U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R–Fort Worth, will introduce legislation that would provide $500 million in federal grants for metal detectors in schools.
If approved, the grant program would pay for the metal detectors over the next 10 years.
Granger said she was impacted by hearing from the students who survived the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
"I listened to those students at the school and what they were saying and I thought, 'I have grandchildren in school. I was a school teacher.' I said, 'What can we do, what can we do right now?' There is nothing we can say, 'This eliminates it,' but how do we make them safer, and how do we make them know that we really do care and that we really want to do something? We are not just going to sit on this and say how bad it was," Granger told NBC 5 political reporter Julie Fine.
Granger points to airports as an example. She says when metal detectors were added because of terrorism, air travel safety improved.
That's what she wants to see in schools.
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Schools seeking money for grants would be required to limit their entrances for protection.
Granger said a metal detector would have the ability to stop someone with a firearm who wants to come into a school.
"We want the top-of-the-line metal detectors, not some that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. And you have to have a monitor. Most schools have police officers in the school, or they have them assigned to a school and they are available. Almost all the schools have that now," Granger said.
Granger said she has spoken with the Fort Worth Independent School District superintendent and police chief about her plan.
Superintendent Kenneth Scribner released a statement, saying:
"We are very grateful that our community leaders are focusing on this extremely important issue. Our most important job is to educate children. But we must provide a safe and secure learning environment for them and our employees. There is no one approach nor one solution to providing that security. Experts tell us the best form of security is that which is layered. So we are open to all ideas that will help us wrap our children in multiple levels of protection."
Democrat Vanessa Adia, a current Fort Worth ISD teacher who is campaigning for Granger's 12 Congressional District seat, released a statement critical of the proposal, saying, in part:
"After 12 days of silence following the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, Representative Granger has chosen to break her silence by proposing a school safety bill that fails to actually address the gun violence problem impacting this country."
FULL STATEMENT: Read Adia's entire statement
The president, and some others, have talked about arming teachers. Granger does not believe that is the solution.
"The teachers are there to teach. We want to keep them safe, as well as the students. We want them to teach, and to put them in charge of the safety of the schools, I just have a concern about that," Granger said.
Granger contends this proposal could have a large impact immediately. We asked her if there should be changes in any other gun laws.
"I think everything should be considered right now," Granger said.
Statement from Democratic candidate for Congress, Vanessa Adia:
CORRECTION (Feb. 26, 2018, 6:35 p.m.): A previous version of this story misattributed a quote to candidate Vanessa Adia's statement. The story has been updated to reflect the quote was from Rep. Kay Granger.
