Sen. John Braun, R-20
Washington State Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, is calling for a special legislative session to address school safety following the May 18 shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, a release from the lawmaker’s office stated last week.
Braun said as both a lawmaker and parent he wanted the Legislature to continue building on work from the 2018 session to better protect students, offering a statement in the release.
“My heart goes out to the victims and grieving members of the Santa Fe community,” Braun stated in the release. “Their loss is unimaginable and yet another example of reprehensible terror in our school system.”
Braun stated that although no legislative action would outright stop gun violence in schools, lawmakers could take steps to reduce the risk of deadly violence in schools, adding that mental illness was often the underlying cause.
“Violence in American schools frequently results in Republicans and Democrats arguing instead of working together to solve the problem,” Braun stated in the release, though he noted there were areas for bipartisan agreement within state government. He mentioned some proposals such as his own advocacy for putting $500 million in state bonding authority before voters to expand mental health services, as well as ideas from others such as limiting access to certain types of guns by individuals under age 21 or by creating anonymous tip lines where safety concerns could be reported to the proper officials.
“We can and should build on this year’s bipartisan work led by Sen. (Steve) O’Ban, (R-Tacoma) working with Senate Democrats, which resulted in a workgroup with diverse experiences to develop strategies to identify and intervene against potential perpetrators of mass shootings,” Braun stated in the release.
Although the reports were not due until December, he called for the group to meet more frequently in order to have recommendations by August, allowing for a special session to occur before school starts for the 2018-2019 school year.
— The Reflector
