FASTER Saves Lives’ Joe Eaton on Washington D.C. Public Radio

Buckeye Firearms Foundation's FASTER Saves Lives is getting attention across the country as the nation marks the five year anniversary of the mass killing in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Washington D.C.'s public radio station, WAMU, hosted a panel show featuring FASTER program director Joe Eaton, along with Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and John Donohue, Professor, Stanford Law School.

The recording can be accessed on the webpage for article “Five Years After Sandy Hook, Are Schools Safer?“, or click here to download the audio in mp3 format.

Five Years After Sandy Hook

by Jim Shepherd

Today's an anniversary most of us would rather not celebrate. Five years ago, a disturbed 20-year old slaughtered 20 young children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.

The fact he'd murdered his mother and stolen her guns didn't stop the calls for new gun laws. None of which would have prevented the event. But that didn't stop the gun control groups. Never does, as we've unfortunately learned since.

The NRA was roundly criticized for suggesting that the only answer to a bad guy with a gun was a good guy with a gun.

Another nonprofit group, however, was listening in frustration as well-meaning, but immensely uninformed people called for “national conversations” about school safety while simultaneously pillorying the NRA for it's “good guy with a gun” suggestion.

That group, decided to take a different approach – and they've come a long way in just five years.

“I remember an ABC News town hall in Columbus, Ohio,” says Jim Irvine, Chairman of Buckeye Firearms Foundation, “Gun control advocates kept talking about having a so-called 'national conversation' about school safety. It was so frustrating because we'd been having that conversation for years and nothing had changed.”

And Irvine decided not to wait.

“So in the middle of the town hall we said we were done talking. It was time for action. We announced a program to train teachers and other school staff to carry guns in schools so they would be ready to stop active killers quickly,” he said, “There were literally gasps from the audience.”

Buckeye Firearms Foundation's FASTER Saves Lives program has given more than 1,300 teachers, administrators and other staff firearms instruction (above) as well as the essentials of first-aid to save lives in emergency situations (below). Buckeye Firearms Foundation photos, with permission.

The announcement was met with more than disbelief by the crowd. Editorials said no school would ever participate – and no teacher could possibly be interested.

But when the Buckeye Firearms Foundation reached out with the offer to train 24 teachers more than 1,000 applied.

Since then, they've trained more than 1,300 teachers and staff from 225 school districts across a dozen states- including 76 of Ohio's 88 counties “where no teacher would possibly be interested.”

Next year, 400 additional educators are already set up to go through their training.

And the original class has become the FASTER Saves Lives program (https://fastersaveslives.org). It's a nonprofit program that gives educators practical violence response training -including emergency medical care.

“After five years, attitudes have changed dramatically,” Irvine says. “School boards, members of law enforcement, and the media often start off skeptical. But after they attend a class and see for themselves the high quality of instruction and how the program has adapted proven ideas from real world active killer events for the school environment, they realize FASTER Saves Lives is the best, most effective solution available.”

Here's where each of us can help. Demand for the classes from schools around the country have exceeded the funding from Buckeye Firearms Foundation. They've gotten some grant money for 2018 and 2019 for instruction in Ohio, but training isn't inexpensive.

By now, you've probably figured out where I'm headed.

If you're looking at your year-end tax situation and need to donate a little more cash to worthwhile organizations in 2017, consider a check to “FASTER Saves Lives” .

You can send your tax-deductible donations to :

FASTER Saves Lives
PO Box 357
Greenville, OH 45331

It's a 501(c)(3) public charity, so it's a legitimate donation that could help save you some tax dollars- and maybe someone's life in an active school shooter situation.

Kudos to the Buckeye Firearms Association for acting instead of talking about doing something. It's a grassroots organization that demonstrates -again- that you don't need a mega-organization to make a difference.

You just have to be willing to try.

Republished from The Outdoor Wire.

After Sandy Hook: Over 1,300 Teachers Trained to Stop Active Killers

COLUMBUS, OH – Five years ago, a 20-year-old murdered his mother, stole her guns, and went to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut to slaughter 6 staff and 20 young children. It was a horrific event that forever changed the concept of what school security means in the modern world.

