In March South Dakota became the first state in the nation to allow teachers to carry firearms but to date the idea hasn’t caught on with schools. South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says the Law Enforcement Training Commission, which is made up of the Attorney General, Highway Patrol, Sheriff’s, Police Chiefs, local government and tribal officials, have the rules in place but haven’t received an official request from school districts who want to move forward with school sentinels…
Jackley says with most schools not using the sentinel program that it tells him they’re taking a, “wait and see” approach. He says an early on concern of his was a certification process to better protect children and school officials..
Jackley is still uncertain if the law enforcement community is on board with the Sentinel program, but that many of their concerns were alleviated when the legislature allowed local law enforcement to either accept or veto the plan to give law enforcement immunity if something were to go wrong…
South Dakota law says that school districts have to right to allow school employees, security officials, or others to carry a firearm in the school if they can meet the state’s gun certification criteria.