“A local gun rights group is bringing an advanced training course to Colorado to help local teachers, principals and other school personnel learn how to stop a Columbine-style mass shooting.
The effort, launched by Coloradans for Civil Liberties, is welcomed by school officials in rural areas, who say teachers and others need to be trained to stop armed assailants since local law enforcement easily could be miles and miles away.
Critics say a three-day course cannot adequately prepare a teacher for a close-quarters confrontation with an armed attacker.
The course is run by trainers with police, SWAT and federal law enforcement backgrounds and leads participants through move-and-shoot drills, hand-to-hand fighting and advanced medical triage of gunshot wounds.
Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response, or FASTER , has been taught in Ohio for the past five years, and nearly 900 school staff members have completed the program. FASTER was started in Ohio by the Buckeye Firearms Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the rights of citizens to own and use guns, and Tactical Defense Institute, a private self-defense and firearms training company.
“I don’t think there is anything as good as FASTER,” said Laura Carno, co-founder of Coloradans for Civil Liberties, which is bringing the training program to Colorado. Carno’s group is “committed to restoring the Second Amendment freedoms of Colorado citizens,” according to a news release. The class is being organized in partnership with the conservative-leaning Independence Institute.
About 25 school districts in Colorado, almost all in rural areas, currently designate staff members who legally carry a concealed firearm as school security officers.
“Dozens of school staff are already so designated,” Carno said. “We want to bring them world-class training in stopping active shooters.”
The first training class is scheduled June 20-22 at a shooting facility in Weld County. Applicants must be school staff members who have their concealed-carry permit and who have been approved as a school security officer by their school board, Carno said.
