The sheriff of a suburban Ohio county wants to stop school shootings — by arming the teachers.
On Sunday, Sheriff Richard K. Jones of Butler County put teeth behind that recommendation, taking to social media an offer to teach any willing educator for free. And they seemingly want the training.
Sheriff Jones, whose county lies adjacent to Cincinnati, said on a Facebook video the day after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida that “the current way we do things in the school system needs to be changed.”
In the video, he said there needs to be “armed guards in the schools, we need to look at metal detectors. This is not going to stop or go away, but we need to be prepared and not have our heads in the sand.”
Sheriff Jones put his advice into action, or at least the first practical moves, on Sunday afternoon.
“I am going to offer free concealed and Carry class free [to] teachers in butler county. Limited number. Details coming soon on line. Also training on school shootings,” he wrote.
Later on Sunday, he said on Twitter that he could take up to 50 staffers and teachers and said to go to the department’s Facebook page for more information.
They came.
“Over 50 requests in just 20 minutes. Continue those emails, you’re not out of the ballpark. We will come up with a plan. Thank you good citizens of Butler County for doing the right thing!” he tweeted.
Douglas High School did have a guard who was armed but he never had an opportunity during the chaos of Wednesday’s shooting to engage the gunman, who killed 17 people before successfully fleeing the scene.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.