Some school districts in Missouri have decided that the best way to prevent another tragedy like the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School is to train staffers to carry concealed weapons.
The Kansas City Star reported over the weekend that Shield Solutions has already trained 10 school districts in the state at a cost of $17,500 each. The company trains two staffers from a district, who then technically become employees of Shield Solutions and pull a salary.
Legislators approved a bill allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons in schools last month. Most districts that have received training at Shield Solutions are located in small and isolated areas where it could take too long for local law enforcement to respond to a potential active shooter situation, according to the Star.
During training, each staffer spends five hours in the classroom and 35 hours on the shooting range with a Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol. Training supervisor Don Crowley told the Star that his students leave the program shooting at an accuracy rate of 90 to 95 percent — if the students don’t achieve that level of accuracy, they don’t graduate.
Crowley also explained that the staffers would use special ammunition that lodges in the soft tissue of the target in order to prevent other students from being struck by a bullet.
Those safeguards don’t assuage the concerns of those opposed to proposals allowing teachers to carry guns in schools, though. The president-elect of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, G.A. Buie, believes that the decision to arm teachers is flat-out wrong.
“We would be asking school officials, trained as educators, to make a quick transition from teacher to SWAT member, arrive on the scene, assess the situation, overcome the severe nervousness that naturally accompanies a deadly force incident and take immediate action before blood is shed,” Buie said, as quoted by the Star. “It’s a bit more than you can cover in a typical teacher in-service.”
Image via YouTube/The Kansas City Star
