Broward School Cops Will Carry Rifles, Including AR-15s, On School Grounds

WLRN Public Media | By Charles Rabin,

DAVID OVALLE

Published February 21, 2018 at 8:36 PM EST

A law enforcement officer equipped with a rifle talks with students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after a shooter killed 17 people on the campus on Feb. 14, 2018.

While lawmakers and activists in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C., furiously debate gun control, deputies in Broward County will be adding firepower to deal with the threat of school shooters, effective immediatelty.

Broward’s top cop on Wednesday said that deputies assigned to school campuses will now be allowed to carry rifles on school grounds.

“Rifles from this point forward,” Broward Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, adding: “We need to be able to defeat any threat on campus.”

The announcement comes as authorities are reviewing the law-enforcement response to the worst school shooting in Florida history. Last week, former student Nikolas Cruz — armed with an AR-15 and extra ammunition — walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High and mowed down dozens of people, killing 17 and wounding 15 others.

Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald.