News – Page 7 – FASTER Saves Lives

Nearly 1100 Teachers and Staff Members in 12 States Get “Armed” Active Killer Training

When an active killer targets a school, the standard protocol is to wait for law enforcement to arrive on the scene to stop the violence.

In 2013, that protocol started to change for many schools, with the introduction of the FASTER Saves Lives program, which provides lethal force training and medical response to teachers and staff members.

Now, after five years, FASTER Saves Lives has trained 1091 school teachers and staff members from 225 districts in 12 states. This includes teachers and staff in 76 of Ohio's 88 counties. We will also provide the 'Trauma Medicine for Active Killer Events' training to another 200 staff before then end of the year.

Sponsored by Buckeye Firearms Foundation, the FASTER (Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response) training provides school staff with the knowledge, mindset, and skills to stop an active killer and start treating the injured.

FASTER started the 2017 training schedule by conducting 4 classes at 3 different facilities across 2 states all in the first 8 days of the schedule. This included our first-ever out-of-state class for school staff near Denver, Colorado. We ended this year’s Level 1 and 2 schedule with back to back-to-back to back classes over 12 days the last two weeks in July. National media from California, New York and Washington, D.C. where here in Ohio to covered this final group of classes.

I wish to offer special thanks to John Benner and the staff at TDI, as well as to Chris Cerino and staff from Cerino Training Group for their expertise, enthusiasm and perseverance through a difficult schedule and weather. The school staff also maintained an excellent attitude throughout.

In the past five years, FASTER Saves Lives has evolved from a one-time concept class, to a popular Ohio program, to the standard for school safety and security. We are honored and thankful for the opportunity to partner with John Benner, who we believe to be the most knowledgeable person on the topic of stopping active killers in the country.

Mr. Benner has long been a leader in law enforcement response, often by decades. Time will prove he’s done the same with school response to violence.

When we started, it never occurred to me that it would continue beyond the first class. Even in the second year, we were still training “gun people,” most of which were still in the process of begging their boards of education for permission to carry firearms. Today, participants are selected by schools administrations, who ask us to train key people.

Law enforcement has become an important partner. Many school resource officers (SRO’s) have taken the training along with their district school staff. They take the lessons back to their local department and serve as a liaison between the school and law enforcement. Police regularly re-qualify the school staff and provide continuing training opportunities. Schools are allowing police to train in the school buildings. School staff who do not want to carry a gun are learning how to treat trauma injuries and schools are investing in trauma equipment.

There have been several instances where the medial training and equipment has saved lives, and others where school staff’s possession of firearms undeniably made their school and children safer during critical events. One superintendent helped his sheriff identify a suspect in a double murder. Many ingenious safety/security improvements have been made before events happen because school staff have a proactive mindset.

Ohio has model language (ORC 2923.122 (D)(1)(a)) which gives schools local control on who carries guns and how much training they are required to complete to continue carrying. Over the past several years several states have moved to allow schools to designate people, but too often burdensome restrictions have prevented real progress.

Ohio also leads the nation in funding this important program. The current biennium budget designates a small amount of money for the FASTER Saves Lives training and the purchase of trauma equipment (tourniquets, compression bandages, chest seals, etc.) for schools that train their staff in their use.

While all four Republican gubernatorial candidates were invited to attend some of this year’s training, only Secretary of State Jon Husted took time to attend. Husted attended a TDI class and visited with trainers and school staff.

Buckeye Firearms Foundation has donated nearly $1,000,000.00 and several individuals have donated thousands of hours to make this program a success. The state recognition and funding is necessary for continued success.

It has been an honor to work with our nation’s experts on violence and medical care and help facilitate the transfer of their knowledge to school staff and local law enforcement. Five years ago I would not have believed it was possible to accomplish what I have witnessed through the FASTER Saves Lives program. I’m excited for what the next five years will bring to the world of education.

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.”

Arming Teachers, a Countermeasure to Active Killers

by Ron Borsch

As a retired law enforcement officer, in my second career of training police officers, one of my proprietary courses was Tactical 1st Responder©, the responses to Rapid Mass Murder©, which was eventually attended officers from ten states.

