Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, speaks to Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
A new proposal from Palmer Republican Sen. Shelley Hughes would require Alaska school districts to train a volunteer able to carry a concealed handgun on school grounds.
Schools would be exempted only if no one agrees to accept the duty or if no one is able to do so.
Hughes’ proposal, Senate Bill 173, received its first hearing last week in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee.
The K-12 School Shooting Database includes 346 shootings and near-shootings at schools or school buses in the United States in 2023. Hughes said many of Alaska’s schools are rural, remote, and away from law enforcement.
“There have been times when it can take — because of weather — three to five days to get to a remote village that doesn’t have any kind of law enforcement present, that are armed. So SB 173 is a needed stopgap,” she said.
Front-end interventions, such as mental health treatment and resources to help students, are still needed, she said, but if the worst happens, she said she wants help nearby.