Out in Madison County, North Carolina, a plan is hatching to ensure that there are semi-automatic rifles in each of the six schools as they make their way into the 2022-2023 school year in order to enhance the security of the building in case of any and all active shooter threats.
Buddy Harwood, the Sheriff of Madison County, issued a statement announcing that the rifled will be stored in secure gun safes in a select area at each of the elementary, middle, and high schools across the county. The six schools will also keep a stock of breaching tools and other ammunition in the safe that would be able to be accessed by law enforcement during an emergency.
“We were able to put an AR-15 rifle and safe in all of our schools in the county,” stated Harwood to an outlet, the Asheville Citizen-Times. “We’ve also got breaching tools to go into those safes. We’ve got extra magazines with ammo in those safes.”
Additionally, the Sheriff stated that the storing of AR-15s and breaching equipment inside of the school safes will assist police forces in acting much more quickly in the event of any and all emergencies. Having the option available to go and get a semi-automatic weapon in case of an active school shooter could end up saving time and letting law enforcement officers save more lives, as explained by Harwood.
“Hopefully we’ll never need it, but I want my guys to be as prepared as prepared can be,” stated the Sheriff.
The sheriff did admit that the idea of storing these semi-automatic rifles inside of the school is not the most ideal plan, but that it is quite necessary in light of the recent string of school shootings all over the country. “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,” he explained.
This decision from the county seems to take place due to police failures that took place during the May 24th Robb Elementary School mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where a lone gunman stormed the school and murdered 19 children and two adults. Police officers surrounded the school and waited in the hallways just outside of the classroom where the shooter was holed up for well over an hour after the shooter started the killing spree that was targeting elementary-aged kids at Robb Elementary. One of the excuses issued by police forces for their overall hesitation after arriving on the scene was that they were extremely poorly equipped to try and engage and take down the shooter and needed to wait on backup.
“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,” expressed Harwood about the Uvalde disaster. “I just want to make sure my deputies are prepared in the event that happens.”