Having researched Rapid Mass Murder© by the random acts of active killers back to 1975, I discovered that the primary target of this type of homicide was educational facilities. For example, three schools out of 10 locations in 2016 so far, (with 4 planned but aborted).

A second and very serious discovery was that half of over two hundred incidents in our Stopwatch of Death© database, the murdering never stopped until the killer decided to stop.

A more astonishing discovery was the fact that in the half of Rapid Mass Murder© that was stopped, off-site police were only a minority factor in the stoppage.

Of the half of Rapid Mass Murder© that was stopped, a two-thirds majority were stopped by on-site citizens, the preponderance of whom were unarmed and were predominantly initiated by a solo actor. Of course, many innocents perished in this mismatch of trying bare-handed to overpower an armed assassin.

In the remaining one third minority of the half of Rapid Mass Murder© that was stopped, it was off-site law enforcement that stopped it. Regrettably, police are handicapped by several factors here.

Of little known time delays before notifying law enforcement, the average has been six minutes. Unfortunately, the active killer, (murdering by any means), has on average, completed his murdering of innocents in six minutes. It gets worse. Once police are notified, there is call-taking and dispatch time before any officer/s even begin to respond.

Off-site response time is quite variable depending on how close the first notified officer is to the emergency. Applicable here is the absolutely true quote “When you need help in seconds, police are only minutes away.”

Rapid Mass Murder© can and has occurred at over one attempted murder per second. For example, in fifteen seconds, there were six murdered and thirteen wounded in the 2011 Tucson AZ, Congresswoman Gifford’s event. Once notified, police arrived in four minutes.

My research has revealed that the fastest and safest countermeasure to Rapid Mass Murder© is already on-site armed good guys. Locations that forbid state approved and pre-vetted honest citizens who have earned their concealed firearm permit have proven to be a virtual magnet for active killers.

Locations known for, or posted as having on-site armed security, are far less likely to experience an active killer attack. For those enlightened by these facts, a program for arming school staff makes perfect sense.

Ron Borsch is a Viet Nam veteran and retired from the Bedford Ohio PD after 30 years. His second career was as the founder, and 1998-2015, managed and was the lead trainer at SEALE Regional Police Training Academy.

FASTER Saves Lives receives state funding

Now in our fifth year of training school staff, the FASTER Saves Lives program is changing the way schools fulfill their obligation for the safety and security of their staff and students. The class is designed by John Benner of Tactical Defense Institute (TDI), who I believe to be our nation’s top expert on active killers, especially in school environments. It is taught by TDI and Chris Cerino of Cerino Training Group.

By partnering with the best, our program has been recognized by schools, trainers, and law-enforcement from many other states as the best such program in the country. We are humbled by the response and praise from other experts.

Teachers can’t afford world class training, and school districts could not afford to send multiple staff members, and cities could not afford to train and staff trained responders. We can’t afford to keep sending our kids to school and having them slaughtered by active killers while school staff lacked the ability to end the violence, and police were too far away to act in time. The only viable solution was for us to pay for the training, including hotels for school staff that are authorized to carry firearms for the safety of their school.

One of the problems success brings is increased demand. While we are proud at what we have accomplished and provided our schools, we have not been able to raise the money to keep up with increased demand. Giving away our product is the right thing to do, but not a sustainable business model.

The new state budget contains grant money for FASTER Saves Lives training and trauma equipment.

Fiscal year 2018 (which starts July 1, 2017) contains $75,000 for FASTER Saves Lives training and up to $25,000 for schools to purchase trauma kits and supplies to treat trauma injuries. Fiscal year 2019 contains $100,000 for FASTER Saves Lives training, and any unused portion of the $25,000 for equipment will be available.

The total of $200,000 over the two year budget is less than we asked for. It will not even cover one half of our direct expenses. The program is still run by volunteers who donate thousands of hours every year to assist with the training, meet with school boards, answer questions and manage the program.

We are hopeful that the grant combined with support from Buckeye Firearms Foundation will allow us to train all Ohio school staff members who have been selected by their Board of Education/Superintendent to receive FASTER Saves Lives training for the coming two years.

Details on the process will now need to be worked out. We will have further information as it becomes available.

We thank the Ohio legislature for recognizing this outstanding safety program and funding the program enough to allow us to continue to provide training for those districts who are leading the country on safety for their students and staff.

