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Local Green Beret and March For Our Lives leader both want armed guards in schools

Retired US Army Green Beret explains why all schools should have armed guards. He also says there are plenty of retired military and law enforcement officers who would volunteer. Jacksonville high school student who led recent March For Our Lives rally agrees.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - As the nation observes the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, and Florida continues mourning the February tragedy at Stoneman Douglas High School, the debate about placing armed guards in schools continues.

"If [the shooters] knew there were people there ready, watching ... they would have been stopped dead in their tracks," said Chris Novello of Jacksonville Friday. Novello spent 15 years as a US Army Green Beret, serving in the Middle East, the Far East, Central America, and South America. He's convinced not only that all schools should be armed from the inside, but that it can be done inexpensively.

"There would be a lot of good, qualified volunteers," he said, referring specifically to retired law enforcement officers and military personnel.

"A Green Beret, you know, highly trained, which we are," he said, adding "Navy Seal, Marine Force Recon..."

Novello acknowledged that a strong vetting process would be necessary, but also said it's feasible.

"They would have to go through a training program -- medically trained, psychologically trained," Novello said.

He said one concern he's faced in discussing the topic is a guard's interaction with students.

"They're not going to talk to the students," he said, describing his vision as all business. "They're going to be there."

First Coast News also talked with local March For Our Lives leader and Atlantic Coast High School senior Adrena Forrest. Despite some appearances to the contrary, Forrest emphasized that she's not interested in taking anyone's guns away.

"We're not trying to repeal the Second Amendment; a lot of us are in favor of the Second Amendment," she said. "I'm actually all for armed guards at schools."

Forrest's concerns are more about current gun laws, also about the fact that the few schools that have armed guards only have them part-time.

"We do have one at my school. However, it is shared with another local school, so they're not there all the time, and they do have a schedule where they're gone for a certain period of time every day," she said.

Forrest also would want at least some dialog between students and resource officers.

"There should be some kind of asking questions and level of discussion, so we know what they're able to do for us and how to come to them, and vice-versa."

She agrees with Novello that armed guards could have mitigated - if not prevented - the many tragedies at schools since Columbine.

"I definitely do think that the amount of casualties and the amount of violence would have been a lot lower," she said.

Forrest and Novello diverge about arming teachers. Novello favors it for those willing "that are properly trained;" Forrest prefers that teachers stick to teaching.

But the young activist will turn 18 before November and she plans to vote.

"Arming resource officers at all schools -- that is a really big thing for this upcoming election," she said. "I think this is a huge factor towards who I vote for, on all levels, local, state, federal."

The National Association of School Resource Officers estimates that 20 percent of U.S. public and private K-12 schools are staffed by an armed officer.

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