Gov. Henry McMaster is pushing a plan to post armed cops in every South Carolina school to ward off mass shootings like the St. Valentine's Day massacre in Florida — but the Palmetto State doesn't appear to have the money for it.
"That is the very first step that must be done in all counties and all schools, every day, any time a child is there," McMaster said Thursday, telling reporters that he'll ask lawmakers to put $5 million in the state's $8.2 billion budget to pay the tab.
But, according to The State newspaper, a lot more than $5 million is needed for the sweeping security project.
The newspaper says of 1,195 public schools in the state, 607 have school resource officers, which leaves about 590 schools without officers.
And placing 590 new officers in schools would cost more than $60 million in the first year, and about $40 million in the second.
State governments across the country have been trying to figure out ways to thwart gun violence in schools since the Feb. 14 slaughter of 17 children and adults at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
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