PA-Gov: Doug Mastriano's (R) Solution To Stop Mass Shootings At Schools: Give Teachers Guns

by poopdogcomedy

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Thursday, Jun. 16, 2022 Thursday, Jun. 16, 2022 at 5:02:44pm PDT

Of course he would:

Pennsylvania state senator and Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano is planning to introduce a bill to allow teachers to be armed in schools.

Mastriano sent out a memo saying he's working on the bill following the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

He's already facing pushback from the state's largest teachers union.

"You could have all kinds of things happen," Pennsylvania State Education Association President Rich Askey said.

Askey said more guns in schools could lead to more violence and complicate police response to a gunman.

"If a first responder comes in and sees someone with a gun, they're not going to know if that's the person who's causing the problem or it's the librarian and what are they going to do?" he said.

FYI:

Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, also opposes arming teachers, said his campaign spokesman Manuel Bonder.

“He believes they should be able to focus on what they do best: teaching our kids,” Bonder said. “Shapiro supports existing Pennsylvania law that ensures teachers can teach and school safety is in the hands of trained professionals. As governor, he will continue working with law enforcement and lawmakers from both parties to ensure our schools are safe.”

A similar proposal permitting the arming of school employees passed the state Senate in June 2017 but it died in a House committee. Gov. Tom Wolf had signaled he would have vetoed that bill had it reached his desk.

If you’re a Pennsylvania voter, please contact your state representative and tell you object greatly to Mastriano’s bill. Click here to find your State Rep and Senator and tell them you oppose Mastriano’s bill.

Here’s a quick polling update on the Governor race from Suffolk University’s latest poll:

The governor's race is much closer with Democrat Josh Shapiro with a four-point lead over Republican Doug Mastriano. That's within the margin of error, making this a jump ball between the two.

"The fact that it's a four-point lead is somewhat surprising," Ceisler said.

"The assumption was that Mastriano would be a candidate that would be an easy walk-over, and this poll is telling us that's not the case," Paleologos said.

What's giving Shapiro the lead at this point is strong support from women, who outnumber men in Pennsylvania. While Mastriano is leading among males (46% to 39%), Shapiro has a 16-point lead among women (50% to 34%).

While Mastriano's unfavorable rating is much higher than Shapiro's, he's still not very well-known to Pennsylvanians.

"Mastriano, of course, has done no media. And Mastriano hasn't even reached out to his opponents in the primary to say, 'Hey, will you endorse me?' He just marches to a different drummer," Ceisler said.

With most Republicans voting Republican and Democrats voting Democratic in both races, it could come down to the state's nearly one million independent voters.

Right now, independents back Fetterman over Oz by 20 points, 44% to 24%, while independents back Shapiro over Mastriano by just five points, 37% to 32%.

Health and Democracy are on the ballot this year and we need to get ready to keep Pennsylvania Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with Fetterman, Shapiro and these Pennsylvania Democrats campaigns: