Enzi says arming school staff should be local decision

Posted 3/27/18

Enzi, who visited the school on Friday, said he’s always voted for bills that uphold the Second Amendment.

“Arming teachers — it isn’t quite that simple,” Enzi said. “That has to be a decision that’s made locally.”

Wyoming’s …

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Enzi says arming school staff should be local decision

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As school boards around Wyoming debate whether teachers should carry concealed firearms, Powell Middle School students brought the question to Sen. Mike Enzi.

Enzi, who visited the school on Friday, said he’s always voted for bills that uphold the Second Amendment.

“Arming teachers — it isn’t quite that simple,” Enzi said. “That has to be a decision that’s made locally.”

Wyoming’s senior senator said his brother-in-law is a school resource officer — and he brought up the concern that if police run into a school and see someone holding a gun, how do they know if they’re a good guy or bad guy? There has to be identification and proper training, Enzi said.

The Republican also highlighted Powell Middle School’s security measures during his afternoon visit.

“I’ve got to tell you, this is the most secure school that I’ve ever been in,” Enzi said. “I had to have my picture taken and give my driver’s license. I’m impressed with that. I have to go through security all the time at the airports, too, and they don’t give me any special breaks just because I’m a senator.”

Enzi took a variety of questions from students for nearly an hour during Friday’s school-wide assembly.

An eighth-grader asked what Enzi thought about the walk-outs across the country where students have demanded action on gun violence in the wake of last month’s school shooting in Florida.

“I’m really surprised that the educators are letting them go and do that. They should be in school studying and getting the knowledge” to affect the process, Enzi said.

He told students they really can make a difference in government. During his years serving in the Wyoming Legislature and now the U.S. Senate, Enzi said he’s seen kids bring bills that were well thought-out.

“Any time you see something that needs to be done, you’ve got to work on it,” Enzi said.

He encouraged students to go through the right channels, adding, “they’re very usable.”

The senator also said it’s important to find compromise with others, bringing up what he often calls the “80/20 rule.” Enzi said when he worked with late Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, they would talk about issues and find the 80 percent that they could agree on. Then they would focus on that common ground, rather than the 20 percent where they disagreed.

Grizzlies, clocks and the president

Students’ questions spanned a wide range of topics, from wildlife to the senator’s life.

Enzi told students he supported the delisting of grizzly bears.

“Clear back when I was in the Legislature, I thought grizzlies were about to be delisted then,” he said.

If Enzi had pursued his dream job, he may have dealt with grizzlies more often.

In response to a student’s question, Enzi said he’d wanted to be a park ranger in Yellowstone National Park.

Growing up, he enjoyed spending time in Yellowstone with his grandparents, and especially loved fishing and hiking in the park.

Enzi said he didn’t have an interest in politics when he was young, and didn’t pursue a scholarship because it required taking two years of government.

Years later, former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson encouraged Enzi to pursue public office. Enzi was speaking on leadership at a conference in Cody, and Simpson took Enzi aside and told him to put his money where his mouth was. Simpson told him, “You need to run for something — and your town really needs a mayor.”

Enzi eventually became mayor of Gillette, then was elected to the Legislature and has served in the U.S. Senate since 1997.

The senator encouraged students to work hard and do their best, no matter what career they pursue.

Enzi’s dad told him, “I don’t care if you’re doctor, a lawyer, a shoe salesman or a ditch digger.” He simply wanted his son to do the job so well that people would say, “That’s a Mike Enzi ditch.”

“Another thing my dad always said is that nobody is more important than anybody else. We just have different jobs,” he said.

Enzi said students would likely have multiple jobs. He cited research that says today’s ninth-graders will have about 14 different occupations over the course of their careers. Not 14 different jobs, Enzi said, but 14 occupations — nine of which haven’t been invented yet.

“That is why your teachers are trying to teach you how to learn, because you’re going to have to learn how to do these new jobs,” Enzi said.

Enzi told students the most frustrating part of being a senator is not being in charge of your own schedule.

The senator worked on the $1.3 trillion spending bill Thursday until midnight, then awoke early Friday to get on a plane at 6 a.m. to fly to Wyoming.

Enzi said he is usually in Washington from Monday through Thursday, and then returns to Wyoming from Friday through Sunday, except when there’s a recess.

When asked about daylight saving time, Enzi brought up an example of how Wyoming students can make a difference.

Every year, students from a Sheridan elementary school wrote to then-Sen. Simpson, asking to extend daylight saving time past Halloween so they could have an extra hour of daylight for trick-or-treating.

“I started getting those letters when I became a senator,” Enzi said.

For years, he introduced bills for the extension, and in 2005, it finally passed.

Enzi said that personally, “I would say just leave it the same all the time. I like having daylight savings.”

Students asked how often Enzi meets with President Donald Trump.

“As often as he invites me,” the senator replied.

Enzi said he’s always working on a number of issues and carries a list to discuss with the administration. When asked what the biggest change is since Trump took office, Enzi said “we’ve gotten a lot more done.”

It used to take six weeks for a letter to get through the mill of approval at the White House, but now things are handled more quickly, Enzi said.

Enzi said communication with the White House is better. He called Trump a pretty good manager and said the president needs to do more and say less.

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