CAPITAN, N.M. (KRQE) – The wave of school shootings and threats has everyone looking for solutions. While nothing can make a school completely safe, a group of dads in one New Mexico town wants to help in a very visible way by patrolling the schools with guns.
After recent school shootings, Steve Sedarwall said enough is enough.
“I don’t want any more kids dying, this has to stop,” Sedarwall said.
Sedarwall is a retired federal agent living in Capitan, and he wants to make a change.
“You know, you get older. I hear about these shootings and I think back to what these coppers are dealing with. I know what goes on in that police car, I know what they’re thinking.”
That’s why he thought up the concept of Dads Against Danger in Schools, or D.A.D.S. The program would be made up of retired police officers, federal agents and veterans from the community providing security for children at no cost to the schools.
“Where do you come up with enough money to put armed guards down there that are trained, that know what they’re doing, that we can trust and that pass background checks?” Sedarwall asked.
He says after talking with retired law enforcement officers they all said they are more than willing to volunteer their time to protect kids.
“A minute is a lifetime when someone is firing at you. What we want to do is stand between the kids and the gun.”
Many people say they are behind him.
“To have somebody there that is actually trained, to spend their life protecting other people is a win-win for me,” said Capitan Mayor Dennis Haskell.
“I hope they do to make the kids feel more protected. For the parents to not feel so bad when they go to work and they drop their kids off. They know not to worry, ‘Is my kid going to come home?'” Capitan resident Misty Cantrell said.
D.A.D.S. has a meeting with set with Capitan school officials. The district could not comment on the idea because they say it would need state approval.
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