Instructor Graham Dunne is holding up some printouts with faces on them. He tells his students they鈥檙e smaller than real heads.
鈥淗ere鈥檚 some useless knowledge from being a sniper,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he average human head is 6 inches across by 10 inches high. These are probably half that.鈥�
We鈥檙e at the in Commerce City, Colorado. Usually the people training here are law enforcement, but today they鈥檙e teachers, principals, bus drivers, coaches, and school administrators, 13 of them.
鈥淛ust to make it simple, pick one of the big heads to shoot. That鈥檚 your target,鈥� Dunne tells them as they take their positions on the 3-yard line.
鈥淥ne thing I find amusing about educators is they have such test anxiety,鈥� says instructor and former SWAT sniper Graham Dunne. Most Colorado school staff have to meet 鈥� or exceed 鈥� law enforcement standards in order to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Rae Ellen Bichell / Mountain West News Bureau
The trainees are holding 9mm pistols, mostly Glocks, which Dunne calls the Toyota Corolla of guns. They鈥檙e about to use them to blast their targets. Dunne shouts out some scenarios.
鈥淎ll right here we go, you know the drill,鈥� says Dunne before yelling, 鈥淧ut your hands up! Don鈥檛 move!鈥�
The trainees echo his words in unison.
鈥淗e鈥檚 lifting up his shirt, he鈥檚 pulling out a gun,鈥� says Dunne, his voice getting louder. 鈥淭hree rounds, fire!鈥�
Next, the imaginary aggressor will have a knife instead of a gun. He gets the same treatment. So does the imaginary person pulling a gun out of his backpack.
鈥淰ery good, nice work guys,鈥� says Dunne as they break for lunch.
Trainees practiced shooting from a variety of protected positions.
Rae Ellen Bichell / Mountain West News Bureau
The training program is called , short for Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response. According to Laura Carno, the program鈥檚 executive director, about 200 school staff have gone through the program mostly coming from 34 school districts across the state.
In many states, it鈥檚 up to the school districts to decide whether staff can carry concealed weapons and what training they have to go through. That鈥檚 the case here in Colorado and according to the Colorado School Districts Self Insurance Pool, at least 35 school districts 鈥� plus two charter schools 鈥� allow it.
At today鈥檚 workshop, one teacher has a bandaid on her hand, from slamming in fresh magazines. Looking through her bag, she guesses she鈥檚 used 700 rounds this weekend. She doesn鈥檛 want to be named because she says a school shooter might target her. That鈥檚 an opinion shared by a lot of people in this class.
But Karl Donnelson agreed to talk 鈥� he鈥檚 already been named in past news reports. The science teacher says it would take almost half an hour for the sheriff to arrive at his small-town high school.
鈥淢y own kids are there and I鈥檓 not going to stand there and throw a book at someone who鈥檚 trying to kill our kids. That鈥檚 just the fact of it,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd most of these gun fights are over in 2 or 3 minutes and we can鈥檛 sit around and wait for police to get there.鈥�
An educator on the firing range at the Flatrock Regional Training Center in Commerce City, Colorado.
Rae Ellen Bichell / Mountain West News Bureau
According to by the Education Commission of the States, there are 24 states, including Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming that explicitly authorize school districts, school boards, and/or individual schools to regulate or permit weapons in schools. According to an analysis by Guns & America, those states are among a of 31 states which might not have state laws that explicitly address the issue, but where the decision about whether to arm staff, and how to train them, still falls to the school districts (or in the case of charter schools, to the individual school).
In the Forced Option Simulator, trainees like this Colorado teacher took down an active shooter in the school auditorium.
Rae Ellen Bichell / Mountain West News Bureau
Donnelson says he went through a psych evaluation, got his concealed-carry permit and went through a few trainings including a version of this one last year. This is Level 2, a refresher course required by his school district.
Donnelson and the rest of the trainees are about to wrap up lunch and divide into two groups.
鈥淔ive plus two is seven,鈥� mutters one teacher as he counts off one group before entering a room labeled the Forced Option Simulator.
鈥淭his is a simulation gun,鈥� saysinstructor Paul Gregory as he holds up a plastic pistol. 鈥淭he only thing that moves is the trigger.鈥�
A video projection is about to take over one wall of the dark room. Gregory explains that it鈥檚 responsive, like a video game. The people in it, he says, will respond to verbal cues and gunshots.
鈥淎ll right,鈥� says a trainee as he steps up in front of the wall. The man is a school administrator. Gregory tells him what to expect.
鈥淵ou are in the hallway and there鈥檚 a school play practice going on,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd as you鈥檙e in the hallway you hear some shots being fired from the auditorium. Ok?鈥�
The projection turns the wall into a school hallway. People are yelling, there are gunshots being fired. Students run down the hallways. One is clutching his arm. Someone wails 鈥淲hy?鈥� in the distance.
We round the corner into the auditorium. It looks a lot like a movie theater. It鈥檚 quiet and it seems empty, except there鈥檚 a body crumpled between the seats. The trainee is pacing, shifting his weight from foot to foot, shoulders tense. And then the shooter stands up.
The shooter points a gun at the trainee, but the trainee does the same, firing four times. The shooter goes down and the auditorium fades back into a wall.
鈥淥k,鈥� says Gregory, as he and the other instructors review the footage. 鈥淗ere鈥檚 shot number one. He surprised you. Shot two, three, four.鈥�
Only one of the four rounds actually hit the shooter.
鈥淪o, a 25% hit rate,鈥� says Gregory. 鈥淲here did the other three shots go?鈥�
鈥淚n the wall,鈥� says the trainee.
And what鈥檚 behind the wall? The instructors have some bad news. It鈥檚 the preschool, they say. And how many misses like this are acceptable, they ask? The answer, of course, is: None.
Reporting by Rae Ellen Bichell of Mountain West News Bureau. This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada and KRCC and 萝莉少女 in Colorado in partnership with , a public media reporting project on the role of guns in American life.
Copyright 2020 Guns and America. To see more, visit . 9(MDAxNDQ2NDAxMDEyNzU2NzM2ODA3ZGI1ZA001))
