The chair of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety commission is pushing back on criticism against a program to arm teachers.
Broward County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri thinks some of the information coming from opponents of the Guardian Program is misleading.
“When they get up there and say that the entire Guardian Program training consist of no more than 8 hours of firearm training, that’s just flat out wrong, inaccurate and done by some for improper and misleading purposes and it’s just flat our wrong," said Gualtieri.
Teachers wanting to become Guardians must successfully complete 144 hours of training. 132 hours will involve firearms and defensive tactics training.
“The guardians when they go through that training has to fire more rounds than a police recruit is required to fire in the police academy. And they are required to demonstrate proficiency at a higher percentage than police recruits are required to demonstrate in the police academy," said Gualtieri.
To graduate from police academy, Florida recruits must demonstrate an 80% proficiency rating with firearms. Participants in the Guardian Program must achieve an 85% proficiency rate on firearms training.