Gun control groups called for new gun laws. However, because none of the proposed laws would have stopped this event, and because new laws have never proven effective at stopping determined killers, one nonprofit organization chose to take a different approach.

“I remember an ABC News town hall in Columbus, Ohio,” said Jim Irvine, Chairman of Buckeye Firearms Foundation. “Gun control advocates kept talking about having a so-called 'national conversation' about school safety. It was so frustrating because we'd been having a conversation for years and nothing had changed.

“So in the middle of the town hall we said we were done talking. It was time for action. We announced a program to train teachers and other school staff to carry guns in schools so they would be ready to stop active killers quickly. There were literally gasps from the audience.”

The announcement was met with widespread disbelief and criticism, including editorials claiming that no school would ever participate and no teacher could possibly be interested. But when the organization contacted Ohio schools offering to train 24 teachers, more than 1,000 applied.

With support from private donations, that original class grew into what is today called the FASTER Saves Lives program. Created by concerned parents, law enforcement, and nationally-recognized safety and medical experts, FASTER Saves Lives is a groundbreaking, nonprofit program that gives educators practical violence response training, including emergency medical care.

To date, more than 1,300 teachers and staff from 225 districts across 12 states have received training, including educators in 76 of Ohio's 88 counties. Up to 400 additional educators are set to go through training in 2018.

“After five years, attitudes have changed dramatically,” continued Irvine. “School boards, members of law enforcement, and the media often start off skeptical. But after they attend a class and see for themselves the high quality of instruction and how the program has adapted proven ideas from real world active killer events for the school environment, they realize FASTER Saves Lives is the best and most effective solution available.”

According to Irvine, demand for the classes from Ohio schools, and overwhelming interest from other states, greatly exceeds the funding provided by Buckeye Firearms Foundation. The organization recently received a grant from the State of Ohio for $100,000 per year for 2018 and 2019.

Buckeye Firearms Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity and serves as the sister organization of Buckeye Firearms Association, a grassroots group dedicated to defending and advancing the right of citizens to own and use firearms for all legal activities, including self-defense, hunting, competition, and recreation.

News organization exposed more than two hundred Ohio schools’ lack of armed staff

[Update December 21, 2017 – News organization removes web data on school safety plans after FasterSavesLives.org article]

Last spring, northeast Ohio PBS conglomerate IdeaStream.org published a two-part series on Buckeye Firearms Foundation's FASTER Saves Lives program.

The articles, written by Annie Wu and published on a website that IdeaStream says is “used by 2.8 million people in a typical month,” were informative, not editorial. They covered the content of the class and the rationale behind both instructors and participants.

The articles also noted an important reason why many schools have chosen not to reveal who in their schools are armed – “because those people could be targeted.”

Unfortunately, Annie Wu and IdeaStream did not stop to consider that the reverse can also be true. Individuals and schools can and have been specifically targeted when it is publicly known that they are NOT armed.

And so it is that they set about to develop a list of schools in Ohio that may or may not have armed staff, and then proceeded to publish a document revealing the results.

We attempted to send the following email to every school district in Ohio asking if anyone had requested permission to conceal carry a firearm:

According to the Ohio Revised Code Section 2923.122 anyone who has written authorization from the board of education or governing body of a school may carry a firearm into a school. I’d like to know…

1)has anyone who works in your district (faculty, staff or administrator) asked for permission to bring his/her firearm to school?

2)was that person(s) request approved?

3)when did this occur?

4)what is the person’s name & position title?

I would greatly appreciate your help in researching this matter. Thank you.

Many schools wisely did not answer, with some citing the fact that the public records law does not compel them to answer such security-related questions. A few more took the time to point out the danger of revealing their security plans.

More than two hundred others were not so wise. Some districts explained that they only have one security person on the entire campus who is armed, and others went so far as to advise IdeaStream that they not only don't have armed staff, but that they don't even have an armed school resource officer to protect students.

