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Ohio Sheriff Offers Firearm Training to Local Teachers, Staff

Screenshot/Butler County Sheriff's Office

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An Ohio sheriff is offering free concealed carry training classes to any teachers and staff employed by schools in the county in response to the recent Uvalde shooting that left 19 students and 2 teachers dead.

“Parents and kids are scared to death,” Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones said in a May 26 press release. “I’m encouraging school boards to put armed school personnel in the school.” Jones also urged school boards to arm teachers and other school staff. “Not all teachers, it could be a janitor,” he added.

Jones has been an advocate for training teachers in proper firearm safety since 2016, when two students were shot by a 9th grader at Madison High School, according to reporter Mike Schnell at Fox 19.

The sheriff also noted his long time efforts to bring change to county schools. “Every time we bring this up the school boards go silent and they just hope it goes away,” he said. “It’s going to send a message. We’ve got to make our schools secure. Parents and kids are scared to death today. They’re scared to death with their schools not being secure.” (RELATED: ‘I’m Not Going To Be The Mask Police, Period’: Ohio Sheriff Explains Why He Won’t Enforce Mask Mandate)

Jones made national headlines on CNN in 2018 for his similar offer to provide concealed carry training classes to local teachers and school administrators.

Jones is now committed to training teachers to be aware of their surroundings. “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.”

The training program offered to teachers in 2018 had over 100 people registered within the first hour, Jones told Fox Business. “We thought we’d get 20, 25 signed up. We had 50 within the first hour. We had 100 within two hours, we had 300 within like five hours.”

The Butler County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.