Six Schools in North Carolina County to Place AR-15s in Every Building This School Year

Iesha August 10, 2022 News Leave a comment

In a radical initiative to improve school safety, a North Carolina school system will put AR-15s in every building this coming school year.

Following the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 students and two teachers, Madison County Sheriff’s Office and school officials have decided to place guns in all six schools in the county.

Sheriff Buddy Harwood told the Asheville Citizen-Times that all firearms, extra ammo, and breaching equipment would be locked within a safe. He pointed out that one justification for the action was the law enforcement’s slow response to the Robb Elementary School attack in May.

“Those officers were in that building for so long, and that suspect was able to infiltrate that building and injure and kill so many kids,” said Harwood. “I just want to make sure my deputies are prepared in the event that happens.”

According to the Citizen-Times, there will be school resource officers at six schools, including the three elementary schools.

Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College instructors have been training police officers, he claimed.

“The reason we put the breaching tools in the safes is that in the event we have someone barricaded in a door, we won’t have to wait on the fire department to get there,” Harwood told the outlet.

“We’ll have those tools to be able to breach that door if needed. I do not want to have to run back out to the car to grab an AR because that’s time lost.”

He said, “Hopefully, we’ll never need it, but I want my guys to be as prepared as prepared can be.”

Will Hoffman, superintendent of Madison County, said school administrators have been consulting with local law enforcement about various safety precautions before the start of the new school year on August 22.

“I hate that we’ve come to a place in our nation where I’ve got to put a safe in our schools and lock that safe up for my deputies to be able to acquire an AR-15,” Harwood told the Citizen-Times.

“But, we can shut it off and say it won’t happen in Madison County, but we never know. I want the parents of Madison County to know we’re going to take every measure necessary to ensure our kids are safe in this school system.”

Hoffman continued, “If my parents, as a whole, want me to stand at that door with that AR strapped around that officer’s neck, then I’m going to do whatever my parents want as a whole to keep our kids safe.”