SAUNDERS COUNTY, Neb. (KMTV) — The Unicameral has a bill that would give districts the choice to allow staff to carry a gun in school.
The idea is that a teacher inside a school can stop a threat much sooner than police can get there, especially in rural areas.
"It's pretty obvious that seconds count, so having somebody that is able to respond to that threat is critical," says Saunders County Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz.
In Wahoo, they have both the city police department and the county sheriff in town, which according to their superintendent, would factor into the decision.
"In our case where we have a short response time right in our community, that is probably going to play a big role in that decision making process," says Brandon Lavaley, superintendent, Wahoo Public Schools.
It's a different story down in small town Cedar Bluffs, if there was an incident at the school, it could take law enforcement a good amount of time to respond.
"If no one was in the community I'd say seven to nine minutes. Which is quite a bit of time," says superintendent Harlan Ptomey.
Despite the time gap, superintendent Harlan Ptomey wants nothing to do with the bill.
He doesn't think any of his staff would want to have a gun.
"They're educating these kids and as they grow up they're supposed to nourish, and nurture these kids and to have a situation where they'll have to possibly pull the trigger, I just think that would be very difficult and I don't think it would be very plausible," says Ptomey.
There appears to be broad agreement on one thing, they'll need a lot of training before any gun goes into a school.
"You're going to be in an enclosed area and there's going to be a lot of people in that area so I think it would have to be tailored to that," says Stukenholtz.
