A North Carolina School Is Letting Students Carry Pepper Spray for 'Bathroom Safety'

READ: North Carolina Is Suing the Feds to Protect Its Anti-Trans Bathroom Law

As North Carolina lawmakers fight with the US Justice Department over whether or not its so-called bathroom bill infringes basic human rights, one school district in the state appears to be taking matters into its own hands, allowing students to carry pepper spray as protective measures, presumably against trans people.

According to the Salisbury Post, the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education decided Monday that it would change prohibitive language surrounding defensive sprays, like mace, because they could be a useful tool for anyone walking into a bathroom, unsure of who might come in next. While these sprays are not life-threatening, they can leave someone hurt, with burning, red eyes.

"Depending on how the courts rule on the bathroom issues, it may be a pretty valuable tool to have on the female students if they go to the bathroom, not knowing who may come in," board member Chuck Hughes said in the meeting, adding that the objective would be purely defensive.

Fellow board members backed the new rule—which is set to take effect next school year—saying there's probably already loads of pepper spray on campus teachers don't know about.

The school district's policy change comes at a time when the state isn't really sure how it can enforce the bathroom law, which requires people to use the bathroom according to the gender on their birth certificate. Christina Hallingse, a rep from Asheville, North Carolina's police department, told NPR that the only way they could really enforce the ruling is to station police officers outside of every bathroom and ask for a person's birth certificate upon entering.

"And I know for certain that we could not do that," she said. "That would take everyone that we have on staff. It would take them off the streets, off patrol, and having to put them at bathrooms."