WASHINGTON — One day after racing to his home district to get the latest information on a deadly school shooting, Sen. Steven Waugh addressed his colleagues on the floor of the Maryland Senate.
“I want to thank you all on behalf of St. Mary’s County and Southern Maryland,” Waugh told the lawmakers.
Waugh said he and his colleagues have a difficult task in tackling school safety with just weeks to go before the end of the legislative session, but he told the members, “I have great faith in this body and in the House that we’re going to be able to come together and get something done that’s really going to make a difference.”
Waugh told senators that after Tuesday’s shooting, the sense of urgency has been heightened. “There is something extraordinary that I cannot describe when you’re talking about kids who were just trying to get to algebra,” Waugh said, his voice trailing off slightly.
“As we’re thinking about the dead, the wounded and the living,” Waugh said, one person in particular should remain in their thoughts: Deputy First Class Blaine Gaskill, the school resource officer who responded to the shooting at Great Mills High School.
“Ladies and gentlemen, he ran to the sound of the guns,” Waugh said. He paused for a moment, then added, “I am here to tell you as a Marine, that is not easy to do.” Even among highly trained officers and members of the military, he said, that’s an extraordinary action.
“As we’re looking forward and we’re doing the work in the remaining weeks and days of the session, please keep him in mind.”
Referring to the call from Parkland, Florida, parents to address school safety after the school shooting that left 17 dead there, Waugh told his colleagues when it comes to issues surrounding school safety, “It’s time to just fix it.”
Waugh is a co-sponsor of four bills that deal with training for school resource officers, assessing mental health and securing school buildings. Lawmakers have also been working on bills that allow judges to order the removal of firearms from those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.
Another bill seeks to close a loophole in cases of domestic violence — making certain that after a conviction of domestic violence, the offender turns over any firearms.
