More TX schools looking to have teachers carry firearms on campus
MOODY, TX Jan 22 2020— Moody ISD faced a tough question three years ago. They weren’t sure if teachers and faculty should be armed while on school campuses.
Going through hours of training and re-training each year, they have worked with Big Iron Handgun License Training and Kaase Concealed Handgun school.
“So its been a process and its been a great process and we have people that are protecting our kids and that’s the most important thing,” Superintendent Gary Martel said.
After realizing they didn’t have campus security, they wanted a quicker response time if any emergency were to happen.
The ISD also worried that as a rural campus, they are not only putting the safety of their students first, but everyone else on campus as well.
Johnny Price with Big Iron says he’s seen an increase in schools wanting their teachers to be trained, especially as each new threat is reported.
“We had it right here in Texas with Sana Fe and that was kind of the straw that really sent a lot of schools wanting to get additional training,” Price said.
He has trained eight schools in Central Texas so far and is working with five or six more in the coming weeks.
Today, being a teacher means so much more than educating our children.
“You’re asking people that are teachers, they got into this profession to change lives but now they got into this to protect them,” Martel said. “It was very hard for these 7 board members, that I stand here representing this community, but they have supported it and I think that’s the most important thing and we have people that will stand up for our kids so we’re proud of that,”
The faculty chose to be trained at Moody ISD on a volunteer basis, and the training is not required by the district.
Price offers Guardian Training, a 16-20 hour course, including tactics for denying an intruder entry into a classroom or school facility, how to “think and act” under stress, how to defend against an intruder using items commonly available in a classroom, and much more.
So far this year, there have been four threats reported at Central Texas schools.
Mart ISD has chosen to receive training from Price and Big Iron after they received a threat to their district earlier this year through a social media post.
