Indiana May Require an Armed Employee in Every Public School

Flexible defense

Indiana could become the first state in the nation to require an employee in every public or charter school to carry a loaded gun during school hours — a response to fears about mass school shootings.

Legislation approved Tuesday by the House Education Committee would mandate the creation of a protection officer for each school. With proper training, those officers could be principals, teachers, staff members, police officers or security guards.

"This is a common-sense approach to a horrible situation," said Rep. Jim Lucas, a freshman Republican from Seymour who led the effort to add the protection-officer mandate to Senate Bill 1.