Arming Teachers? Connecticut School District to Consider It

The Town of Kent will consider arming its teachers with guns as part of the Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response program, following a recent vote by its Board of Selectmen.

WTNH-TV reports that if the program were to move forward in Kent, teachers would receive a three-day, 26-hour training course that would include not only firearms instruction but also other emergency response techniques.

Kent’s only public school, Kent Center School, is a pre-K through eighth grade facility, and not only would the program arm teachers, but also could allow trained volunteers at the school to carry firearms.

FASTER, the program’s acronym, was created in Ohio by the Buckeye Firearms Foundation, which called on parents, law enforcement officers and safety and medical experts to develop the initiative.

“The purpose is not to replace police and EMT, but to allow teachers, administrators, and other personnel on-site to stop school violence rapidly and render medical aid immediately,” FASTER officials wrote on the foundation’s website. “When violence strikes and students’ lives are on the line, every second matters. Faster response is better response.”

The Kent Board of Selectmen likely will present the program to the Board of Education for further discussion in the near future.

Click here to read the full story on the WTNH-TV website.