Kansas state rep’s plan to stop guns in schools ignores the biggest threat | Opinion
Kansas state Rep. Chris Croft’s recent Star guest commentary highlighting “critical incident mapping” and firearm detection technology in schools caught my attention. As someone who ran against Croft for Kansas House District 8 in both 2022 and 2024, I agree we must do everything possible to protect our kids. I was proud to be endorsed by Everytown for Gun Safety and was a recommended candidate by Moms Demand Action. Croft, by contrast, is endorsed and funded by the Kansas State Rifle Association.
Our visions for tackling gun violence couldn’t be more different. Croft’s piece focused on how to react once a shooter is already inside a school. But he said nothing about how to stop that shooter from ever getting there in the first place.
What Croft left unsaid is just as important if not more than what he chose to include. His commentary made no mention of the root causes of gun violence. There was not a word about the widely supported gun safety policies that help prevent school shootings, suicides and accidental deaths. And it’s no surprise. Year after year, Croft and the GOP-controlled Kansas Legislature have refused to even consider these reforms.
Among the policies they’ve blocked:
Safe firearm storage laws. These laws require gun owners to store firearms securely — often locked and separate from ammunition — so they can’t be accessed by children or people who are legally prohibited from owning them. Last session, multiple safe storage bills were introduced in the Legislature, and not one received a hearing. Instead, lawmakers eliminated permit and training requirements for carrying concealed weapons.
Red flag laws. These allow courts to temporarily remove firearms from someone who poses an immediate threat to themselves or others. Red flag laws have prevented suicides and mass shootings in other states. Yet in Kansas, not one such proposal has made it out of committee.
These omissions aren’t accidental. Croft knows — as I do. — that firearms are now the No. 1 cause of death for children and teens in the United States, surpassing car accidents and illness. That should be a call to action for every lawmaker. Instead, Croft offered mapping software and artificial intelligence detection tools to respond after the shooting starts — ignoring how to prevent it in the first place.
Politics behind the silence
Croft’s silence on gun safety has little to do with policy and everything to do with politics. But Kansas families deserve more than optics. School safety should never be a partisan issue. It shouldn’t be constrained by what the National Rifle Association will or won’t accept. If we’re serious about protecting students, we need both preparation and prevention. We should not have to sacrifice one for the other.
Let’s collaborate with school districts to support smart tools like incident mapping and firearm detection — but also pass the laws that keep guns out of dangerous hands in the first place. That’s what real leadership looks like.
Croft’s commentary, in my view, was nothing more than a carefully crafted deflection. It gave the appearance of taking action without addressing the most obvious, data-backed solutions. The most effective way to make schools safer is to prevent guns from ending up in the wrong hands — before the alarm ever sounds.
As a parent, grandparent, gun safety advocate and former candidate, I know we can’t afford to wait for another tragedy. I would wager that Croft has never been inside a classroom during a code red/active shooter drill. I have. As a former employee and retiree of the Blue Valley School District, it breaks my heart that these drills are a necessary ritual at every grade level.
If Croft truly wants to lead on school safety, let him introduce a red flag law. Let him support safe storage requirements. Let him bring a universal background check bill to the floor. Until then, no amount of surveillance or mapping software will make up for his refusal to address the root cause of the gun violence.
Preparation is important. But prevention is everything. And that takes political courage — the one tool Rep. Croft seems unwilling to use.