ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — A new effort is underway now by a group to help more Colorado teachers carry guns in the classroom.
That effort being led in part by a survivor of the shooting at Columbine High School.
On any given day you will find people from all walks of life at the Flat Rock Regional Training Center gun range in Adams County.
Sheena Mc Ouat, an educator, is hoping to open a charter school in the Johnstown – Milliken area.
Mc Ouat said, “This isn’t like going to a class on curriculum alignment. Which when you get your masters to become a principal, this isn’t part of the training.”
The class is being offered by Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response. The group is also known as FASTER Colorado.
The mission is to train educators to stop active shooters in schools quickly and administer first aid.
Mc Ouat said, “I’ve been in education for 19 years and when I sat down to develop this school, I had to think about our safety plan, and the fact that there could be a shooter, there was no other option than to be prepared in multiple ways including to stop the threat.”
FASTER Colorado says more than 150 school staff in the state have been certified to carry a concealed firearm.
More are needed says Evan Todd, who survived the school shooting at Columbine.
He said stopping shooters fast is critical.
Todd is now working with an organization called Bullets Both Ways, a group raising money to help train more teachers to carry guns.
Todd said, “We know how to stop them. That’s not the question. The question is who?”
Teachers like Mc Couat pay $1,000 dollars for the three days of intense training.
Not being prepared is not an option so therefore here we are,” said Mc Ouat. She’s learning all about her Glock pistol.
The organization, Bullets Both Ways, raises money or teacher scholarships by selling what it describes as freedom-loving apparel on its website.