Even though this document has been in the public domain on a heavily-trafficked website since June 1, Buckeye Firearms Association has chosen not to draw attention to it previously out of concern for how the information might be used by someone who might be intent on harm. We chose instead to reach out to the Annie Wu/IdeaStream and urge them to remove the document.

After months of waiting with no response to email or phone messages, we believe it is time to respond. While we know that at least some of the information is now incorrect or out-of-date, increasing the deterrent effect for the entire list, we are still chosing not to link to the articles.

If you believe IdeaStream should remove this information from their website, please contact them here.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.

[Update December 21, 2017 – News organization removes web data on school safety plans after FasterSavesLives.org article]

Sandy Hook massacre – looking forward (Part II of II)

Ohio leads the nation on school safety. We have the best law which states:

2923.122 Illegal conveyance or possession of deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance or of object indistinguishable from firearm in school safety zone.

(D)
(1) This section does not apply to any of the following:
(a) An officer, agent, or employee of this or any other state or the United States who is authorized to carry deadly weapons or dangerous ordnance and is acting within the scope of the officer's, agent's, or employee's duties, a law enforcement officer who is authorized to carry deadly weapons or dangerous ordnance, a security officer employed by a board of education or governing body of a school during the time that the security officer is on duty pursuant to that contract of employment, or any other person who has written authorization from the board of education or governing body of a school to convey deadly weapons or dangerous ordnance into a school safety zone or to possess a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance in a school safety zone and who conveys or possesses the deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance in accordance with that authorization; (emphasis added)

As we work with other states, we recommend they copy Ohio law which has worked well. Schools have complete authority to set policy and make adjustments at the local level. The best schools have built on a solid foundation to keep improving the training and preparedness.

Ohio leads the nation in funding, with $100,000 per year earmarked for FASTER Saves Lives training. While this is less than half our annual budget, it is more than any other state is doing, and enables us to continue to meet increasing demand.

One portion of this funding is designated for trauma equipment. Children have died because school staff lacked the training and tools (tourniquets, compression bandages, chest seals) to treat trauma injuries. In Ohio lives have been saved because schools now incorporate this critical layer of skills into their emergency response plans.

This year we conducted the first out-of-state FASTER Saves Lives class in Colorado. We are working with multiple other states to change their law or finance a class for their schools and police. We do not force our training on anyone, but provide the training to those who want a better way than letting your staff/students be slaughtered while waiting for a law enforcement response that is can’t possibly get there in time.

We include police in our training. Schools and law enforcement must work together on event day, so it is important for them to train together in preparation. They must know each other’s abilities and limitations and what to expect from each other. Every law enforcement officer/agency that has engaged with the training has told us it was valuable for them.

Our training is not an end, but a beginning. With schools and local law enforcement trained, they move forward together to practice skills and further develop mindset and knowledge. We have not had any of our trained people “shoot down an active killer.” We’ve done better. Our schools have been prepared and stopped events before anyone was killed. That is the ultimate success.

The FASTER Saves Lives training has been featured on CBS Evening News and PBS News Hour. We have added level II and level III classes. We are working to provide tailored mindset training for the majority of school staff who have no desire to carry a firearm. We now offer the medical training as a stand-alone class. We are working with churches and businesses who want to make their facilities safer.

We have trained more school staff than any program in the country, including over 1,000 people from over 225 districts in 12 states. FASTER Saves Lives is widely recognized as the leading program in the country, and not because of myself or any of us at Buckeye Firearms Foundation. But we are proud to help facilitate the transfer of knowledge from our nation’s experts to our nation’s educators.

While most rarely think about that horrible day in Newtown, Connecticut five years ago, we never forget. We have focused on proven solutions that work, teamed with our nation’s experts on violence and schools that know that if they want a better outcome, they must embrace a better solution.

We must honor the six school staff members and 20 innocent babies who died that day by correcting our failures and being better prepared for the next attack. We know that FASTER Saves Lives is the future of safety and security for our schools and we are honored to play a part in helping Ohio lead the way.

Jim Irvine is the Buckeye Firearms Foundation President, and recipient of the NRA-ILA's 2011 “Jay M. Littlefield Volunteer of the Year Award” and the CCRKBA's 2012 “Gun Rights Defender of the Year Award.”

