will make it difficult and expensive for schools to maintain their security teams. The bill includes no money to fund these new mandates in already cash-strapped schools.
Restricting when law enforcement or staff can store firearms on campus, which could significantly impede response times to violent incidents in schools
SB24-131 - Prohibiting Carrying Firearms in Sensitive Spaces
SB24-131 restricts where citizens can carry concealed firearms by adding a wide variety of new “sensitive spaces” to state statute. An initial draft of the bill included K-12 schools and personnel, which would have caused massive disruptions to many schools’ security plans and operations.
The current bill no longer includes K-12 schools directly, but it does still include preschools, daycares, and "student sporting events."
Many schools operate successful preschool or childcare programs on their campuses--especially with the rollout of Colorado's new Universal Preschool Program. Nearly all of our schools hold sporting events or other activities. Because these programs and events are typically on a school's primary campus, the bill's onerous requirements would likely apply to the ENTIRE campus, including other grades.