CINCINNATI, OHIO — According to WKRC – Cincinnati, over 40 Ohio school districts have trained and readied administrators and teachers equipped with concealed carry firearms. All districts which participate in the program have sent a number of their educators through an intensive multi-week course designed to prepare them for the realities of responding to armed attackers in their school system. It’s a vivid reminder that the world we live in requires educators to maintain both control of their classrooms and their pupils’ lives.
In many ways, parents have been the driving force behind this push to arm educators. Without parents clearly advocating for the training necessary to equip teachers and administrators to face the harsh realities of a least-desirable combat environment, Ohio would likely be like many other states where educators are unarmed and at the mercy of whatever attackers have in store.
As one superintendent put it, inbetween training sessions with other teachers,
“When does help come? Every 30 seconds 2 people die. That’s not acceptable. I don’t know when the 911 call gets made. I don’t know when law enforcement arrives. It’s not that they don’t want to help but when do they help and I want to keep my kids safe.”
Joe Eaton of Buckeye Firearms Foundation, a non-profit that provides training and equipment to teachers and educators around the state, “There are teachers who are willing to die for the children we leave with them every day. When they come to us and say we need a solution, we need something that will happen. When we have experts that can provide the training to provide these solutions our foundation is obligated to make this happen for the schools.”
At present, educators interested in attending the course must organize it through the school district. There is a special training and certification process for teachers to be allowed to carry a concealed handgun in the classroom. Once certified and passed, these teachers stand as a first line of defense in protecting children from a tragic repeat of what occurred in both Sandy Hook and Columbine.
Do you think more states should adopt similar measures? Do you feel teachers have too much responsibility heaped onto them? Tell us in the comments section below.