Florida school district keeping AR-15 guns, ammunition in schools for emergency access

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- In Florida, a school district is putting a safe for an AR-15 assault rifle and ammunition inside in each school.

The Vero Beach School District's sheriff says it's all in an effort to help keep students safe, WPEC reported.

"When bad guys show up with guns, they're going to find our guns," Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers said.

The AR-15 is only inside the school while the resource officer is on campus. They bring in the AR-15 rifle in a case in the mornings and put it in the safe at the school, then they remove the rifle from the safe when they leave in the evenings.

"If they're coming at us with an AR-15, we're gonna return with the same or greater firepower," Flowers added.

Some parents were supportive of the measure, while others expressed some concerns.

The sheriff says since the safes were installed, the schools have not had an actual incident where they needed to use the weapons.