MANKATO, Minn. -
It's a scene that has played out at Sandy Hook Elementary, Virginia Tech, and dozens of other schools, and a scene lawmakers would like to help prevent.
Representative Tony Cornish's plan—a bill that allows teachers to arm themselves at school.
Cornish says, "So if a school employee notifies, in writing, the principal or superintendent and they were 21 years old and had a handgun permit they could carry on the school property."
A second part of Cornish's proposal would allow staff and students 21 years old and older to carry guns on college campuses.
Cornish says, "In most every case by the time law enforcement gets there the carnage has already been done so you have to somebody at the scene and that is what I am trying to do here."
Ray Thrower is Campus Safety Director at Gustavus Adolphus College and former president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Officials.
He says he thinks it's a bad idea.
Thrower says, "I think the real issues we need to look at are mental health issues, if you look back at all of these case, it involves some kind of mental health."
Thrower says that if an active shooter situation were to happen and law enforcement see a student with a gun, they won't know if they are problem or someone trying to help.
Thrower says, "More than likely the law enforcement is going to shoot that person because they done know if it is friendly or not, there job is to go in, they know that shots have been fired, people are down, and they have to neutralize the problem."
While not committing to either side of the argument, Mankato School District Superintendent Sheri Allen says she is encouraged by the focus on school safety
Allen says, "I think the process of this and the fact the that the conversations are there people are aware they know things are going to change."
No one wants a tragedy like Sandy Hook or Virginia Tech to happen in their community, but whether guns are the problem or the solution will continue to be an ongoing debate.
The White House announced today that President Obama will travel to Minneapolis on Monday to pitch his proposals for reducing gun violence.
