AMGOA Staff
Pennsylvania


Posts: 1,429

New York schools won't be allowed to arm teachers and administrators as a strategy to combat mass shootings, according to a measure signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

The law specifically prohibits firearms to be carried in schools by "any teacher, school administrator" or others who aren't licensed security guards or those who act primarily as school resource officers. Most school resource officers are police officers.

Violating the law would be a Class E felony punishable by two to five years in prison.

"While hundreds of districts across the country have decided to arm teachers in response to mass shootings, in New York, we said, 'not here,'" said State Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach), who co-sponsored the bill.

"Arming teachers with guns can only lead to additional tragedies," said Assemb. Judy Griffin (D-Rockville Centre), the Assembly sponsor of the bill.

Wednesday's signing is the third straight day Cuomo has enacted more gun control laws passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature. The laws add to his legacy on the issue since he pushed through the extensive SAFE Act in 2013, weeks after the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut.

https://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/cuomo-school-guns-ban-1.34496298