Thread: Ohio sheriff says hundreds signed up for gun training for teachers

Ohio sheriff says hundreds signed up for gun training for teachers


February 25, 2018

Brett Samuels


An Ohio sheriff said hundreds of local school employees signed up for a class to receive training on how to use a firearm in the aftermath of a high school shooting in Florida that left 17 people dead.

“We put it online, we thought we’d get 20 school teachers maybe. Within 20 minutes we had 40. Within an hour we had 100. Within four hours we had 200. By the next morning, at 300, we cut it off,” Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said on “Fox & Friends.”

(Video at Link)



“We can’t stop the school shootings, we can’t stop guns from being manufactured, but we've got to do something, we've got to make the schools more of a hardened target,” he said, adding that the class was open to teachers, secretaries and maintenance workers.



The class was organized in response to a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 17 people were killed and several more were injured. The shooting has prompted a renewed debate on gun safety laws and reforms that could prevent future school shootings.

Jones said only a few schools in Ohio permit the concealed carry of a weapon, saying the plan to arm teachers in the state would work “if the school boards have the guts to make it a reality.” He added school staffers should go through a mandatory training course that helps them identify what a gun sounds like and where gunfire is coming from.
“We have to do something here because we can’t wait for our government to do anything. All they do is fight, they get nothing done,” he said.


President Trump has in recent days repeatedly proposed arming teachers as a way to prevent future school shootings. He has suggested those willing to undergo training to carry a firearm could receive a bonus for doing so, and called arming teachers a "big & very inexpensive deterrent" to school shootings.



Democrats have overwhelmingly opposed the idea of arming teachers, and multiple Republicans have said they disagree with the proposal. A number of educators have also come out against the concept.
The president has also indicated he is open to other reforms to curb gun violence, including strengthened background checks, an increased age requirement to purchase semi-automatic weapons and a ban on bump stocks.




http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...asses-sold-out

WATCH: Sheriff Jones speaks live from first firearm class for teachers


February 26, 20-8

HAMILTON, OH (FOX19) -


Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones spoke live Monday from his agency's first concealed handgun training class for teachers and other school workers.


"This concealed carry is just the beginning," Jones told them during the 4-minute Facebook Live video on his agency's page.


"In Butler County, school boards can give you the authority to carry a concealed weapon into the class if they choose a certain amount of people. But it takes the school boards to do that."

Sheriff Jones Facebook Live video addressing CCW class for teachers already is going viral:

'Love this! Thank you for training our teachers. Makes me feel safer about sending my kids to school.'@butlersheriffhttps://t.co/y6misldsExpic.twitter.com/8nglCiccTn
— Jennifer Baker (@jbakerohio) February 26, 2018

The outspoken Republican sheriff announced earlier this month he would hold free concealed carry instruction for educators. His controversial decision, made in a simple three-line tweet, came in the days after the Parkland, Florida mass school shooting that killed 17 students and teachers and wounded several others.


Expecting a small response, Jones was surprised sign-ups quickly exploded and he had to cap it off at 300.



Shortly after, President Donald Trump announced he wanted "highly trained" teachers to carry guns and said they should receive a monetary bonus.


Jones said 140 teachers will be trained by week's end. Classes the next two Saturdays are booked, too.


Related story: Firearm training for teachers starts Monday



Monday's training class was closed to the press.



Most local and and several national media outlets asked to attend, but Jones declined and agreed to live stream at least a portion of it instead.



His video did not show the teachers' faces. They were shown from behind.


Instructors who complete the training, however, won't be able to start taking guns into their classrooms.


So far, none of the school boards in the county are planning on permitting it, though Jones has been urging those who support it to let elected officials know.


He told the class one of the county's school board meets Monday night and he expects a lot of people to attend. He said he did not know how the school board members stood on the issue.


Jones did not mention the school board by name, but Lakota's board meets at 6:30 p.m. in Liberty Township.


The sheriff is not expected to attend the meeting.


He is scheduled to return to the talk show circuit tonight as he continues to crusade for arming educators as a way to make schools safer with live interviews on FOX News (5 p.m.) and HLN (5:15 p.m.)



The sheriff said he expects to appear on CNN Tuesday.

http://www.fox19.com/story/37592032/...hool-employees

'We've got to do something': Sheriff Jones greets first weapons class of school personnel


February 26, 2018

Cameron Knight and Hannah Sparling


Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones greeted the first concealed handgun class for teachers and school employees Monday.



In the wake of the Parkland, Florida, shooting that left 17 people dead, Jones pushed to have more people armed inside schools. He pledged to offer free concealed carry training to teachers and school employees.

(Video at Link)



"We can't believue the number of people that have signed up for this," Jones told the class. "I thought we'd get 20."



Enrollment was capped at 300. Jones said 140 of those people would be trained by the end of the week.


In Monday's class, there were teachers, a nurse and an occupational therapist.



"Every time I get told teachers don't want to take these classes, I don't see it to be true," the sheriff said.





Jones told them his daughter who has school-aged children was what prompted him to offer the classes.


"She comes to my house every time there is a school shooting and cries," he said.



He said the typical school shooting lasts four minutes, and police response can take six to eight minutes.


"We've got to do something," Jones told the class.


In Ohio, carrying a weapon on school grounds in banned unless written authorization is given from a district’s school board. Completing Jones' training won't immediately allow a teacher to carry a handgun in their classroom.



Jones said there are about 240 school districts across the country that allow some staff to carry weapons. He said he's speaking with school boards in Butler County about the issue.


Critics and supporters alike have called the fascinating and controversial Butler County sheriff a mini-Trump. Like Trump, he doesn't lack confidence. But, he also has a sense of humor and has built up a thick skin.


https://www.cincinnati.com/story/new...ers/372340002/

In Butler County, demand is high after Sheriff Jones offers free concealed carry classes


February 19, 2018

Julie o'Neill

WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones offered free concealed weapon training to teachers in his jurisdiction, a few days after a gunman killed 17 people at a Florida high school.


Jones' offer included space for 50 teachers. Demand was four times that high.

Premier Shooting and Training Center is offering to help, by providing free concealed carry classes to teachers. Premier also will have discounted classes on how to handle medical crises.


Colin Bullard served in the U.S. military and has been teaching for about 12 years. He already has concealed carry and critical incident training. Many fellow teachers, he said, are ready to join in, though he recognizes it's not for everyone.


"Other teachers come from different backgrounds and aren't so comfortable with it," he said.

In Ohio, districts must authorize teachers and staffers to carry concealed weapons in the building. Edgewood City Schools adopted a concealed carry policy in 2013, according to the Dayton Daily News. It's not clear if other county districts have similar policies.

At Cincinnati Public Schools, the region's largest district, the Board of Education and administrators haven't talked about providing any kind of training to teachers on the use of guns. Spokeswoman Lauren B. Worley said all teachers and staff go through regular training on school safety protocols, including active shooter drills.


Confronting a shooter is just one part of the equation: There's also the issue of immediate medical care.


Jim Hardman, a tactical instructor at Premier, is offering a discount on discounted critical care classes to teachers. If someone has an arterial wound, he said, they could have just 90 seconds until they bleed out and die. He'd like teachers to arm themselves with tourniquets and other supplies, furthering their classroom training in a way that might someday matter most.
"You can hope all you want that there's going to be a paramedic in your classroom with you, but there's not," Hardman said. "That teacher is that true first responder."


Teachers can contact Premier at 513-342-5849 to learn more about the classes.



https://www.wcpo.com/news/education/...es-to-teachers