Rifles part of security at Calif. school district

FONTANA, Calif. -- The semiautomatic rifles look like they belong in a war zone, not in a suburban public school, but officials in this Los Angeles-area city say the high-powered weapons in the hands of school police could prevent a massacre.

Fontana Unified School District police purchased 14 of the Colt LE6940 rifles last fall, and they were delivered the first week of December, a week before the Connecticut school shooting. Over the holiday break, the district's 14 school police officers received 40 hours of training on the rifles. Officers check them out for each shift from a fireproof safe in the police force's main office.

Other Southern California districts also have rifle programs.

Fontana school police Chief Billy Green said he used money from fingerprinting fees to purchase the guns for $14,000 after identifying a "critical vulnerability" in his force's ability to protect students. The officers, who already wear sidearms, wouldn't be able to stop a shooter like the one in Connecticut, he said.

"They're not walking around telling kids, 'Hurry up and get to class' with a gun around their neck," the chief said. "Parents need to know that if there was a shooter on their child's campus that was equipped with body armor or a rifle, we would be limited in our ability to stop that threat to their children."

Some parents and students reacted with alarm to the news that school resource officers were being issued the rifles. The officers split their time among 44 schools in the district. They keep the rifles in a safe at their assigned school or secured in their patrol car before checking the weapon back in to the school police headquarters each night.

Only sergeants trained for years to use the rifles are authorized to check them out from the police armory.

Still, James Henriquez, 16, a sophomore at Fontana High School, was wary. "If the wrong person gets ahold of the gun, then we have another shooter going around with a gun. What happens then?" he asked.