Buckeye Firearms Foundation’s FASTER Saves Lives program poised to set new records

I always intend to do updates through the summer as we do FASTER Saves Lives classes. There are so many great stories to tell, but I never find the time to write it down.

FASTER is an acronym for Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response. It’s a program started after the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown Connecticut that helps schools be prepared to stop armed killers.

The FASTER Saves Lives training has grown out of a one class idea into a nation leading program that is reshaping school safety and security. For all of us involved, it is one of the neatest things we have ever been involved with.

This summer we will conduct a record number of classes. We are doing our first out of state class in Colorado. In June we will conduct 4 three-day classes, at three different locations, in two different states, in a period of 8 days. This is only possible because of the dedication and enormous unpaid hours racked up by volunteers.

This year’s classes filled up earlier than ever. There are so many people that school districts are asking us to train that we added another class and still have a waiting list for people we couldn’t accommodate.

John Benner of Tactical Defense Institute (TDI) designed our class. There is no one in the country who possesses his wealth of experience and knowledge on active killers and how to stop them. We are humbled by the number of police, schools, and professional trainers from other states who have asked if they could send their people across the country to train with us.

Chris Cerino of Cerino Training Group has put his heart and soul into learning from other experts and transferring that information to those charged with watching over our kids. We promise “world class training” and Messrs.’ Benner and Cerino deliver it.

Both Benner and Cerino teams routinely receive high praise from military and law enforcement who say that the FASTER Saves Lives training is one of, if not the best class they have ever taken. School staff tell us they never knew such training was available, let alone thought they would ever have the opportunity to participate. It warms our hearts to hear graduates tell us, “Thank you. I’m a different person than I was three days ago.” Even better is when we hear from them years later, “I’m still a different person than I was before the class, and I’m never going back to the old ways. Because of you my children/school/community/family are safer.”

The training is a life changing event. Gone is the denial that “it won’t happen here. We are safe enough. Someone else will save us. That’s not my job.” In its place we instill an understanding of active killer events. Graduates leave with the knowledge, skills, and mindset to stop a killer, end the violence, and treat the injured.

For most of the country, this program can be instituted on a county by county basis. Ohio has at least two, and soon to be three, counties where every school has armed staff protecting the kids. By working with the Sheriff and local law enforcement we create a way for both law enforcement and education professionals to continue to train and learn together. These relationships have paid dividends that none of us imagined several years ago. This is the future of school safety and security. We are proud to be playing our part.

Are your schools making the grade on safety?

For more information, see www.FASTERSavesLives.org

To donate or sponsor a teacher, mail donations to:

FASTER Saves Lives
PO BOX 357
Greenville, OH 45331

Or click here to donate online.

Media Coverage:

Educators Train to Conceal Carry Firearms in Schools

In Ohio, any school board can decide to allow an individual to carry a firearm into school buildings. The state does not keep track and districts are not obligated to reveal the information. The debate at school board meetings usually happens behind closed doors. And it’s not just teachers who have been given permission. It’s nurses, principals, and maintenance people, according to Jim Irvine, Director of the FASTER program. But he says, it’s strictly voluntary.

“No one should ever be forced to carry a gun,” says Irvine. “It’s something you have got to want to do because if you don’t want to do it, you’re not going to embrace it with the right mindset and the right attitude to do it properly.”

Teachers Simulate an Active Shooter Scenario in Force-on-Force Training

Ohio Public Radio's StateImpact Ohio “attempted to send the following email to every school district in Ohio asking if anyone had requested permission to conceal carry a firearm.” Search here for your district's response. “Please note, not every district replied to our inquiry.”

1st Time Ever – FASTER Saves Lives class opens to the public

The FASTER Saves Lives program is opening a very limited number of spots in our July 20-22 class to the public. Churches, businesses, colleges and other public areas are experiencing the same violence we have seen in our K-12 schools. This 3 1/2 day FASTER Level 1 class will prepare you and your family to survive these most horrific events.

Created by concerned parents, law enforcement, and nationally-recognized safety and medical experts, FASTER is a groundbreaking, nonprofit program that gives you practical violence response training.

The program offers a carefully-structured curriculum offering over 26 hours of hands-on training over a 3-day class that exceeds the requirements of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy.

