An Oklahoma superintendent says more could be done to keep mass shooters out of schools long before a crisis occurs.
Superintendent of Liberty Public Schools Phillip Garland says he tries to stay away from being political but some gun policy reform could be helpful.
“I would just like to make sure my children are safe, so I would be overly cautious and less conservative about those kinds of approaches to regulating things to where it doesn’t give so much access to people who want to do harm, who are maybe not in their right state of mind,” said Garland.
Garland was onsite at Liberty High as deputies from the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office conducted active shooter drills Wednesday.
TCSO spokeswoman Casey Roebuck said she couldn’t comment on gun policy reform because the training is not meant to be political.
“The sheriff is the only one who can speak to that, and the sheriff is not here,” said Roebuck.
Roebuck said the department’s active shooter training is in its second year, and every deputy will undergo the experience this summer. At Liberty High, one scenario involved officers advancing down a hallway with prone shooting victims calling for help.
Instructor Daniel Gullett said distractions during the training are important so as to be as realistic as possible.
“During this whole thing, we had people running out as role-players. During an actual scenario, you’re not gonna have just an empty hallway. What you’re going to have is a large amount of kids running at you, teachers running at you, and they need to have good trigger control, and that’s what we’re developing here,” said Gullett.
Officers practiced killing an active shooter, as well as responding to a school resource officer who already killed a shooter.
Gullett said drills will be conducted at schools across Tulsa County in the coming weeks, including Berryhill, Keystone and Collinsville. Schools can reach out to TCSO if they would like to host training.
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