Lawmakers hear emotional testimony from parents of Marshall County school shooting victims

Kentucky lawmakers heard emotional pleas from the parents of two teenage shooting victims as a school safety bill started moved forward.

An emotional Sen. Danny Carroll (R-Paducah) introduced the two families at the committee meeting. "Nothing will ever fix what happened to these families, nothing will bring their kids back. The best thing we can do is do everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen again."

The parents of Bailey Holt and Preston Cope told lawmakers they support any changes they can bring to improve the safety of children throughout the state.

Holt and Cope were killed in last year's shooting at Marshall County High School.

"It is a call no parent needs to receive," testified Secret Holt, Bailey's mother.

It is a day the families say they relive every single day.

"I that God is using this evil that happened to Bailey and Preston and is somehow using that for good," said Preston's father, Brian Cope.

Part of that good they believe is through Senate Bill 1, they shared their story in hopes of creating a safer future for children throughout the state.

If passed into law it would the the framework for several security enhancements. Those include creating a state school security marshal to make sure everyone is in compliance and following good practices, it would also improve the training of school resource officers and require certain personnel to have annual active shooter training, additionally it would work to implement more school resource officers and mental health professionals.

The Senate Education Committee advanced the bill, which legislative leaders have designated as a top priority for this year's session.

However, everyone agrees there is still a big question mark surrounding where the money will come from to make this all possible. Lawmakers say that component will likely be handled next session which is a budget year.

"I'm counting on you guys," said Jasen Holt. Holt testified that he now fears sending his 6th grader to school each day, "There has to be a change."

Cope added, "If we can protect our government buildings, our airports, our sports stadiums...Why are we not protecting our kids? They are more important than anything. This is the future of our state, our country."

Senate Bill 1 is scheduled to be voted on by the full Senate on February 8th.