North Carolina County ‘Hardens’ Schools With AR-15s For Resource Officers

In response to the disastrous failures and egregious poor decision-making of law enforcement to confront the Uvalde elementary school shooter that killed 21 people, including 19 children, a school system in North Carolina unveiled a new program to beef up security measures for the upcoming school year, including the placement of standard semi-automatic AR-15 rifles in every school, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.

Madison County Schools and Madison County Sheriff’s Office agreed to put AR-15s in all schools in the district so that school resource officers can neutralize a threat immediately, unlike the disastrous response time in Uvalde, where video footage shows it took officers 77 minutes to breach the classroom where the shooter was hiding. 

“Those officers were in that building for so long, and that suspect was able to infiltrate that building and injure and kill so many kids,” Sheriff Buddy Harwood said, referring to the Uvalde shooting. “I just want to make sure my deputies are prepared in the event that happens.”

“We were able to put an AR-15 rifle and safe in all of our schools in the county. We’ve also got breaching tools to go into those safes. We’ve got extra magazines with ammo in those safes,” Harwood said. 

All Madison County Schools, including Brush Creek Elementary, Hot Springs Elementary, Mars Hill Elementary, Madison Middle, Madison High, and Madison Early College High, will receive enhanced security before school starts next month. 

“The reason we put the breaching tools in the safes is that in the event we have someone barricaded in a door, we won’t have to wait on the fire department to get there,” the sheriff said. “We’ll have those tools to be able to breach that door if needed. I do not want to have to run back out to the car to grab an AR, because that’s time lost. Hopefully we’ll never need it, but I want my guys to be as prepared as prepared can be.” 

“I hate that we’ve come to a place in our nation where I’ve got to put a safe in our schools, and lock that safe up for my deputies to be able to acquire an AR-15. But, we can shut it off and say it won’t happen in Madison County, but we never know. I want the parents of Madison County to know we’re going to take every measure necessary to ensure our kids are safe in this school system. If my parents, as a whole, want me to stand at that door with that AR strapped around that officer’s neck, then I’m going to do whatever my parents want as a whole to keep our kids safe,” Harwood continued.

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently said President Biden is not interested in beefing up school security protocols. 

“I know there have been conversations about hardening schools. That is not something that he believes in,” said Jean-Pierre.

Once the Madison County School story gains momentum in the national press, Democrats will have a meltdown on hardening schools and might even warrant a comment from Biden. But the fact is, a high percentage of all mass shootings occur in “gun-free zones” (areas where guns are prohibited), according to Crime Prevention Research Center. 

A possible security solution to gun violence at schools (gun-free zones) is a resources officer who is properly trained and armed to tackle threats. Not hardening schools could be disastrous and the continuation of crazies slaughtering the innocent.