14-04-2025
Senate passes measure allowing temporary door locks in schools to enhance safety
Photo illustration by Getty Images.
Legislation aimed at making schools and other buildings safer during emergency events, like active shooters, passed through the Senate on Monday.
House Bill 651, sponsored by Rep. Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, creates an exemption in state fire code for temporary door locks in public buildings.
Temporary door locks can help save lives, according to a study published in the Journal of Mass Violence Research. In fact, the Sandy Hook Commission, a report by the federal government, found in 2015 that there has never been an active shooter event where the shooter breached a locked door.
'Currently, our fire code is fairly direct and provides no exceptions,' Regier said during the bill's hearing on March 21 before the Senate State Administration Committee. 'It states it is unlawful to obstruct a fire exit or any hallway corridor or entrance way leading to a fire exit. Yet in an active shooter emergency, one of the first steps that is recommended to protect potential victims is to secure the door.'
A code official, or whomever has jurisdiction of a building, would have to approve of the use of temporary locks, and they could only be used in a 'shelter-in-place or emergency lockdown situation.'
The bill had several proponents during the hearing, including from the Montana Police Protective Association and the Montana Professional Firefighters.
Both said the door locks Regier's legislation permits would not be a barrier for emergency access to buildings.
'I think this is a good idea,' Carter Marsh, representing Montana Professional Firefighters, said. 'I think it can keep our kids safe, and I think that we should take any step we can, and it still allows for local control to have that ultimate say.'
A company, Nightlock, also spoke in favor of the legislation. That company sells locks that can quickly be put in place during an active shooter situation. They are stored near a room's entrance and are physically taken and put under the door.
The House voted 97-3 to approve the legislation, while the Senate voted 49-1 during the bill's second reading. It will still need one more procedural vote by the Senate to reach the Governor's desk.
