‘Staff members are armed’: Florida schools post signs warning shooters of DEADLY FORCE
GULF COUNTY, FLORIDA: A school district in Florida got embroiled in controversy after notices were placed around all public schools that warned about staff members being armed and willing to use 'deadly force.'
Jim Norton, Gulf District Schools Superintendent while speaking to Newsweek said that the signs were placed on all entrances of each school in Gulf County as defense against possible armed trespassers.
RELATED STORIES
Cassie Walton: Oklahoma mom teaches son, 5, school shooting survival strategies as schools reopen
Nikolas Cruz: Parkland shooter is 'delusional' and now wants to dedicate life to 'helping people'
What does the sign say?
The sign reads, "Staff members are ARMED and TRAINED," and, "Any attempt to harm children will be met with Deadly Force." A picture of the sign was posted on Facebook, after which Superintendent Jim Norton said he started receiving several messages about the intention behind the sign.
According to Jim, he got the idea after seeing the signs online last year. Most of the comments show support for the signs. One comment read,"Way to go Gulf County Schools!" Another added, "Should be in every school."
Jim told Newsweek, "Those signs that you see are a drop in the bucket to what we try to do to harden and protect our schools," adding, "There is nothing more important on this earth than to protect and educate our children, and my job is to do both. There's not a single parent alive that doesn't agree with that."
The county is part of Florida's school guardian program, which is training the school staff to be armed and prepared to stop any unfortunate incident to be happening. Jim said, "We're a guardian school. The Florida legislature gave us the ability to train and arm educators in a schoolhouse."
Jim gave an example of Aaron Feis, the football coach who used himself as a shield and protected students during the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida that took 17 lives.
Jim continued, "we knew he had the will to go and stop that depraved crazy nut but he didn't have a gun to go and stop him with." Jim added, "Flesh and bones are gonna lose out to bullets every time."
Jim is hopeful the signs wil bring about a positive change. He said, "It's unfortunate we live in a day and time that some of this type of stuff is necessary." Jim also added, "Those signs are not there for the good people. It's for somebody that may walk up to the back door, the last thing they do is read that statement that stares them back in the face."
As per CHDS School Shooting Safety Compendium, which provides data on violence in schools, nearly 64 per cent of school shootings happen at high schools and about 18 per cent in elementary schools.