OKLAHOMA CITY – State Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City, released the following statement today after the House passed legislation late Tuesday night that will lead to more guns in classrooms.

House Bill 2588 paves the way for school boards to allow more teachers with guns inside Oklahoma schools. The legislation was passed a bit after 11 p.m.

“After the horrific Parkland shooting, then President Donald Trump ordered the Secret Service to perform a thorough review of school shootings,” Fugate said. “The Secret Service reported that school shooters are disaffected students. These are kids who have challenges at school and at home. The Secret Service report said we should ‘put in place the appropriate policies, tools, and training that is the best practice for preventing future tragedy.’ Notably, they did not say we should arm teachers.

“School shooters are students. Show me an adult who can shoot a student and I’ll show you someone who should never be in a classroom. Giving teachers guns is not the way to fix this problem.

“Oklahoma’s students don’t need guns. They need legislators with guts. It takes guts to make the hard decisions for smaller class sizes, better classroom environments, and additional school counselors to address mental health issues. Our kids need us to step up and address the injustices they see every day in our communities. That’s how we will stop school shooters.

“We don’t need more guns to fix these problems. We need more guts.”