Sandy Hook massacre – looking back 5 years later (Part I of II)

It has been five years since a coward murdered his mother and stole her gun. He then went to the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and murdered six staff there, some of whom died heroically trying to protect the 20 young children he slaughtered before outside help could arrive and stop him.

Newtown is a very nice city with above average income and home values. It has very little violent crime. In other words, it looked very similar to other communities which have experienced rapid mass murder events, and likely very similar to your own town.

Our country was shocked at the horror of the situation. It hurt every good person who had the ability to process what happened. Even though police were dispatched in 27 seconds, and had a response time under three minutes, they didn’t save a single life. They were too late.

This event proved yet again that law enforcement is NOT the answer to active killer events. They can’t be, because they are not there when the killing starts. The only people there were the students and the school staff, and the innocent people who will die waiting on help that can’t get there in time.

Across the country, people sought answers and a way to stop the killing. Schools reviewed their policies and procedures. The NRA announced their “School Shield” program and Bloomberg financed “Moms Demand Action” and “Everytown USA” in support of President Obama’s and Chuck Schumer’s attempts to use the tragedy as a political opportunity to ban guns. There were town halls to discuss what we should to – everyone looking for answers, but no one providing any real solutions. Well, almost no one.

At an ABC News town hall in Columbus, Ohio, Buckeye Firearms Association's Ken Hanson announced that we were done talking; we were going to do something. We were going to train our educators to stop the killers.

Buckeye Firearms Foundation hired John Benner of Tactical Defense Institute (TDI) to train a pilot class of educators. We would select 24 people from the 1,000 that volunteered to be trained and we would pay for everything including hiring the best trainers, the hotels, the ammo and even the food. We committed every dime we had because we believed we had an answer that would actually save lives.

Teachers carrying guns was controversial to many, but we explained that this was not about guns, but about safety. We were simply following the model used by airlines and firemen to protect us from harm: overlapping, redundant layers of protection, and properly trained staff.

We knew we had the nation’s expert in John Benner. No one else had his military experience, his law enforcement experience, had done the work he had with NASRO (National Association of School Resource Officers), and the thousands of force-on-force scenarios to test and prove the techniques that educators would be taught. We also included medical training to treat trauma injuries. Safety should not be a cafeteria-style plan where you pick and choose what things you will do to save kids, but a recognition that every child’s life is sacred, and school staff are legally and morally obligated to do everything (even the uncomfortable things) they can to protect our students.

The first class garnered international media attention, suffered through cold and snow, and was over budget. It also changed the lives of those involved. The dedication, perseverance, desire to learn, and the positive attitude our educators brought to the class was moving. Their shooting ability exceeded most law enforcement officers'. They were people that didn’t just shoot once or twice a year for qualification, but shot guns as a hobby on a regular basis. They carried guns away from schools, they just wanted the ability to better protect “their kids.” They soaked up the techniques and helped the trainers better understand their unique situations to improve training for future classes.

Even though we had spent everything we had, we finished the first class with more money in the bank than we had when we announced it. This happened because of the huge outpouring of support and donations by others who wanted our schools and our children to be safe. Our “Buckeye Bash” sold out and people bid generously on auction items. We even received a $10,000.00 donation from someone in California. He has a young daughter, wanted kids to be safe and recognized that we were doing something that would make a difference.

We added Chris Cerino as an instructor to give us multiple venues where we could conduct training. We sought the input of other experts like Ron Borsch, Lt. Col. David Grossman, Dr. John Giduck, Massad Ayoob, Dr. Richard Caster and others. We put together what we believed to be the best class in the country and we have kept working to improve it for five years and counting.

To be continued in part II…

Jim Irvine is the Buckeye Firearms Foundation President, and recipient of the NRA-ILA's 2011 “Jay M. Littlefield Volunteer of the Year Award” and the CCRKBA's 2012 “Gun Rights Defender of the Year Award.”

To the Editor: Schools Safer with Trained Staff

The following letter to the Columbus Dispatch editor was published in response to a Dispatch “news” article entitled “Why does nothing ever change after mass shootings?

