There have been 13 school shootings this year that have resulted in injury or death.

Last year, in 2022, there were 51. 

There have been over 375 school shootings in the United States since Columbine in 1999. Since then, more than 348,000 students have experienced gun violence while at school. 

Thousands have died, have been injured, and countless more have been affected emotionally by these traumatic events. 

My name is Janée Farris, and I have created this petition to spark change in our community, our state of California, and in our country. My husband and I have 4 daughters. Every time I get the heartbreaking news of yet another school shooting- what always goes through my mind is.. WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING. But what what can we do? 

• There are 10,588 schools in California. This includes all private & public schools, across all grade levels, including college. 
• The education budget for the state of California is $128.5 billion. 
• If we hired 4 armed veterans per school and paid them $60,000 a year ($15,000 above the national average for armed security guards in the country) it would cost $2,541,120,000 per year for the state of California. This amount is less than 1% of the total education budget for California. 

We have armed security protecting the president of our country and other politicians. We have armed security protecting celebrities, banks, and jewelry stores at the mall. Why do we not better protect the future of our country?! Our veterans have been evaluated & trained. They have shown the desire to protect our country- and many can use jobs!

While citizens and law makers are always debating gun laws in this country, we as parents cannot afford to lose lives of innocent kids to senseless and avoidable crimes. 

I’m calling on everyone to do their part to spread awareness and really make a change for our kids. Let’s work together to make our communities and our schools safer.

If we can get enough attention to this petition, I’d like to get this in the hands of state or national politicians to make some real change.

Sign this petition to make our voices heard!!