Bill Would Allow Off-Duty Police Officers to Carry Firearms on Connecticut School Grounds

HARTFORD, CT—Off-duty police officers would be allowed to carry firearms on school properties under legislation approved by the legislative Public Safety and Security Committee and now heading to the House of Representatives.

The bill passed, 20-9, on Tuesday, with opposition from urban Democrats, including state Sen. Herron Gaston of Bridgeport, a co-chair of the committee who said an armed off-duty police officer could result in post traumatic stress for some students.

But state Rep. Greg Howard of Stonington, a ranking Republican on the committee who is a police officer, said highly trained armed police make places safer.

The legislation was redrafted from its original version that would have allowed off-duty peace officers to have firearms on school properties, but the bill was rewritten to limit the bill to certified local and state police officers. Police argued that technically, police officers are not allowed to bring weapons on school property even while picking up their own children.

Armed school resource officers are currently allowed on school property. But their roles have been investigated in a series of CT Insider reports on the hiring of personnel with police misconduct records and about mishaps, including gunfire from a weapon owned by a security employee inside a Torrington school in December.

"I think that having more guns in school does not make the school environment feel safe for our students, and particularly for students from hard-to-reach populations who grew up with the sting of trauma," Gaston said. "Having an overly police presence could be akin to students going to prison."

State Rep. Renee LaMark Muir, D- Deep River, said the public expects "certain spaces to be gun-free, even if someone is an off-duty police officer, like schools, parks, churches, hospitals, medical buildings, courts."

LaMark Muir, a retired police officer, said she did not carry a weapon when off-duty. "I believe that police officers should accept limits and inconveniences that come with that responsibility of carrying a firearm," she said.

Howard did not comment on the bill during the committee debate but in an interview later said it makes sense for police to carry their weapons, especially now.

"There's a war going on in the Middle East," Howard said. "We have to acknowledge that we're at a heightened risk for terrorist attacks in this country. Our schools are vulnerable. Our kids are vulnerable.

"It never made sense to me that as a police officer, I can go into school during the afternoon out of uniform — I'm a detective — carrying a firearm that nobody sees," he said. "Yet two hours later when I'm at a school play ... I can't have it. I'm the same guy, with the same training and the same knowledge and the same decision-making processes."

In the event of an armed attack, a police officer with a weapon would be there to confront potential assailants, he said.

"I wish we didn't live in that world," Howard said, pointing out that the bill was redrafted to apply specifically to trained, certified police officers.

The committee also approved legislation aimed at providing incentives, such as college tuition to certain firefighters and police to improve recruitment and retention. The bill next moves to the House of Representatives but will have to be reviewed by the budget-writing Appropriations Committee.

"The retention bill could do a lot more, but it gets expensive," Howard said. "When you're looking to retain people that are due to retire, I think the retention would really be to have their kids have free (college) tuition. I think there's a lot of people in that demographic ... very capable of working another five or 10 years and that would make them stay."

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