I respond to the Oct. 3 Dispatch.com article “Why does nothing ever change after mass shootings?” If the definition of “nothing” is simply repeating the same pathetic sound bites about “rapid-fire weapons” or “hidden loaded guns” or “the NRA is evil” or “universal this” or “restrict that,” then I would agree. But much more than sound bites can and has happened right here in Ohio to protect our schools and the public in general.

Changes to make Ohio’s schoolchildren safer started shortly after the horrific murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in late December 2012 with these simple words spoken at a town-hall meeting by Buckeye Firearms Foundation’s Ken Hanson: “We are done talking, we are going to put armed teachers in schools.”

In spring 2013, the first class of 24 school teachers, administrators, custodians, coaches, lunch ladies and bus drivers received 3½ days of firearms, emergency and crisis-management and trauma medical-care training and returned to their schools armed, trained, prepared and more determined than ever to make certain their schools were as safe as possible.

Since this first pilot class, the FASTER Saves Lives program has provided training to more than 1,000 school staff members from more than 200 school districts in 12 states.

This is a better definition of “nothing.”

Joe Eaton
Program Director, FASTER Saves Lives

Buckeye Firearms Foundation President Jim Irvine responds to CBS Evening News coverage of FASTER Saves Lives program

CBS Evening News attended a level II FASTER Saves Lives class this summer. Their story aired September 19, 2017 and is available on the web here.

The report contains footage of training and interviews with school staff that participated. It also includes discussion with Abby Clements, a teacher from Newtown fighting to keep guns out of schools.

From the story:

“Never in a million years would I have guessed that one response to what happened in our town would be to arm teachers,” Clements said. “It's absurd … God, can you imagine if children were hurt by you in that situation? How would you live with yourself?”

In fact, CBS News saw just that scenario — where an educator's bullet strikes a student — play out in a simulated classroom. But the elementary school principal said it does not make him second-guess his choice to have a gun in school.

This section of the story has generated the most conversation among those of us familiar with the training, and I’d guess for those who are strongly opposed to our program.

When we invite news in to cover our training, we don’t set things up to make it all go perfect for the cameras. Life is not perfect, and we don’t lie and pretend it is to make our point. We are open and honest. So yes, we allow the news to see the whole story, even training mistakes.

As an airline pilot, I train in simulators. In this training environment, I have been in the cockpit for a “plane crash.” We would have all died. But we didn’t, we learned. Those opportunities allow us to push ourselves and learn from bad a training experience, which makes the people on our planes safer every day. Rarely does one of my flights require all my skill and knowledge, but if you happen to be sitting in back on one of those days, don’t you hope the pilot has the training and preparation it takes to save your life? We are helping school staff perform at that same level of expertise.

The purpose of training is to learn. We learn more from our failures than we do from successes. An emergency is a terrible time to improvise. That is why we do fire drills, and why schools need to take a proactive approach to dealing with violence.

This Level 2 FASTER class is designed to find weak areas and really push the trainees to their limits. Stopping an active killer is easy for the trained armed staff member, but the thought process and sorting through confusing and conflicting information is difficult. It requires continued training, but allows someone to solve a problem they’ve never seen before.

The training is designed to help staff understand the different ways any given conflict could evolve into. They are taught how to use appropriate methods to defuse a situation, while being in a position to act appropriately if a disorderly person suddenly becomes violent.

We do this through “force on force” and “scenario based” training. This allows us to simulate the stress and thought process necessary to act appropriately when responding to a high school fight, an estranged parent who wants their kid or an armed killer. We make it difficult because we don’t want our kids to be safe only on the good days; we need our school staff to be able to solve the hardest problems on the worst days. We use this method because it’s proven and it works.

Safety is the mission of the FASTER Saves Lives program and we are humbled and honored to work with an ever increasing number of schools that share the same mission.

We thank Nikki Battiste and CBS News for taking the time to attend a training event and airing a story that keeps people thinking about school safety. Through continued education and adapting, we can all work together to make our schools safer for our kids.

