Arizona Senate OKs teachers with guns

TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona is advancing legislation that would allow teachers to arm themselves in class.

The proposal cleared the state Senate this week and now heads to the state House.

Several other states have introduced measures to let teachers carry guns. The movement came after the National Rifle Association called for such legislation in light of the mass shooting last year in Newtown, Conn., where 20 first-graders died.

Earlier this month, South Dakota became the first state since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre to pass a law that specifically allows teachers and school employees to carry weapons on campus. Measures in other states have stalled.

In Arizona, SB 1325 would give school boards the ability to allow any employee to bear a concealed handgun, pistol or revolver on campus at rural schools. There are some caveats, however. The school would have to have fewer than 600 students, be more than 20 miles and 30 minutes away from the closest law enforcement facility and not have a school resource officer.