Arizona representatives ask governor to create task force for school safety

PHOENIX — Following the Florida school shooting and the outcry for gun control, a group of Arizona state legislators have asked the governor to create the Task Force on the Prevention of Potential School Violence.

“We thought to ourselves, ‘Well maybe we should try to identify, is there a common pattern amongst these tragedies, these school shootings’,” Arizona state Representative Dr. Randy Friese (D-Tucson) told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Bruce St. James and Pamela Hughes Wednesday.

Friese said that the task force would bring together school counselors, mental health providers, teachers, police officers to try and find a commonality between tragedies to look for warning signs in the future. 

“We’ve had some communications on a beginning level [with the governor],” he said. “We’re somewhere in the beginning phases of finding the right way to do this.”

Despite the contentious political environment that follows school shootings, Friese said that there was some bipartisan support on this initiative.

“There are Republicans from the House and, I believe, Republican Senators that have also signed on saying that ‘Yes, this is a problem that we all need to agree on’,” he said.

Friese said that bringing up the problem is the first step to solving it.

“Everyone knows if you don’t talk about issues, you’re never going to resolve them. You’re never going to come to a solution.”