Another Ohio school investigates arming staff to protect its students

In the immediate aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre in late 2012, gun ban extremists sought to use the incident to achieve their legislative goals, despite the fact that nothing they were proposing would have prevented the terrible attack.

Buckeye Firearms Foundation, on the other hand, set about to do something that has already been proven a success in several incidents around the country - providing comprehensive training to individuals employed in schools, and who had obtained or were seeking to obtain permission to carry a firearm while at work in order to protect their students.

Since then, Buckeye Firearms Foundation has announced that over 300 teachers have been trained through its FASTER (Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response) program, and that more than 30 Ohio schools now have gun policies to defend students.

While not all schools that are taking these important steps are choosing to make their plans public, some are. Last month, Logan County's Riverside Local Schools announced that it is exploring this option, and just last week, yet another school (Wood County's Lake Local Schools) made news for considering arming its teachers to better protect its students.

From Bowling Green's Sentinel-Tribune:

School security, which could include arming some trained staff members, will be the main topic of a Jan. 24 special board meeting.

At Monday's organization meeting, the board set that meeting for 10 a.m. and a Jan. 31, 7:30 a.m. workshop. There will be no regular meeting this month.

Tim Krugh, who will continue as board president this year, said after the meeting that a speaker from Buckeye Firearms Association, a non-profit group, will attend the Jan. 24 meeting.

"We want to see if there's anything we can do to improve the safety of our student body," he said.

Staff members who go through an "extensive and intensive" training could be allowed to carry a firearm to school, Krugh said. He added that this is becoming a trend in Northwest Ohio.

The board president told the newspaper that research shows that arming staff is about the only way to minimize carnage if there was a school shooting.

Krugh is quoted as saying most of these attacks take place within 8-10 minutes and a staff member with a gun would be more effective at taking on an active shooter.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.