Another California School District Allows Guns on Campus

On Monday night, Kern High School District (KHSD) board members voted unanimously to allow concealed carry permit holders to brings guns on campus for self-defense.

That means concealed carry will be allowed on KHSD “campuses, district property and school-sponsored events.”

According to Bakersfield.com, the campus carry policy is a “blanket” one, allowing any concealed permit holder to carry as long they first get permission from the KHSD superintendent. Concealed permit holders who wish to carry on campus must submit an application for permission to Superintendent Bryon Schaefer and, if approved, they will have to re-apply for permission every two years.

KHSD employees are not included for concealed carry at this time. A decision on allowing KHSD employees to carry will be taken up by district trustees on August 1.

The vote to allow concealed carry was opposed by some community members, who voiced their concerns during the board meeting. For example, former police officer Tommy Russell suggested the district was undertaking an unknowable degree of liability by opening the campus to armed, law-abiding citizens. He reportedly said: “You have a teacher shoot and kill a subject, they miss and hit a kid. The kid’s dead, he shouldn’t be, and it’s your fault. Now you get into a courtroom. I don’t know how much a kid’s life is worth … but that’s where the lawyer explains to you what it costs.”

Russell did not explain what happens to students if an armed criminal enters a classroom and an unarmed teacher is defenseless to stop him.

KHSD is now the fourth California school district to allow guns on campus for self-defense. The other three districts are Kingsburg Joint Union High School District, Folsom Cordova Unified School District, and Anderson Union High School District.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.