Armed & Studious

South Dakota Teachers Can Carry Guns

According to new law.

Pens, paper, chalk, stickers … guns? The unusual item could soon be added to teachers’ supply lists in South Dakota, after Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed into law Friday a bill that allows teachers to carry firearms in the classroom. Although there are other states with provisions in their own laws that allow some teachers to carry guns, South Dakota is the first to pass a bill that explicitly permits it. Daugaard says the law is necessary, as some schools are too far from emergency responders to be properly protected from an attack like the one in Newtown, Connecticut. The law gives school districts the option of allowing armed employees, and Daugaard predicts many districts will opt not to.