School shootings: Grandfather confronts Madison school board, police escort him out.

He has a closet full of guns at home, and he started hunting when he was 12.

Billy Ison has always described himself as “pro-gun.”

That was until a school shooting rocked his small Southwest Ohio town in 2016. That was before Parkland. And Santa Fe. And wherever the next shooting inevitably happens.

Now, Ison is wielding the words “pro-gun” as a weapon.

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More: The untold story behind Madison's school shooting

At a Madison school board meeting Tuesday night, the 64-year-old grandfather wore a bright blue T-shirt that read: “No more silence. End gun violence.”

It’s the same shirt he wore last month when addressing Madison officials, trying to get them to reconsider legislation permitting armed teachers and staff at the district.

This time, he accused school officials of lying. He said statements given to the media were "nothing more than a smokescreen" to conceal their true motives.

No matter what was said in the name of student safety, Ison said, this has become all about guns.

“You’re putting words in my mouth,” one school board member interrupted. “You cannot sit and say what we were thinking.”

The school board president asked Ison to stop. It was the second time in about two minutes he had done so.

“If you continue, I’ll have you escorted out.”

Ison paused for a moment, looking at the Madison school officials he has sparred with for months.

When his grandson was punished for walking out of school in March to protest gun violence, Ison went to a nearby park and held a sign that said, “Encourage (not punish) bravery.”

Then, he reached out to reporters and circled the dates of school board meetings on his calendar.

Detention: Student shot at Madison Schools punished for school-shooting protest

On Tuesday, when challenged by school officials, Ison kept talking anyway.

That's when Board President David French took off his glasses and pointed to the school resource officer standing in the back of the room.

As Ison spoke about what he viewed as the school board’s pro-gun agenda, the jangle of handcuffs could be heard as Resource Officer Kent Hall slowly approached Ison, put his hand on his back and walked him toward the door.

Ison waved to those in attendance, who mostly applauded. Some took out their phones and recorded it.

(Ison was not arrested and the meeting ended a short time later.)

Hall, the resource officer, was at the Butler County school when shots were fired in its cafeteria two years ago. No one died, but two students were shot and another two injured in the chaos.

While school personnel ran to the students on the cafeteria floor, Hall ran after the shooter.

Madison school shooting: How we got here

The incident placed the community in the national spotlight, even as many just wanted to move on. As the years have passed, national debate surrounding school safety has only grown.

Madison student: This is why I risked detention to walk out.

The debate started here when students were punished for participating in nationwide walkouts. That's what led to a packed school board meeting in March.

It’s morphed into a movement among some – including one of the students who was shot here – against arming teachers in the rural community, which is largely Republican and largely pro-gun.

It's striking that the same day Ison was led out of this meeting, the county’s sheriff sent a letter to Ohio Gov. John Kasich and school districts begging for safety changes in schools, which included armed staff.

“What are you waiting for?” Sheriff Richard K. Jones wrote.

Sheriff on school safety: Talk is cheap

Then, the often-controversial sheriff appeared in a Facebook video and urged people to quit burying their heads in the sand.

“I can speak,” Jones said, tapping his chest, “because we’ve had a school shooting in our community – and it’s a terrible thing to go through.”

It’s become the issue that won’t go away.

Don’t expect Ison to go away, either.

This weekly column is a look around Butler and Warren counties from Enquirer Reporter Keith BieryGolick. Send tips, questions and hate mail to kbierygolick@enquirer.com.