School District Ups Security with Semiautomatic Rifles; Some Parents Upset and Scared
OutdoorHub Reporters 06.13.17
A school district provided its district resource officers with semiautomatic rifles, and some parents aren’t happy about it.
According to The Kansas City Star, the Shawnee Mission school district ordered eight Smith & Wesson rifles for seven of its district resource officers and one supervisor, who district director John Douglass oversees himself.
Douglass said the rise in active shooter situations is the reason why the district police department issued its district resource officers with semiautomatic rifles.
To break it down, the district resource officers – responsible for security across the whole school district – assist other school resource officers, who are based in schools, to keep students safe.
“This is a very serious weapon for some very limited circumstances,” said Douglass, the former police chief for the Overland Park Police Department.
“You are never going to see it unless something really, really bad is happening.”
Still, when some parents found out about the $5,671.04 purchase, they weren’t happy. Some found the investment to be unnecessary and even dangerous for their children.
“It’s pretty offensive to me as a taxpayer to feel like you don’t have any voice, and you are being excluded from decisions that could harm your child or kill them,” said Melissa Patt, a parent of three students in the Shawnee Mission School District.
So, where you do you stand on this issue? Can you put a price on your child’s security? And why is arming those in charge of school security viewed as a threat?
