Griffin: Schools, sensitive targets need ‘hardened’ protection

In the wake of the Uvalde school shooting, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, the GOP nominee for Attorney General, said he wants more answers about the incident. But he said more protection for schools is an area that has common ground.

“We’ve got to harden some of these more sensitive targets like schools. What does that mean? Well, we use armed guards to defend banks, courts, celebrities, sporting events, you name it, the state capitol. Armed guards, armed security, whatever you want to call it, we use them in every one of those instances,” he said.

Griffin contended that many of the gun control proposals that have once again been floated would not have stopped the massacre.

“Lots of laws were broken here. Lots of laws. You can make a list of the laws that were broken here. If you added a few laws to that, I don’t think that would have changed anything,” he said, adding that the U.S. Constitution and the Second Amendment prevent some laws that other countries have enacted to restrict gun access.

“Other countries don’t have the Second Amendment. Other countries have complete confiscation of firearms. It’s a completely different situation – it’s apples and oranges. But I do think there is common ground… It’s not the weapon, it’s mental health,” he said, arguing that more resources must be devoted to the issue of mental health.

GOP PRIMARY
Griffin earned a solid victory in his race for Attorney General over Republican challenger Leon Jones, Jr. on Tuesday night’s primary election, 85-15%. He will face Democrat Jesse Gibson this fall.

The Republican AG nominee said the GOP is where Democrats once were as the dominant political party for primary races across the state.

“I think we are where the Democratic Party was decades ago. We’re the default party for most Arkansans whether you are active in politics or whether you don’t really care for politics, but have to pick a primary to vote in. I think the Republican primary is where the action is, whether you’re a fervent Republican or not. That’s where you go,” he said.

“But always a word of warning, that when you have less competition from the other party, then you have to do a better job of watching yourself and making sure that you don’t take power for granted and that you do what you say you’re going to do. And so there are responsibilities and challenges that come with the transition to more of a one party state.”

You can watch Griffin’s full interview in the video below.