A respected community activist credits Buffalo's School Resource Officers for spotting troubled kids and keeping city schools safe. The head of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, is calling for "hardening schools" and arming school teachers. But Stop the Violence Coalition Executive Director Murray Holman says talk of arming the nation's school teachers is making him "weary."
"Everybody shouldn't be carrying guns because then you're going to have some problems. If you get an irate kid that wants to fight a teacher, or whatever, and think on that level, he can pull that gun from that teacher. Or she might leave it in her bag. You never know. It's going to open up a can of worms. We just gotta think this thing through a little bit differently and not just going gun for gun."
"With this group of kids that's getting ready to come out now, out of high school, that's going to be a new voting power. So therefore they're going to do some changes. It might be some guys in Congress, or other places, getting ready to lose their jobs because there might be a young kid going in there with a mind set of, 'I don't need a gun in order to do the work. I can do it with a pen, or my mind," Holman said.
Holman received the FBI's 2017 Director's Community Leadership Award Friday for his work in steering young people away from violence, drugs and gangs. Acting Special Agent in Charge Kevin Lyons said the award recognizes Holman for "going above and beyond to help society and for making the community better."