McHenry Times

Illinois state Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) looks upon lawmakers in Florida who recently passed legislation allowing teachers in at least seven school districts to carry concealed weapons with great respect and admiration.

“In the long run, won’t we discover these states are much safer?” Skillicorn recently posted on Twitter. “Florida begins arming teachers as other states consider doing the same.”

The law is an expansion of the so-called “guardian” program instituted two years ago following the deadly Parkland, Florida school shooting that ended in the deaths of 17 people. The original version outlined that guardians were either non-instructional personnel who volunteered or employees hired specifically to protect students.

Illinois state Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee)

Skillicorn, who also sits on the House Appropriations-General Service Committee, has long been a staunch advocate of Second Amendment rights. Earlier this year, he blasted Senate Bill 1966, which seeks to require legal gun owners to be fingerprinted and raises FOID card expenses by 400 percent while cutting in half the duration of the cards' validity, as an “attack on constitutional rights.”

He further argued that the bill does nothing to address public safety concerns.

“This latest act of the Illinois Democrats is another example of Illinois government at its worst,” Skillicorn said at the time. “It doesn’t seem to matter to them that the Second Amendment is a constitutional right or that SB 1966 does absolutely nothing to improve public safety. Instead, this bill is a clear attack on citizens’ rights meant to push an agenda to make Illinois the most ‘progressive’ state in the country.

Skillicorn has vowed to fight such legislation all the way up to the Supreme Court if need be.

“I would oppose this legislation no matter what and I look forward to the Supreme Court striking down this oppressive law should it be signed by the governor,” he said.

Over the last year, legislation allowing teachers and other school staffers to carry firearms on school grounds has been approved in such other states as Washington, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.