Miller on plan for armed guards in school cafeterias: 'Safety in those cafeterias, always on my mind'

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has suggested that armed guards patrol school cafeterias statewide, according to a report from Austin ABC affiliate KVUE.

Miller, a Republican, devised the plan more than a month after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde claimed the lives of 21 people, including 19 students, KVUE reported.

According to the station, Miller acknowledged that many would wonder why school safety is a concern to him, the state’s overseer of agricultural production.

"So, cafeterias, something that's always on my mind,” the commissioner told KVUE. “And safety in those cafeterias, always on my mind."

Miller added that the Columbine massacre in 1999 – the incident that thrust mass shootings to the forefront – occurred in a school cafeteria.

The tragedy in Uvalde on May 24 weighed heavily on Miller’s mind, per the station.

“These young ones, the one[s] so small and so vulnerable," he said, KVUE reported.

Citing the National School Lunch Act of 1946, the station reported, the commissioner asserted the phrase “as a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the nation's children" gives him the authority to install what are called "school cafeteria safety officers" financially backed by state and federal money.

Though the commissioner referred to school safety consultant Dennis Lewis to justify armed security in school cafeterias, Lewis himself doesn’t support such a plan.

“Cafeterias are a fairly low-frequency incident of active shooter events,” Lewis, a former law enforcement officer who currently co-owns and operates a school safety consultant firm, said, KVUE reported. “But I can name you far many more that occurred in classrooms, hallways, playgrounds and so forth.”

Miller’s plan also received criticism from Ovidia Molina, the president of the Texas State Teachers Association, the station reported.

Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University in San Marcos to provide active shooter training to the state's public school districts last month, per a press release issued by the governor’s office.

Abbott, a Republican, also directed Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and State Rep. Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, to assemble committees that focus on school safety, mental health, social media, police training, firearm safety and other unspecified areas, Austin Journal reported in June.