Seagal, Arpaio Use Teens in Mock Shooter Exercises to Train School Guards
I wouldn’t trust anyone to guard children who was drawn to this “training” from a Hollywood has-been and Arizona’s grandstanding sheriff. This is symptomatic of the far right vigilante fantasy land that conservatives live in nowadays. It’s highly dangerous and entirely problematic to put guards with delusions and guns in schools. There are already trained professional security guards and companies in every town, you don’t need a wingnut to guard schools.
The self-proclaimed “America’s Toughest Sheriff” joined forces this weekend with action movie star Steven Seagal to train volunteer armed posse members to defend Phoenix-area schools against gunmen.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced the controversial plan in the wake of the December Newtown, Conn., school shooting that left 27 people dead, including the gunman and 20 first-graders.
The exercise took place Saturday at a closed school site in suburban Fountain Hills, outside Phoenix, where sheriff’s SWAT members acted as shooters and teenagers played the part of students during mock scenarios involving up to three gunmen.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, right, talks with actor Steven Seagal after a news conference Jan. 27, 2011, in Phoenix. / AP PHOTO/ARIZONA REPUBLIC, JACK KURTZ
Seagal, best known for his roles in movies such as “Above the Law” and “Under Siege,” will lead training on hand-to-hand defense tactics, among other techniques, drawing from his expertise in martial arts, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
Arpaio’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday, and Seagal representatives also did not return telephone messages from The Associated Press.
More: Steven Seagal, Sheriff Train Arizonans to Guard Schools
If that’s not enough wingnuttery for you there’s also this later in the article:
Current posse members already are used to bolster the sheriff’s office force by providing police protection at malls during the holidays, directing traffic and transporting people to jail.
Arpaio even sent one group of posse members to Hawaii to conduct an examination into the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
Of course Fox loves them some prime wingnut so they are all over this story.