North Carolina House Select Committee on School Safety Created

SHELBY, NC – North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore is promising lawmakers will take steps to improve school safety across the state.

He’s forming a bi-partisan House Select Committee to take a closer look at the issue.

“Fortunately in North Carolina, we have not had the incidents we have seen in other states, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen,” Moore says.

The committee announced Tuesday will be made up of 41 lawmakers with backgrounds in education, law enforcement, and mental health.

“This is not a pro-gun committee, this is not an anti-gun committee. This is a committee looking at the safety and security of our children,” explains Rep. John Torbett.

The committee will look for ways to identify threats, find ways to improve facilities, and provide training and resources.

“We need to protect our children. And they shouldn’t be going to school being afraid that something like this is going to happen again,” says Marge Hooper, with the Women Republicans of Cleveland County.

She wants to see more security in schools including metal detectors and armed employees.

She points to the coach at Stoneman Doulgas who stepped in to protect students.

“Had he had a concealed carry weapon on him, he would have been able to take that, the shooter down,” she says.

WCCB Charlotte also spoke with Democrat Representative Rodney Moore.

He’s appointed to the select committee and says he’s excited to be part of what he calls a “critical effort.”

He says it’s a good first step in setting policy on these situations.