"This Has To Be a Priority," Colorado Woman on Training Staff in Schools to Defend Children

(Colorado) -- In the wake of the school shooting Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas, families are wondering if more could've been done to prevent it.

One Colorado woman has been working to make that happen. Laura Carno is the executive director of FASTER Colorado, an organization that trains armed teachers to respond. FASTER stands for Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response.

Fox News' Jesse Watters asked Carno Tuesday night if 100 billion dollars sent to schools for Covid could be used to better train teachers and staff to defend children. Carno explained that FASTER Colorado could train staff to conceal carry in the schools. She says the school board must first approve it. The school decides who in the school will be trained and armed. The training that follows is very extensive. (Watch the news interview from Tuesday night in the link above for Fox News)

In Southeast Colorado one school has already trained with the Non-profit organization, FASTER Colorado. Cheraw has had a sign outside of their school building warning would-be attackers, they are trained to respond and will. The district approved the FASTER program for Cheraw several years ago. The school board considered the distance that law enforcement would need to travel to respond in the event of a school shooting and decided that the wait could be too long to save lives.

(photo from FASTER Colorado website)

Carno told Watters, "this has to be a priority, I know schools are busy right now, there's graduation going on, this is a propriety this is our children's lives Jesse."

From FASTER's website:

FASTER training enables teachers, administrators and other school employees to stop school violence quickly and administer medical aid immediately. FASTER is not intended as a replacement for Police and EMTs. Instead, it enables on-site personnel to save lives through prompt action.

We are a non-profit that raises money to deliver the necessary training at no or low cost to teachers, administrators and other school employee that have approval from their School’s District and or Board.

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Anne Boswell, anneboswell@coloradonewsyourway.com,

NOTE: I have interviewed Laura Carno many times during my time as news director at AM 1400 KBLJ and as a reporter for KVAY.