Georgetown schools to revisit concealed weapon policy

By Aisha Khan
Published: December 21, 2009

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The issue of concealed weapons has stirred up debate in Georgetown County.

S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster said the county’s ban on concealed weapons on school grounds does not comply with state law.

School district officials they will re-think the policy, which prohibits the possession of concealed weapons on school grounds even if the owner has a permit.

The attorney general’s office said state law requires the permit holder to lock a weapon in a trunk, a center console or glove box of a vehicle.

The district’s plan to work its policy has some families concerned.

“If you have your gun in the car, what’s going to keep somebody from breaking a window and taking the gun out of your car?“ Bette Brown, who has a grandson at Georgetown High School, asked. “I would say no guns on school property.”

Some, like Will Abbott of Coastal Sports in Murrells Inlet, support taking safety into your own hands and bringing concealed weapons on school campuses.

“For those who have been proven worthy and licensed to do so, I wish every school had teachers that required to be armed and I wish we would quit making our kids subject to the stupid lockdown policy,“ he said.

“I don’t believe that children should know whether their parents have a firearm or not because if a fight breaks out, they know that they can go home or in their parents’ car and get that weapon and cause hurt or harmful danger to themselves or to someone else or the community,“ Georgetown County resident and parent Tessa Garner said.

School district spokesman Randy Dozier said Friday the school board plans to review its policies when it meets in early January.