A Western North Carolina school district plans to arm school resource officers with AR-15's for the coming school year. Officials in Madison County about 20 miles northwest of Asheville say, all 6 county schools will be equipped with an AR-15.
The weapons will be at the disposal of school resource officers in case of an active shooter situation. Madison County Sheriff Buddy Harwood said " We've seen sometimes that a Deputy armed with a handgun is not enough to stop these animals. That's why I decided to arm all of our school resource officers with an AR-15, optics and accessories".
Harwood says, the funding for the weapons was donated by members of the community. The school resource officers in Madison County will receive numerous hours of additional training with the AR-15's.