Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas on Wednesday proposed spending more than $100 million to hire more police and armed guards for school campuses and to expand programs to identify students at risk of engaging in mass violence.
The plan comes two weeks after a student armed with a sawed-off shotgun and a revolver killed 10 people at a high school outside Houston.
Abbott also recommended stepping up security at schools by limiting the number of entrances and exits and installing alarms specifically designated to warn of active shooters.
"You have to know who is coming into the school, and you have to know who is leaving it," Abbott said.
But his school safety plan contained only modest changes to gun laws: He proposed requiring parents to keep firearms locked away from children under the age of 18, a tightening of current law that requires such controls for families with children younger than 17. He also proposed improvements to the system for reporting felony convictions and mental health adjudications, both of which trigger prohibitions on gun possession under federal law.
And he asked state legislators to "consider the merits" of passing a red flag law that would allow police, family members or a school employee to petition a judge to temporarily take guns away from someone deemed a threat to themselves or others.
"I will never allow Second Amendment rights to be infringed, but I will always promote responsible gun ownership, which includes keeping guns safe and keeping them out of the hands of criminals," Abbott said.
The proposals were spurred by the massacre in Santa Fe, Texas, on May 18 that left 10 students and teachers dead and 13 others wounded.
According to authorities, a student at
