On Jan. 5, Robert Butler Jr. shot and killed the vice principal of Millard South High School and himself.

Just three days later, Jared Loughner shot and killed six people, including a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, in Tucson, Ariz., at a public event.

It was after these events that Nebraska state Sen. Mark Christensen, of District 44, introduced a bill to the Nebraska Legislature that would allow teachers, administration officials and security officers to carry concealed weapons in public schools and universities if passed. Currently, only police officers can carry weapons on school campuses.

The bill has been on Christensen’s mind for some time.

“I had looked at it a couple years ago, but I felt the timing was right for discussion,” Christensen said.

If passed, the bill would allow the governing boards of school districts or colleges decide if teachers or other officials could carry concealed weapons on campus. Those employees would be required to obtain a concealed weapon permit, along with training and learning their responsibilities. Concealed weapon permits have been legal in Nebraska since 2006.

To Christensen, the bill is a matter of safety. Schools are meant to provide a safe, protective atmosphere, he said, and allowing teachers to carry weapons for the purpose of defense would help that goal.

“If someone comes in with a gun, how can you best protect (the students)?” Christensen said.

The bill also provides for local control of the law, if passed. School boards would still be left with the ultimate decision of whether to allow concealed weapons in their schools, and would be free to reduce, limit, and control the law’s provisions however it sees fit.

“It could be forced to be locked in a drawer, or locked in an administration office, or it could have to be on the person,” Christensen said. “Whatever they decide.”

Although he believes in the bill’s goal, Christensen is not holding his breath on its passage.

“It’s a more controversial one. I don’t think it’s one the (Judicial) committee likes, to be honest,” he said.

But according to him, that’s OK, because if tragedy does strike and the bill is not law, “we know exactly who to target.”

He also felt the attempt was worth it, because even if many school districts did not approve it for themselves, at least there would be discussion.

Christensen compared schools without means of protection to banks, which have restrictions on armed employees similar to public schools. He equated this lack of arms to a bank saying “Come rob us.”

According to the senator, he’s gotten mixed reactions with his bill.

“I’ve had people say ‘great bill’ to ‘this is the craziest bill I’ve ever seen,'” Christensen said. “I’ve had a number of superintendents tell me they’d like to carry. They’d like to protect their building, their teachers, their students.”

Angelo Passarelli, governmental relations officer with Millard Public Schools, said the district did not have an official stance on the bill. However, he did offer his own take.

“Personally, I don’t think that’s a great idea,” Passarelli said. “I don’t think it would’ve helped.”

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has no position on the bill, according to Kelly Bartling, manager of news at UNL. However, she did detail the faculty’s feelings.

“We like the law the way it is,” Bartling said. “It seems like it would offer a lot of opportunity to bring a lot of weapons on campus. We are not comfortable with that. We would be very concerned.”

UNL does have its own armed police force, and Bartling said that weapons outside of those who are trained were unnecessary.

Bill Kuehn, director of security for Lincoln Public Schools and retired National Guardsman, agreed. Each of the Lincoln high schools has an armed school resource officer, or SRO. Kuehn did not like the idea of more people being armed beyond those officers.

“I don’t really feel like it’s good for a school environment,” he said. “(Teachers) aren’t trained to take on that liability and responsibility. That’s not their main profession. It brings a lot of dangerous possibilities.”

Lincoln and Omaha police departments were unavailable to comment.