A sheriff in western North Carolina is providing county’s school resource officers with AR-15 variant patrol rifles.
Madison County Sheriff Buddy Harwood says the rifles, which will be locked in safes, are a response to the Uvalde attack. The safes will also contain breaching tools and extra loaded magazines. Â
"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," Harwood 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."Â
According to Harwood, the county's school resource officers have been training with instructors from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.
