Bill to Require an Armed Officer In Every School Introduced In Assembly

A bill to require all public schools in California to have at least one armed school resource officer (SRO) was introduced in the Assembly on Tuesday.

Assembly Bill 3038, authored by Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Riverside), would specifically require a public school district or charter school to hire or contract with at least one armed school resource officer authorized to carry a loaded firearm to be present at each school of the school district or charter school during regular school hours and any other time when pupils are present on campus.

Essayli wrote the bill to help combat the number of school shootings, as well as help prevent large scale massacres, such as the 2022 Uvalde, Texas shooting that left 22 dead. While many studies have shows that SROs alone cannot be relied upon to help prevent school shootings, a growing number of potential incidents thwarted by SROs point to them being an important part in reducing them.

“California has experienced 96 school shootings between 2018 and 2023. If we want to get serious about preventing school shootings and stopping them before they can happen, we need good guys, and girls, with guns, ready to act,” said Assemblyman Essayli on Tuesday.

However, some lawmakers and groups immediately opposed AB 3038, claiming that mandatory SROs will not help stop school shooters and would only increase strife in schools by having them arrest students for other incidents.

“The data conclusively show harmful and discriminatory policing patterns in schools. School police contribute to the criminalization of tens of thousands of California students, resulting in them being pushed out of school and into the school-to-prison pipeline,” the ACLU said in a statement against the bill.

“No school in California should have a permanent police officer. School districts should not be able to create their own police departments or reserve forces, nor should they coordinate with any outside law enforcement agency to station law enforcement on a school campus.”

Political insiders told the Globe that the bill would likely have a difficult, if not impossible road ahead as many lawmakers have come out against SROs and campus police, with some school districts in the state looking into getting rid of school district police departments.

“While Republicans in the Assembly and Senate here will likely be in favor of this, few Democrats would likely support this bill,” said Dana, a Capitol staffer. “This is getting headlines and attention, so it is raising this issue. But unless there is a huge shift of thought here, this one will likely not get that far. If there is a major school shooting that has an officer stop the shooter, then it might convince enough lawmakers here, at least at the committee level. But that’s the kind of drastic thing that needs to happen to move this one forward. It would take a lot to convince them.”

AB 3038 is due to be head in Assembly  committees in the coming months.