Iowa Poll: After Perry High shooting, most Iowans favor letting teachers have guns in school

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In the wake of a deadly school shooting in Perry, a majority of Iowans favor allowing teachers and school staff to carry guns in school if they complete training, according to a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.

Sixty percent of Iowans say they support arming teachers and staff, while 38% oppose it and 1% are not sure.

Support is higher among parents with children younger than 18, with 65% favoring staff carrying firearms in schools, compared with 34% who oppose it.

It also has the support of 80% of Republicans and 61% of independents. Only 18% of Republicans and 38% of independents oppose arming teachers in schools.

Democrats, conversely, are largely opposed, with 74% against it, compared with 25% in favor. In addition, 50% of Iowans 65 and older oppose arming school staff, compared with 47% who support it.

The poll of 804 Iowa adults was conducted by Selzer & Co. Feb. 25-28 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The results come two months after the Jan. 4 shooting at Perry High School, where investigators say Dylan Butler, a 17-year-old student, fatally shot sixth-grader Ahmir Jolliff and Principal Dan Marburger and wounded six other people before killing himself.

Republican majority pushes armed staff legislation through the House

The poll was taken just before the Iowa House’s Republican majority passed House File 2586, which would allow licensed school staff to carry firearms and grant them “qualified immunity from criminal or civil liability” for incidents that might occur while using “reasonable force” on the job.

Some Iowa lawmakers and education officials support the immunity provision because school districts that have previously opted to arm staff have been forced to reverse course or lose insurance coverage.

Cherokee and Spirit Lake school district officials spoke to lawmakers about the issue after the two districts dropped their policies allowing some staff to carry firearms ahead of the 2023-24 school year rather than lose their coverage through EMC Insurance.

EMC had said the liability risk was too great.

“We know immunity is a big piece that will help us find people from the outside to come in and insure us,” Spirit Lake Superintendent David Smith told lawmakers during a February subcommittee hearing.

The bill outlines training for staff members and private security guards. Staff who want to carry firearms would need to go through a permit process that includes one-time, in-person legal training covering "qualified immunity, annual emergency medical training and annual communication training" approved by the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

The department would also need to "implement required annual live scenario training and quarterly live firearm training" for school employees with permits.

"This bill sets a very high standard," the legislation’s floor manager, Rep. Phil Thompson, R-Boone, said last month. "Because we’re talking about the safety of our children, the bar must be high. We recognize that this responsibility must be taken very seriously."

The bill also would require public schools with at least 8,000 students to hire armed private security guards or a school resource officer for each of a district’s high schools. A district’s school board could vote to opt out of the requirement.

Based on this year’s certified district enrollment, the requirement would have affected 11 districts, listed in order of highest enrollment: Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City, Iowa City, Davenport, Waukee, Ankeny, Waterloo, Dubuque, Council Bluffs and West Des Moines.

The bill passed 61-34.

A Senate subcommittee also passed House File 2586 last week and will now go before the full Education Committee.

Additionally, the House advanced House Study Bill 692, which addresses school safety requirements and is meant as a complement House File 2586. The bill creates a $3 million grant program which school officials could use to purchase infrastructure and equipment related to arming or training staff — including purchasing guns.

If signed into law, schools would be able to apply for up to $25,000.

Related: House lawmakers advance $3 million grant program to help schools buy guns for teachers

Armed teachers and staff at Perry might have saved lives, some Iowans contend

For some poll respondents, the shooting at Perry High School was at the forefront of their minds in supporting armed school staff.

Steven Salisbury, 50, of Urbandale — who has nine young family members attending Perry Community School District — wonders if the incident might have ended differently if an armed and properly trained staff member had been in the building when the shootings happened.

“Luckily, all my family members came out safely, (but) there was a possibility they couldn’t have,” said Salisbury, a Republican and father of four. “And I’m just a true believer in the right to bear arms.”

Poll respondent and retired mechanic Rodney Boock, 62, of Eldridge said arming staff could serve as a deterrent for criminals.

“Well, it's the fastest way of defense — with proper training — to save lives,” said Boock, a Republican and father of two who argued that criminals may think twice before entering a school if they know staff might be armed.

Poll respondent Natasha Haygood, 46, of West Des Moines, however, worries about what might happen if armed staff aren’t properly trained.

“I know there is biases. We’re humans, everybody has biases ... If it’s that volatile, put police back into the schools again,” said Haygood, who is an Independent and mother of two.

Police can have biases, but they also receive a lot of training, she said.

Haygood, who is Black, also worries about her 16-year-old son being in an environment where firearms are in the hands of people who may not have undergone extensive training.

“I have a Black son and just by him getting up in the morning and just by sight, he's a threat for some people,” she said. “I just don't want to put my son in that type of environment.”

What if he were to raise his voice and a staff member felt threatened, she asked.

“Teachers are there to teach. They are not there to be armed guards,” Haygood said.

Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at (515) 851-0982 or svhernandez@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @svhernandez or Facebook at facebook.com/svhernandezreporter.

About the Iowa Poll

The Iowa Poll, conducted Feb. 25-28, 2024, for The Des Moines Register and Mediacom by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 804 Iowans ages 18 or older. Interviewers with Quantel Research contacted households with randomly selected landline and cell phone numbers supplied by Dynata. Interviews were administered in English. Responses were adjusted by age, sex and congressional district to reflect the general population based on recent American Community Survey estimates.

Questions based on the sample of 804 Iowa adults have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the true population value by more than plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Results based on smaller samples of respondents — such as by gender or age — have a larger margin of error.

Republishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit and, on digital platforms, links to originating content on The Des Moines Register and Mediacom is prohibited.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Poll: Most parents favor arming school staff after Perry shooting