Graham: ‘It is time to mobilize our retired and former service members’ to secure schools

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday called for retired and former military members to step up to enhance security in schools following the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last week.

Graham wrote in a thread posted to his Twitter account that the U.S. has “hundreds of thousands” of former military members “who could bring a lot to the table” in protecting schools and that trained ROTC instructors should be able to carry firearms to make schools more secure.

The senator also said that he is working on creating a certification process for former military members that will allow them to go through security training and prepare them to help schools across the country.

“It is time to mobilize our retired and former service members who are willing to help secure our schools,” Graham added in a follow-up tweet. “Our schools are soft targets. They contain our most valuable possession – our children, the future of our country – and must be protected.”

Graham’s remarks reflect a GOP-led push to sharpen security in schools — and reject gun restriction proposals called for by Democrats and gun control advocates — following the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde that killed 19 students and two teachers.

Texas officials and media reports said that some of the security measures Republicans have been calling for were already in place at Robb Elementary prior to the attack.

Federal programs intended to keep schools secure, such as the Student, Teachers and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act which provided more than $125 million in grants to schools, are in place across the country.

Graham’s comments come as questions have swirled about the police response to the Uvalde shooting, with Texas officials saying that police should have confronted the shooter earlier.