Friday, October 8, 2021

URGE SCHOOL BOARDS TO VOTE AGAINST GUNS IN SCHOOLS
This November at the annual meeting of the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) two resolutions regarding legislative positions and firearms will be considered.
  • Resolution #2 involves allowing school employees to carry firearms on school property as part of a Student Safety and Protection Plan. 
  • Resolution #15 involves requiring safe storage of firearms in homes with students under the age of 18 years. 
Action Required
Ask your school board to direct their delegate to the IASB Delegate Assembly to vote NO on Resolution #2 and YES on Resolution #15. Send the following as an email to your community’s school superintendents and school board members, or attend a school board meeting and deliver the same message as a public comment.  

I am a resident in our school district and I urge the school board to instruct the delegate to the IASB Delegate Assembly in November to vote
  • NO on Resolution #2, against the creation of Student Safety and Protection Plans that would allow employees to carry guns on school property
  • YES on Resolution #15, in favor of child safe gun storage laws in homes with students under the age of 18 years. 
Thank you for your service and concern for the safety of our community and all who work in and attend our schools.  
Background
The League of Women Voters of Illinois contends that school districts should be concerned with preventing guns from being brought to schools.

Resolution #2: The presence of concealed weapons in a school setting is detrimental to student safety. For background information please see The Everytown for Gun Safety report Keeping Our Schools Safe and a recent Giffords Law Center report on incidents of mishandled guns in a school setting.

Resolution #15: Current law requires safe gun storage if a minor under the age of 14 may gain access. Raising the age to 18 could reduce the potential for a child to gain access to an unsecured firearm and bring it to school. It is well documented that in most school shootings, those using the gun are between the ages of 13 and 21 and obtain the unsecured firearm from their home, a friend’s home or that of a relative. Additionally, teen suicides with a gun typically obtain an unsecured firearm from their home, a friend’s home or that of a relative. 

Read the complete IASB Resolutions Report for 2021, including the text of 16 new resolutions and the Resolutions committee recommendations and rationale for each.
League Position
The League of Women Voters believes we should protect the health and safety of citizens through limiting the accessibility and regulating the ownership of handguns and semi-automatic weapons.