LAKELAND, Fla. (WTSP) -- After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, there have been renewed calls to have teachers carry guns on school campuses.
A college in Tampa Bay already has faculty and staff on campus who are trained and armed in case of an active shooter. The Sentinel Program has been in place for about a year at Southeastern University in Lakeland.
Dr. Chris Owen is one of eight professors and staff members trained like a deputy to take out an active shooter. The rest are anonymous, so an active shooter wouldn’t know who they are.
“Should an active walk on our campus, we are ready immediately to confront that active shooter,” Southeastern University President Kent Ingle said.
The faculty and staff members who are armed go through dozens of hours of training and a psychological exam. They’re able to carry a gun on a college campus, because they’re considered special deputies with the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
“We wouldn't want this to be like the wild, wild west on campus, everybody has a gun,” Ingle explained.
Ingle said the program could save lives if someone comes to campus with a gun, but it's only part of the solution.
“Gun control is important, and I think we need to act on gun control,” he said, adding that professors need to pay attention to students' mental health.
The students 10News talked to didn't even know about the program.
“It's kind of scary but, at the same time, I feel safe,” freshman Ladarrien Rabb said.
President Kent Ingle says most parents like the idea, and the program could be copied at private and public schools everywhere.
“As Sheriff Grady Judd always says, the only way you're going to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Ingle said.
Right now, this program is the only one like it in our area, and possibly the country, but the sheriff has said other schools are interested.
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