LOUISVILLE, Ky. — School resource officers in Kentucky's public schools will now be required to carry a gun through the halls under senate bill 8 signed into law today. There will also be specific security and training standards will also be put into place.
It passed 34 to 1 in the senate, and 78 to 8 in the house. Beshear expressed that as a parent and as Kentucky's governor he see's safety of families and children as a top priority, and he wants to ensure that officers have the proper training and are armed with the right equipment to do just that.
The signing from Governor Andy Beshear answers a question JCPS leaders have been debating; should there be armed officers in classrooms?
"To ensure that we protect our children, today I'm signing senate bill eight," Beshear said. "I simply cannot ask a school resource officer to stop an armed gunman from entering a school without them having the ability to no only achieve this mission but also protect themselves."
Some students tell us they completely agree with that perspective.
"I think that it's honestly going to be safer for us just considering how many things have been happening recently and considering students have been found with like guns on the property," said Amber Edge, a senior at Ballard High School.
Ballard seniors, like Edge, believe their safety is the states first priority.
"They are not going to use it unless they have to. It's for us. Not against us," said Aspen Roth, another Ballard senior.
They've been discussing SB8 in their classrooms at Ballard, but students at Central High School were surprised to learn it's now law. For them, arming officers is pretty frightening.
"We have like a police officer around our school and he's a really nice person but it's kind of scary to think that he's going to have a gun on him now," said Starr Levett, a student at Central High School. "Like it's a weapon and we shouldn't have weapons in schools because we're there to learn."
At the end of the day, they still question if they're properly being protected.
"We're already worried about school shootings and now we have to worry about will the gun be in the right hands like is the security officer good people and stuff? Are they well trained?" Levett said.
And the governor hears those concerns.
"To strike the right balance here, we need to not only sign senate bill 8, but we gotta start changing what leads children in certain areas especially to feel unsafe because of the presence of armed officers," Beshear said.
Click here to read the details of the new law.