Sidney teachers begin gun training

SIDNEY, Ohio (WDTN) - "You tell me one more thing that's more important to do than to protect the kids of this county," says Shelby County Sheriff John Lenhart

He never thought it would come to this.

"There's nobody that's excited about having guns in school.  I mean this is last resort stuff, I get that.  But what other alternatives do we have?" asks Sheriff Lenhart.

More than 60 teachers, administrators and staff from schools throughout Shelby County have signed up for the free 16-hour gun training course.    

"If there's a way we can make sure to keep the students safe then we have to take every opportunity to do so," says Sidney High School teacher Joe Spangler.

The goal is not only to teach educators how to shoot, but also how to be offensive should a tragedy happen like the school shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut last December.

"I'd like to know that I have the capability to do whatever it takes to keep our kids safe and if that means that I need to carry a gun, if that means that I need to be able to protect the halls of the school, then I definitely want to be able to do that," comments Hardin-Houston Local School District Superintendent Larry Claypool.

Sidney City Schools Superintendent John Scheu is also taking the course.  He says the school board is considering lots of different ways to improve security in the district, including having armed resource officers in every school building, along with an armed response team

"Sidney City School Board is not considering having teachers walk throughout the building with handguns.  But, be able to access handguns in an emergency and properly train through this program," says Scheu,

Sheriff Lenhart tells us his office has seen a huge increase in the number of people getting their conceal carry permits and he couldn't think of a better way to use that extra money than to pay for this program.

You can still sign up for this training course, just contact the Shelby County Sheriff's Office .