FONTANA, Calif. — The Fontana Unified School District police force has purchased 14 semi-automatic rifles for officers to bring to campuses as part of its safety program.
The department purchased the Colt LE6940 rifles last fall, which arrived a week before the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the Associated Press reports. Each of the district’s 14 school resource officers received 40 hours of training on the rifles.
The rifles are stored at police headquarters; however, trained officers can take them to campus and keep them locked in their offices during school hours. Although district officials stressed that the rifles will only be used if there is an attack on campus, critics believe the guns have no place on campus. Instead, they believe the $14,000 spent to purchase the rifles should have been used to restore counseling programs.
Related Articles:
- FBI: Record Gun Sales In 2012
- 1 in 4 Campuses Not Prepared to Respond to Active Shooters
- Obama Proposes $150M to Put SROs in Schools
- Sandy Hook Tragedy Reminds Us to Review K-12 Active Shooter Basics
- New York Bans Semi-Auto Rifles, High-Cap Magazines
