More than 450 teachers and other school employees from around Ohio have applied for 24 spots in a free firearms-training program being offered by the Buckeye Firearms Association.
“We’re pleasantly surprised, but it’s not shocking,” Ken Hanson, legal chairman for the association, said today of the response since the group began taking applications on its website 10 days ago. “The demand has been there for quite some time.”
The issue of arming school employees to protect students has been “on the radar” of school boards in Ohio for several years, he said, but the organization decided to launch its training program after the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults.
“That was the breaking point,” he said. “We decided it’s time to quit talking about it and move forward.”
The first firearms class, a three-day program at the Tactical Defense Institute in West Union in Adams County, hasn’t been scheduled nor have the participants been chosen. Applications are being accepted at buckeyefirearms.org, the website of the group, which lobbies for the rights of gun owners.
The same week that the Buckeye Firearms Association announced its offer, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said schools should consider arming “someone” in their buildings as the first line of defense against a gunman. Beginning Jan. 14, his office will work with law enforcement and educators to train teachers and administrators to deal with “active shooters.”
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/12/28/armed_teachers.html
“We’re pleasantly surprised, but it’s not shocking,” Ken Hanson, legal chairman for the association, said today of the response since the group began taking applications on its website 10 days ago. “The demand has been there for quite some time.”
The issue of arming school employees to protect students has been “on the radar” of school boards in Ohio for several years, he said, but the organization decided to launch its training program after the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults.
“That was the breaking point,” he said. “We decided it’s time to quit talking about it and move forward.”
The first firearms class, a three-day program at the Tactical Defense Institute in West Union in Adams County, hasn’t been scheduled nor have the participants been chosen. Applications are being accepted at buckeyefirearms.org, the website of the group, which lobbies for the rights of gun owners.
The same week that the Buckeye Firearms Association announced its offer, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said schools should consider arming “someone” in their buildings as the first line of defense against a gunman. Beginning Jan. 14, his office will work with law enforcement and educators to train teachers and administrators to deal with “active shooters.”
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/12/28/armed_teachers.html