The purpose is not to replace police and EMT, but to allow personnel on-site to stop violence rapidly and render medical aid immediately.

When violence strikes and lives are on the line, every second matters. Faster response is better response.

The limited number of public spots will fill quickly, REGISTER NOW here: https://conta.cc/2tI0LWE

For question or more information, email Joe@FASTERSavesLives.org or phone FASTER Program Director Joe Eaton at 513.267.6088

Colorado FASTER training kicks off in June; armed school staff to get skills in active shooter

by Sherrie Peif

Reprinted with permission of Complete Colorado

DENVER — Through a partnership with the Independence Institute and the Weld County Sheriff’s Office, Coloradans for Civil Liberties (CCL) — which describes itself as an organization committed to restoring the Second Amendment freedoms of Colorado citizens — has opened registration for its first advanced training for school staff members who are armed first responders, or who would like to be considered.

The Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response (FASTER) program is making its first appearance in Colorado after much success in Ohio.

According to Laura Carno, founder of Coloradans for Civil Liberties, over the past five years, FASTER has trained more than 900 school staff members in Ohio.

FASTER founders — Buckeye Firearms Foundation and Tactical Defense Institute — built a curriculum that teaches school employees allowed to conceal carry the skills necessary to stop active shooter situations, as well as advanced medical training to deal with related injuries such as gunshot wounds, a news release said.

Independence Institute Executive Vice President Amy Cooke* said scholarships are available for the $1,000 class through II. It includes lodging, if needed, and a trauma kit for personnel to take back to their school.

“We have raised scholarship money, because we never want lack of training budget money to keep any school personnel from having access to this lifesaving training,” Cooke said in the news release. “We are honored to partner with CCL to help save the lives of Colorado’s school children.”

The first class, which will take place over a three-day period of June 20th, 21st, and 22nd, will accept 24 students from across Colorado. It is open to those who already possess a Colorado Concealed Handgun Permit and who have already been approved as a school security officer, or who are in the process of being approved, by their school board or charter school board.

The class will teach the same skills and tactics used by law enforcement, and instructors will include law enforcement personnel with extensive knowledge of active shooter situations.

The training is being facilitated with the help of Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams and will take place at an undisclosed location in Weld County.

Reams said his office is supplying the location for the training. Weld County is not supplying instructors or teaching the course.

“You will leave this class physically and mentally exhausted,” Carno said. “But those who have participated agree that it is a wonderful experience and life changing class.”

To make a donation, or to register for the FASTER class, please go to FasterColorado.com.

Cedarville University trustees vote to allow faculty and staff to carry concealed on campus

Cedarville University trustees have approved a plan that makes theirs the first college in Ohio to allow concealed carry on campus.

From Cedars, the campus newspaper:

The policy, a first among Ohio colleges, “authorizes the President to grant permission to faculty, staff, and trustees with concealed carry licenses to carry a concealed handgun on campus under approved terms and/or conditions consistent with state law.”

In March, Ohio became one of 24 states to allow universities to decide whether concealed carry permits should be allowed on campus. The policy will be finalized over the summer by the president and others at the administrative level and go into effect August 1.

“The process to bring a concealed carry proposal to our board for consideration was handled carefully, with significant input and dialogue, and always keeping the safety of our campus community as the highest priority,” Dr. Thomas White, Cedarville University’s president, said in a statement. “We weighed all of the issues very carefully to ensure we were moving in the best direction for Cedarville.”

According to the article, the concealed carry discussion began in February 2016 when the Ohio House began talks of allowing campuses to make their own decision concerning concealed carry on their campuses. When the bill was signed into law last December, the process intensified.

“The board discussed this matter, and in our determination, we believed it was important to allow our conscientious faculty and staff to have the opportunity to exercise their second amendment rights, and, if necessary, to defend themselves should an incident arise in the future,” Board of Trustees Chairman Chip Bernhard is quoted as saying. “It is our prayer, of course, that no one is ever forced to take this type of action.”

Cedarville’s president and trustees have emphasized their care in forming the policy, which included consultations with law enforcement, legal counsel, and insurance representatives.

