Two headlines abutted each other on the front page of the July 16 Concord Monitor: “Gun violence on the rise” and “Schools craft own plans.” I found this quite interesting.
Last year, at just about this same time, Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed House Bill 564, which would have given local school boards the right to hold a public hearing and establish a gun-free school zone in their local schools if that was the will of their residents. The governor vetoed this bill saying that it would be too confusing to have different gun-free school policies throughout the state.
However, in the July 16 article, the governor explains that school districts will have broad latitude on how they will reopen their schools in the midst of the pandemic – “Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, this is a guide that values local control, and helps each school district make the best decision for their students and teachers.”
So, does the governor actually value “local control” or only when it suits his purposes? Was the reopening guide simply easier than coming up with a comprehensive set of guidelines? Or, in the case of the HB 564 veto, was it safer than losing votes from the NRA?
BERNADETTE CAMERON
Deerfield