The Medina Independent School District outside of San Antonio, Texas has put up a sign outside one of its school’s entrances warning people that the teachers of the school may be packing heat.

The sign says “Attention – Please be aware that the staff at Medina ISD may be armed and will use whatever force is necessary to protect our students”.

The decision to erect the sign was apparently made after being under discussion for a year by the school’s board of trustees. They apparently feel the threat is a necessary measure to deter violence – of all kinds, not just the school shootings that have been repeatedly occurring across the United States of America in recent decades without showing any signs that they’re going to stop.

Superintendent of the school Penny White said, “We wanted for people to know that we’re going to protect our kids. I think it would make someone stop and think twice if they had a violent act in mind.”

In a statement to CNN she said, “I think that anybody who might have a thought about harming someone in mind might think twice about it.”

According to white, one factor in the decision of putting up the sign was the school’s remote location in a rural area. The district teaches three-hundred and three students.

James Lindstrom, who is a member of the school board, said the sign is in response to the “general environment nationally.”

The sign is at one of the schools entrances, but plans are in motion to put one at each entrance.