The article notes the administration also held a town hall meeting for university faculty and staff and conducted two campus-wide surveys of faculty and staff. The surveys revealed only eight percent of the faculty and staff on campus were against the potential policy. Similarly, 92 percent of students favored allowing some degree of concealed-carry.

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Cedarville isn't the only Ohio campus where students have voted in favor of concealed carry. Students at all five of Ohio University's regional campuses — Chillicothe, Southern, Lancaster, Eastern and Zanesville — voted to allow concealed carry, but were outnumbered by the number of votes against concealed-carry from OU’s main campus in Athens.

The Cedars article concludes by noting that Dr. Patrick Oliver, associate professor of criminal justice and former chief of police in Cleveland, Fairborn, and Grandview Heights, Ohio, contributed to the policy’s development.

“From my perspective as a peace officer in the state of Ohio,” he said in a statement, “I believe the decision to allow law-abiding faculty and staff to conceal carry on campus is strategically beneficial given the growing safety concerns among institutions of higher education.”

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and a 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.

Additional Information:

5 things to know about Cedarville U. decision to allow concealed carry

Georgetown joins growing fraternity of Ohio schools arming staff to protect students

WKRC (CBS Cincinnati) is reporting that the Georgetown, Ohio school board has voted unanimously to allow trained staff to carry guns in school starting in the fall.

From the article:

Those who will carry guns will have extensive training, such as the training sessions that some staff underwent.

Under the policy, no one would be allowed without being certified.

The training also includes how to de-escalate situations.

The Superintendent says the training that staff will have to go through goes far beyond staff and teachers carrying guns in school and he says the school district is partnering with Georgetown's police department for the training.

The cost of training is entirely covered by Buckeye Firearms Foundation and the FASTERSavesLives program. “FASTER” stands for Faculty/ Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response.

“There are teachers who are willing to die for the children we leave with them every day. When they come to us and say we need a solution, we need something that will happen,” says FASTERSavesLives program director Joe Eaton. “When we have experts that can provide the training to provide these solutions our Foundation is obligated to make this happen for the schools.”

Again, from the WKRC article:

The superintendent says they've been researching the subject for a year.

The superintendent says there are other school districts in Ohio that have already done it.

The closest one that he knows of near us is Bright Local School District in Highland County.

After four years, Buckeye Firearms Foundation's FASTER Saves Lives program has trained 773 school teachers and staff members from 194 districts in 8 states. This includes teachers and staff in 74 of Ohio's 88 counties.

This summer's classes are filling quickly. Apply for training here.

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.

Ohio’s Cedarville University nears decision on campus carry

According to a statement released by Cedarville University, a decision on whether to allow concealed carry on the campus is expected to be made in May.

The Board of Trustees took up the proposal after students and faculty expressed support through a campus survey and town hall meeting.

From coverage in Cedars, the campus newspaper:

Cedars conducted a student-wide survey to see how students felt about the possibility of the concealed carry policy changing on campus. The administration also conducted a survey among faculty and staff to gather their opinions. The majority opinion of both surveys was in favor of concealed carry permits on campus in a limited capacity.

Initial discussions seem to be focused around the idea of allowing faculty and staff and administration to carry, but not students.

University president Dr. Thomas White highlighted the main reasons that students may not be permitted to carry: storage and safety issues in the dormitory and liability issues with insurance.

Dr. Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Cedarville trustee, stated he requires his vice presidents, deans and at least three people in every building to carry at Southwestern in Fort Worth, Texas.

“I think it is incumbent upon the school in this kind of a day when you can have a shooter — even as unlikely as it is as they would find Cedarville, Ohio,” he said. “It could even happen here, and you must have protection.”

Before implementation of Senate Bill 199, which was signed into law last December, state law denied colleges and universities the right to choose to allow students of faculty the right to carry on campus. As of March 21, 2017, colleges and universities are now permitted to make the choice to allow concealed carry on campus.

Another proactive Ohio school board approves arming staff members

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that another Ohio board of education has formally approved allowing some employees to possess firearms on school premises and in designated school safety zones.

According to the article, the new policy, enacted by the Indian Valley Board of Education in northeastern Ohio, will go into effect this fall.

Several nearby districts already allow armed staff members in their buildings. Among them are Newcomerstown Exempted Village Local Schools, Coshocton City Schools and River View Local Schools.