The 2013 session of the General Assembly is about to
begin. We anticipate a very busy short
session this year. Due to the tragic
events in Newtown, we expect many bills to be introduced dealing with gun
control issues and with school safety.
You have undoubtedly read about calls nationally and in Virginia for
arming school employees and other means of protecting our schools from armed
intruders. We will not know the full
scope and number of those bills until the bill introduction cutoff takes effect
(January 18) and the printed bills appear in the Legislative Information
System. You may find it of interest as
the school safety debate heats up that until the 2002 session of the General
Assembly, school boards could employ school security officers who were
appointed as conservators of the peace or as special police officers and who
could, therefore, carry firearms. During
its 2002 session, the General Assembly passed House Bill 498 (Ch. 868 Acts of
Assembly) which prohibited school security officers from being conservators of
the peace or special police officers. It
was clear from the debates in committee over this bill that the intent of the
bill was to prohibit school employees from possessing firearms. It is interesting that we appear to be coming
full circle. Perhaps the General
Assembly will consider restoring the authority of school boards to employ
school security officers who may carry firearms as part of their job duties.
