Johnson County School District offers concealed carry training as gun-free zone repeal takes effect

BUFFALO — “Lockdown, lockdown; active shooter, main lobby,” came over the loudspeakers at Clear Creek Middle School, signaling the start of another active shooter drill in the building.

Last week, school district staff, administrators, school board trustees and community members had the opportunity to receive active shooter training from TacOne Consulting. 

Johnson County School District No. 1 Superintendent Charles Auzqui said the district has conducted TacOne training every year for law enforcement, but this was the first time it has been offered to district staff and administrators.

After the statewide repeal of gun-free zones that took effect July 1, districts around the state are preparing for the upcoming school year with the knowledge that anyone, including staff, who can legally carry a concealed weapon will be able to do so in school buildings. Like Johnson County No. 1, many districts have increased training offerings as a result.

The training last week with TacOne involved range practice, classroom-style lectures and practice scenarios in the middle school with fake weapons.

“This is the type of training that is going to help us make good decisions,” Auzqui said.

One of the most important pieces of the training, Auzqui said, is about how to effectively work with law enforcement during an active shooter situation. Communication is a big part of that.

Founder and president of TacOne Consulting, Joe Deedon, said during the training that communication within the first 15 seconds of an emergency often determines the outcome. 

During training, Deedon shared a video of one of the most effective school responses.

In the video, a building administrator stood outside of the building, directing law enforcement to where the shooter was last seen. Another staff member stood by the front door with the key to the building to hand to law enforcement once they arrived.

Quickly communicating suspect descriptions or last known locations is great when possible. Centralized security, camera and communication systems are also invaluable. Johnson County School District No. 1 has all of those systems on a central platform. 

Last week’s training, however, was largely focused on how to effectively use a concealed weapon in an active shooter event. 

At the training on Thursday, Deedon told attendees that if a person doesn’t believe they could kill another person with a weapon if it came down to it, they shouldn’t bring a concealed weapon into a school building. Pulling out a weapon you can’t use will make you a target for a shooter, and then they could take that weapon off of you and use it to cause more harm, he said.

“Just because you’re armed doesn’t make you safe,” he said.

The repeal of gun-free zones was put in place by House Bill 172 – Repeal gun free zones and preemption amendments, which went into effect without Gov. Mark Gordon’s signature after this year’s legislative session. 

Now that the new law is in place, any person who can legally carry concealed guns in the state can do so in any government building or meeting place and in any public school, college or university campus or building. The law makes exceptions for sporting events where alcohol is

being served and places where hazardous materials are kept, such as science classrooms.

While Auzqui said he has had a lot of inquiries from parents asking why the district is making the change, it wasn’t the district’s choice. He believes that guns have no place in schools, he said.

“The state law allowing guns in schools is not making schools safer,” he said.

From what Auzqui has heard, none of the administrators who attended the training last week intends to carry concealed weapons. Instead, the administrators attended to obtain more information that they can use to inform building responses in emergency situations. 

However, based on the new law, nobody is required to inform the district whether they carry concealed or not.

One of the attendees, Brook Ochs, said that’s why she attended the training. As the custodian at Meadowlark Elementary School, she is in the building nearly all day, and although she doesn’t intend to carry a concealed weapon, she wanted more training on what goes into protecting her building.

Ochs was the first to complete the second hands on scenario in the middle school, which was focused on hallway defense. 

TacOne instructor Gabriel Ortiz walked with her through the hall for the start of the scenario, rounding a corner to reveal a few district students posing as fake casualties. Then, Ortiz uttered a phrase that included a cue word, which prompted Deedon to fire two blank shotgun rounds out of sight. The blanks were meant to help simulate what an actual scenario would feel like.

Ochs was armed with a training pistol that can only fire a specific type of soap bullet – Deedon said getting hit with one hurts less than a paintball. That’s what Ochs used when, after turning a second corner and getting into a good position to observe the end of the hallway, the fake shooter covered in protective equipment appeared. Ochs fired several soap rounds into the fake shooter before he pretended to fall down dead.

Behind her, one of the fake casualties couldn’t help but giggle when the empty shells landed on him. The four students who helped role-play in the scenario were compensated with pizza and wings.

Ochs said after the second of several scenarios that she felt a lot more confident than in the first, when she hadn’t expected it, but froze.

“Knowing it was an active shooter, it just hit all at once, and I froze,” she said. “It seemed like an eternity for that split-second of freezing.”

Ortiz said during training that “the way that you train is the way you’re going to fight.” That’s why you need to grow good habits and build your muscle memory if you want to be effective.

Ortiz said he has trained law enforcement for over 20 years, but this last week was the first time he has trained school staff. The biggest difference, he said, are the mindsets.

“Teachers are very nurturing, so this isn’t naturally in their wheelhouse,” he said.

Auzqui said that one of the concerns with the gunfree zone repeal is that people just need a concealed carry permit, which could just mean a written test without any formal training.

Deedon said during training that in an active shooter situation, law enforcement will assume anyone carrying a weapon is a threat. Without proper handling, a friendly person carrying a weapon could still be shot by law enforcement.

In fact, a good Samaritan with a weapon could get in the way of law enforcement.

“I think legislators need to hear that: Just because you can get a license to concealed carry, doesn’t mean you have the skill set or training to act,” Auzqui said.

This story was published on July 31, 2025.