Texas enacts bill forcing every school to have armed security a year after Uvalde massacre

In the wake of the Uvalde Elementary School shooting, Texas lawmakers quietly passed a sweeping mandate requiring all schools to deploy armed security personnel on every campus.

The initiative, known as Texas House Bill 3, was passed by the 86th Texas Legislature in 2019 but was not signed into law until June 14 of this year.

In May 2022, 21 people, including 19 children, were murdered in the Uvalde massacre, which prompted a disastrous police response.

The school had an armed officer, but he, along with dozens of others “armed to the teeth,” failed to enter the classroom or neutralize gunman Salvador Ramos, instead leaving him alone with dozens of schoolchildren.

The school safety law was passed after the Uvalde massacre, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School

The school safety law was passed after the Uvalde massacre, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in May 2022.

The bill was a bipartisan effort between the Texas Commission on Public School Finance and members of the Texas House and Senate.

There is currently no federal law mandating armed guards in public or private schools, as reported by The Trace, an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit focused on America’s gun violence crisis.

While many parents and lawmakers are calling for increased armed security in schools, some reports suggest that armed guards will not significantly deter tragic attacks

Gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, shot and killed a total of 19 children and two teachers at the school on May 24. He was left alone in the classroom for 77 minutes before police intervened.

The bill comes in the wake of the devastating massacre at Robb Elementary School.

Gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, shot and killed a total of 19 children and two teachers at the school on May 24. He was left alone in the classroom for 77 minutes before police intervened.

Following the attack, the entire police force of the Uvalde, Texas, school district was suspended due to their botched response.

A report released after the investigation alleged that state and federal police were largely responsible for the vicious Uvalde school massacre that left 21 dead, a scathing report has found.

The better-trained and equipped responders failed to provide the leadership needed when local officers were out of their depth, the Texas House committee investigation said.

The 149 U.S. Border Patrol agents and 91 state troopers were among nearly 400 assigned to help with the “unfolding chaos” that day, the filing said.

The victims of the Uvalde school shooting on May 24, 2022

But the report blasted them for “failing to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety.”

The 77-page document denounced “system failures and blatant poor decision-making” by almost all those in power during the May 24 attack.

The report said officers “failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety,” amid a chaotic response scene in which those in positions of authority assumed someone else was in charge.

Although Uvalde School Police Chief Peter Arredondo did not take on the duties expected of him, the report said, better-trained and experienced state and federal authorities failed to help local police who were out of their element used to be.

“These local officials were not the only ones expected to provide the leadership needed during this tragedy,” the report said. arrived on the scene.’

Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro said the report’s findings were an important step toward ensuring student safety in the future, but said there is still a long way to go to rebuild Texans’ confidence build.

“Today’s report on the #Uvalde shooting is an important account of what went wrong and how schools can keep children safe going forward,” he wrote, “but Texans need full transparency to restore our trust – too begin responding to public records requests filed since the massacre.”