SC legislators propose taxing gun sales to pay for police officers in every school

Some S.C. House Democrats say they know how the state can afford to put a trained school resource officer in every public school: Tax firearm sales.

State leaders of all political stripes — Democrats and Republicans — agree every public school in the state needs a school resource officer on staff. But the state — and many of its school districts — say they can't afford the up to $60 million it would cost to hire and train the nearly 600 police officers that would be needed to staff every S.C. school.

But some House Democrats say they have a solution.

With the support of 11 other House members, state Rep. Wendy Brawley, D-Richland, filed a bill last week that would levy a 7 percent fee on firearm sales. Money generated from those sales — estimated at $19.5 million a year — would be funneled into a school safety fund at the Education Department to be spent solely on school resource officers.

"If we say we don't have money, it's incumbent upon us to find options elsewhere," said Brawley.

Pressure to put a trained police officer in every S.C. public school has mounted since 17 students and teachers were slain at a Florida high school in February. Putting officers in 590 S.C. schools that do not now have resource officers would cost more than $60 million in the first year, according to the S.C. Department of Education. In the second year, it could cost about $40 million.

Earlier this month, Brawley tried to attach her proposal to the House's proposed $8.2 billion general fund budget but failed. Her most recent attempt to revive taxing guns to pay for school resource officers is not likely to get much farther in the GOP-controlled General Assembly, which is adverse to tax increases or offending gun owners.

Gerald Stoudemire, president of Gun Owners of South Carolina, called Brawley's idea "absolutely ridiculous."

"People that buy firearms already pay extreme taxes," Stoudemire said, referring to the state's sales tax and a federal tax on the sale of ammunition and guns. "People are grabbing solutions for problems. ... In my county, Newberry, we have SROs (paid for) through the sheriff's department and that's paid for by the taxpayers. That's where it needs to stay."

Stoudemire blasted the proposal as just another attempt to target gun owners. “These Democrats .... (their) solution to every problem is confiscating guns and taxing gun owners.”

Brawley said it is not her intention to strip gun owners of their firearms, only to fill a need.

"I hope that both Republicans and Democrats see the value in protecting our children in South Carolina, particularly in schools," she said. "I hope they put partisan politics aside and do what's in the best interest of the schools."

This story was originally published March 27, 2018 at 1:28 PM with the headline "SC legislators propose taxing gun sales to pay for police officers in every school."