California school gets AR-15s

[Chris0nllyn]

Fontana Unified School District police purchased 14 of the Colt LE6940 rifles last fall, and they were delivered the first week of December — a week before the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Over the holiday break, the district's 14 school police officers received 40 hours of training on the rifles. Officers check them out for each shift from a fireproof safe in the police force's main office.

Fontana isn't the first district to try this. Other Southern California districts also have rifle programs — some that have been in operation for several years. Fontana school police Chief Billy Green said he used money from fingerprinting fees to purchase the guns for $14,000 after identifying a "critical vulnerability" in his force's ability to protect students. The officers, who already wear sidearms, wouldn't be able to stop a shooter like the one in Connecticut, he said Wednesday.

"They're not walking around telling kids, 'Hurry up and get to class' with a gun around their neck," the chief said. "Parents need to know that if there was a shooter on their child's campus that was equipped with body armor or a rifle, we would be limited in our ability to stop that threat to their children."

The 40,000-student district came up with the school rifle program after consulting with top school safety experts and looking at what other large districts had done, said Olsen-Binks.

Santa Ana Unified School District, in nearby Orange County, has had a rifle program for about two years that operates similarly to the one Fontana has started, said police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.

The Los Angeles School Police Department also deploys rifles to its officers as needed, the department said in a statement. It would not say how many rifles district police have but said the weapons are kept in the department's armory and are handed out and returned daily.

The San Bernardino City Unified School District police force purchased four Bushmaster semiautomatic rifles last July, said Linda Bardere, a district spokeswoman.

"We're talking about a war-zone rifle, and so are we going to militarize our public schools?" Garcia asked. "We have to provide a safe haven for people to learn ... but this, to me, seems a little bit too much."

Fontana, Calif., schools get high-powered rifles - Yahoo! News

I knew it wouldn't be long before there was a comment like the last one.

I didn't know AR-15s were a "war zone rifle". That person has been watching too much MSNBC.

I find it even more amusing that when Police have them, they are:

The high-powered semiautomatic rifles

But, when civilians have them, they are, "Assault rifles"....

[Gilligan (Premo)]

Yes..its very amusing the depths of ignorance on display by the media and the anti-gun lobby. The AR-15 is, of course, not used by the military and the .233 is certainly not a "high powered" round and the rifles that fire it are not "high powerered" by any standard you could come up with.



But then this is the same bunch of idiots think flash suppressors are to make the muzzle flash harder to see....or that actually put garbage like this out in their newsrags...


Ace of Spades HQ

[Merlin99 (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Gilligan

Yes..its very amusing the depths of ignorance on display by the media and the anti-gun lobby. The AR-15 is, of course, not used by the military and the .233 is certainly not a "high powered" round and the rifles that fire it are not "high powerered" by any standard you could come up with.



But then this is the same bunch of idiots think flash suppressors are to make the muzzle flash harder to see....or that actually put garbage like this out in their newsrags...


Ace of Spades HQ

Clarifying the point, he didn't say Military rifle, he said war zone rifle. In a war zone you shoot whatever you have and when that runs out of bullets you throw rocks, break out knives, and if all else fails kick them in the balls.