Jim Irvine is the Buckeye Firearms Foundation President, BFA-PAC Chairman, and recipient of the NRA-ILA’s 2011 “Jay M. Littlefield Volunteer of the Year Award” and the CCRKBA’s 2012 “Gun Rights Defender of the Year Award.”

Buckeye Firearms Foundation’s FASTER Saves Lives program featured on CBS Evening News

by Chad D. Baus & Joe Eaton

On Tuesday, September 19, CBS Evening News'  Nikki Battiste reported on Buckeye Firearms Foundation's FASTER Saves Lives program.

The report marks the first time a national news service has done in person coverage of the FASTER Saves Lives training. We have seen print coverage from FOX News, CNN and others in the past, but the Level 2 class this past July was the first time a national news program has sent someone to report in person on this important training program.

Battiste spent two complete days with FASTER at Tactical Defense Institute to fully understand this important training, which FASTER Saves Lives has already provided to hundreds of schools across the nation. The CBS journalist worked very hard to understand this issue and training from a school's point of view, and, in the weeks leading up to the report, we remained hopeful her editors would be able to present this segment with the same professionalism and caring which she displayed.

The report, entitled “Educators from 12 states take 3-day firearms course,” recently aired. (The following stream is provided by left-wing MediaMatters.org, whose own report about CBS' coverage is entitled “CBS Evening News highlights a dangerous pro-gun group funded program that encourages teachers to arm themselves in schools.”) 

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.

Joe Eaton is Program Director – FASTER Saves Lives, and the Buckeye Firearms Association Treasurer.

Ohio Boy Scout installs FASTER Trauma Kits in school, trains teachers on use

In 2014, Buckeye Firearms Foundation announced an initiative to put a trauma kit in every school building in Ohio. Now, one Boy Scout from northwest Ohio accomplished that goal for his local school by providing kits and medical training to his local school as an Eagle project.

Levi Baus, a 15-year-old Life Scout from rural Archbold, Ohio, recently completed an extensive Eagle project involving the installation of purchase and installation of FASTER Saves Lives medical trauma kits, and providing training to help teachers receive the life-saving skills they need to use the kits in an emergency.

Baus raised nearly $5,500 to purchase 80 medical trauma kits, and recently led a team of other Scouts in the installation of the kits in every classroom in Archbold Area Schools, along with a few common areas.

This week, teachers attended a class which Baus says gave teachers the knowledge and skills they need to use the kits effectively.

“The trauma kits are more advanced first aid kits; they include items such as chest seals, compression bandages, tourniquets and more,” Baus observed. “The kits are intended to treat life-threatening injuries such as puncture or bullet wounds.

“When this type of injury occurs,” Baus adds, “someone may lose their life before help arrives. These kits are made to provide immediate treatment to someone in a critical situation.”

Most school buildings have a first aid kit and an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) with personnel trained to use them. On the other hand, few shcools have a trauma kit with the supplies needed to deal with trauma injuries, such as those that can occur after a parking lot or shop class accident, severe cuts, a bleacher collapse, a weather catastrophe or a violent attack.

Baus believes that because there is a delay between injury and advanced medical care, schools should be equipped to respond immediately and care for such injuries.

“Just as an AED is used to preserve the life of a heart attack victim,” Baus continues, “trauma care preserves the live of a trauma victim until help arrives.”

Class objectives were to train participants to treat preventable deaths. These include extremity hemorrhage (bleeding from arms/legs), junctional hemorrhage (bleeding from shoulder/pelvis), tension pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and airway obstruction.

In just a few hours participants learned how to prioritize treatment of multiple victims. They now know when, why and how to treat the trauma injuries most likely to result in death.

Baus made arrangements with instructors from the Ohio-based FASTER Saves Lives program to provide a powerpoint presentation. He and several other trained Scouts then provided hands-on training to the teachers on how to use the kits.

Although, because he is home-educated, Baus does not attend classes at Archbold, he is excited that his Eagle project is helping his local school system.

“Many of the boys in my Troop attend classes at Archbold, and I have other friends who attend there,” Baus says. “The school is part of my community and I saw the need to help it be a safer place.”