District approves gun safes inside schools
LHS music department students leave their backpacks laying in the arms of the auditorium seats. Photo by Gracyn Richardson.
The members of the Lewiston School District Board of Directors made a unanimous vote Sept. 10 to equip the student resource officers with gun safes at Jenifer Junior High, Sacajawea Junior High and Lewiston Senior High School.
The board made this decision to help with gun violence, since school shootings have been prominent across the United States. Before this vote, any firearms carried by school resource officers from the Lewiston Police Department had been stored in the officers’ vehicles. But the officers and board decided that there would be a low likelihood of retrieving the rifles from the vehicles in a dangerous situation. By housing their rifles in safes, locked in their school offices, officers could have a better chance of grabbing a gun that’s better suited for high-stress situations such as rifles.
At the three schools, the only individuals who will have access to the safes are the resource officers, according to the Lewiston Tribune. In the morning, the weapons will be brought into the school and in the evening when the officers leave they will be taken from the building. The district plans to purchase the safes for $900 total, along with items purchased by LPD such as additional guns and transport materials.
The safes and new protocol should be in place within the next couple of months, according to Superintendent Dr. Robert Donaldson and the Lewiston Tribune. Other area school districts have similar policies in place. Mountain View schools in Grangeville and Salmon River schools in Riggins have chosen to equip trained teachers and administrators with concealed firearms, according to Idahoednews.org.
