South Dakota now allows school employees to carry guns

South Dakota has become the first state in the country to pass a law allowing school employees to carry guns in school buildings.

According to The New York Times, South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed the law on Friday a amidst debate about gun control in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, where 20 first graders were shot to death.

After the shooting in December, the National Rifle Association came up with a plan to hire armed security officers for every school.

In addition to South Dakota, other states have made changes in their laws that give teachers the authority to carry guns in the classroom. However, the is the first piece of legislation that specifically allows school employees to have guns in an elementary school.

According to All Voices, the law leaves it up to individual school districts to allow guns in school.

Representative Scott Craig of South Dakota sponsored the bill and told the New York Times, “Given the national attention to safety in schools, specifically in response to tragedies like in Connecticut, this is huge. [Hopefully] dominoes will start to fall, people will see it’s reasonable, it’s safer than they think, it’s proactive and it’s preventive.”