Lawmakers consider gun training for Texas schools

AUSTIN (AP) — The state would pay for school employees to learn to carry a gun on the job under a proposal set for consideration at the Capitol.

The Senate Education Committee has scheduled testimony on the measure at a hearing Tuesday morning.

The bill by Houston Republican Sen. Dan Patrick would apply to charter schools and public school districts that do not already have armed security guards. It would require the state Department of Public Safety to provide firearms training for two employees per campus.

Several proposals to extend the reach of guns in schools have gained traction in the Legislature, which convened a month after 20 schoolchildren were killed in a mass shooting in Connecticut.

The National Rifle Association has called for an armed guard in every school in America.