Holly MatkinButler County, OH – The Butler County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) has offered to provide free conceal carry permit classes for all residents who work for a school within the county.
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said his department has offered such training in the past, and that as many as 350 people signed up for those sessions, WXIX reported.
Sheriff Jones said it isn’t only teachers who he is encouraging to take the course.
“I’m encouraging school board to put armed school personnel in the school,” he told WXIX. “Teachers…It can be a janitor. It can be somebody that works in the school.”
“We’re going to offer all the school personnel in our county that want to have concealed carry classes,” Sheriff Jones said, according to WLWT. “We’re going to do that at no cost to you. We’re going to train you.”
The classes are intended to help people become more comfortable and proficient with firearms and will include training on how to respond in active shooting situations, WXIX reported.
“You can’t be like an ostrich and have your head in the sand,” he said. “You’ve got to be able to know what gunfire sounds like.”
Sheriff Jones said that having armed employees inside local schools is a decision that is “up to the school boards,” regardless as to whether or not the employee has a concealed carry permit.
“Every time we bring this up the school boards go silent and they just hope it goes away,” he told WXIX.
The sheriff said it is time to do more to ensure the safety of our children.
“We’ve got to stand up and we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to protect the kids in school,” Sheriff Jones told WXIX. “What we’re doing now is not enough and we need to be on the same page. It doesn’t matter what political party you belong to or don’t belong to. You’ve gotta make these schools safe.”
