MANCHESTER, N.H. – Near the close of Tuesday’s Manchester Board of School Committee (BOSC) Policy Committee Meeting, BOSC Committeeman Jim O’Connell announced he will work on introducing a policy banning guns from public schools, excluding those possessed by police officers.
O’Connell says that the proposal was one thing he wanted to pursue during his term, seeking to discuss the matter in advance of other safety policy discussions in the Policy Committee expected in February.
He did not cite a specific reason for the proposal, instead referencing incidents in recent months where students have brought guns to school and the removal of a firearms ban in the state house, which in recent years saw legislators accidentally drop their guns on the floor at times, with O’Connell adding that some of those incidents occurred near children.
“This to me seems like a sensible and rational public safety conclusion that a normally functioning society would reach,” he said. “It has seemed ridiculous to me that someone can just walk into a school building in the city of Manchester during a basketball game or a concert and carry a weapon. That just seems like something we should not be allowing in our facilities, and our administration should have the right not to allow it.”
New Hampshire state law currently prohibits the BOSC from creating a policy prohibiting firearms outright, but school boards in Lebanon, Hanover, Claremont and Portsmouth have approved unenforceable gun bans for non-students on school property in recent years.
“Banning guns from schools is a common-sense view, most rational people will see that,” said O’Connell. “Ignoring this because it’s controversial or because of a state law doesn’t mean that something should not be done to highlight this issue and the irrationally of allowing unknown people with guns to come into our schools.”
J.R. Hoell, Secretary for the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition was incredulous upon hearing O’Connell’s proposal, believing that New Hampshire schools should follow the example of Broward County, Fla. after the Parkland shooting and arm its school resource officers with more weapons, stating that those seeking to cause harm do not respect the concept of gun-free zones.
“It’s just amazing to me that he’s even willing to try this,” said Hoell. “He’s trying to knowingly violate state law for one, and two, the last time I checked criminals don’t obey little signs at the entrance to the property, so what he’s basically doing is creating a criminal empowerment zone.”
Kimberly Morin, President of the Women’s Defense League of NH, added that not only can police officers already restrict certain individuals from possessing concealed weapons on school property and in some situations it can be psychologically necessary for parents.
“These people have already had their chief of police say, ‘here’s your pistol revolver license.’ Even though we have constitutional carry in this state, you need a pistol revolver license to carry on school grounds,” said Morin. “So, it’s not like random people are carrying. And there are some women who carry firearms because they’ve left abusive relationships or because of stalkers and they carry concealed firearms to protect themselves and their children.”
No official timeline for O’Connell’s proposal was mentioned on Tuesday, with O’Connell advised to talk with school district legal counsel over the wording of the proposed policy before its introduction.
