Tonight, a candlelight vigil is being held by March For Our Lives Arizona at 7 p.m. at our State Capitol to honor the lives lost in last week's high school shooting in Sante Fe, Texas.
On Friday, May 18, a 17-year-old student allegedly opened fire at the high school and killed two teachers and eight students. Several others were also hurt.
March for our Lives Arizona and its organizers also plan to call on Governor Doug Ducey for a special session to address school safety issues in the state.
please join us tomorrow at the state Capitol building at 7pm for a candlelight vigil.
don’t let this be tossed to the side.
— March For Our Lives AZ (@PHXMarch4Lives) May 21, 2018
In the meantime, Governor Doug Ducey released the Safe Arizona Schools Plan to improve the safety of Arizona schools and communities.
The plan was created to find the cracks in the system and close loopholes to better protect Arizonans, but also made to guard the Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens.
“Arizona can lead the nation in tackling the issue of school safety and the Safe Arizona Schools Plan is an aggressive approach that puts the safety of our schools and communities first,” said Governor Ducey.
In response to the recent shooting in Texas, Governor Ducey has ordered to lower all flags at state buildings to half-staff until sunset on Tuesday, May 22nd.
Some calls for action in his new safety plan include:
- Investing in mental and behavioral health resources at schools
- Creating a central tip line for reporting school safety concerns
- Restricting firearms access for dangerous individuals through a Severe Threat Order of Protection (STOP)
- Enhancing background checks by improving the completeness and accuracy of the criminal history database
- Increasing school resource officers and law enforcement resources for schools
- Eliminating background check gaps
You can view Governor Doug Ducey's entire plan and all of its details at azgovernor.gov.
