Colorado school district to arm security officers with semiautomatic rifles

(Fox 31)

A Colorado school district is set to arm its security force with 10 semiautomatic rifles, FOX31 reported.

Douglas County School District Director of Safety and Security Rich Payne said he bought the Bushmaster long rifles for a total of $12,300. The district neither discussed nor voted on the purchase, The Denver Post reported.

The guns, which will be used by trained security officers, won’t be stored on school grounds. Instead they’ll be kept locked up in patrol vehicles, officials say.

“They’ll be deployed into a locking mechanism that is inside our vehicles and they will only be deployed if there is a situation where they need to be deployed,” Payne told FOX31.

The armed security officers are former law enforcement officers who “train side-by-side” with the local sheriff’s office, Payne said. Each officer must complete special training before using one of the new weapons.

Payne said other rural districts were considering similar moves.

“Our main focus is to make sure that all of the students, staff, parents and community members are safe when they’re on any of our school properties,” he said.

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