Donald Trump told an audience in Vermont on Jan. 7 that anyone without a gun in a gun-free zone was nothing but “bait” for “sickos.”
Trump won’t have to worry about students or their teachers being “bait” in more than three dozen school districts in America. Guns are not only allowed in class in those school systems — Trump should be happy to see teachers are being encouraged to come to school with a pistol in their pockets.
These teachers are ready to take down the sickos.
Anderson Union High School District officials in California understand the intent of Senate Bill 707 that Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed into law in December. It is intended to keep concealed weapons out of high school and college campuses.
However, by ignoring the intent, and following the letter of the law, these teachers are not only being allowed to carry guns in their classrooms, they are also being encouraged to pack heat.
Some Ohio school officials are going even farther than their counterparts in California when it comes to arming teachers. They’re teaching their people how to shoot to kill.
WKRC-TV reported that close to 40 school districts in the Buckeye State now allow teachers who possess concealed carry permits to pack their guns into class. Teachers who choose to spend their school days armed to the teeth are also being offered free training courses.
Students in Anderson Union High School District in California are not only OK with their teachers carrying guns to class, they told KRCR-TV they felt safer knowing the adults were armed.
Anderson Police Chief Mike Johnson doesn’t get a vote on the school board, so he didn’t share in the decision to arm teachers. But he thinks it is a good idea.
“It is definitely a pro to have people armed, responsible people armed who have been vetted and can actually provide another layer of protection for the kids,” Johnson said. “That’s the bottom line, if it provides more protection for our children, how can you be against it?”
While he said that more school districts should follow the path of teachers with concealed weapons permits carrying guns to class, he also pointed out that just because someone has a permit it doesn’t necessarily follow that is the person who is the one responsible for protecting students.
In northern Ohio, area school officials are working to cover that concern by making sure teachers with guns also have the kind of training they need to safeguard the kids in their classes.
Teachers and administrators were trained alongside military and law enforcement personnel at the Tactical Defense Institute in West Union, Ohio.
In the TDI’s Armed Teacher Training Program, thought to be the first of its kind, teachers and school principals have learned how to take down a man with a gun, if that is what it takes, to protect their students.
The price to teach two dozen teachers how to kill a man with a gun was $30,000. The Buckeye Firearms Foundation, a nonprofit organization, paid the bill for 24 Ohio educators to go through the course.
The teachers began the program in classrooms at the Tactical Defense Institute, and then took part in live, active killer shooing scenarios in three live-fire houses and classrooms, using Airlift guns to shoot plastic pellets at the “bad guys.”
The teachers also received weapons training on seven gun ranges.
The 24 teachers and administrators were chosen from more than 1,400 of their colleagues who applied to take the course.
In addition to being encouraged to bring a gun to class, and being taught how to use the weapon to take out an attacker; they were also being given instruction in combat casualty first aid.
The reality of what the school workers could be facing was driven home when they were advised to bring bandages and at least one tourniquet with them to class.
The program was launched immediately after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., that claimed 26 lives, 20 children, and six staff members.
An elementary school teacher who took the weeklong course at the Tactical Defense Institute told the Columbus Dispatch she might not have liked the idea of having a gun in class if it wasn’t for the Sandy Hook massacre.
“Tragedy wakes you up,” she said.
Another of the teachers involved in the training said they were “ready to give their lives for their students.”
John Benner, who owns the Tactical Defense Institute, said the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary opened a lot of eyes.
“We’ve believed in this for a long time, but never thought we’d be able to pull it off until Sandy Hook. And then everything changed,” he told WKRC-TV.
“Now people realize,” Benner said, “if you don’t have somebody in the school that’s armed, willing and capable you’re gonna lose a lot of people.”
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