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OKAY — A rural school district in Wagoner County has taken up arms in an effort to deter school violence.

Okay Public Schools erected four signs on campus this week, warning visitors bent on breaking the law that they might want to think otherwise.

“Having a sign in your front yard saying ‘this is a gun-free zone’ just tells the idiots, “Come on in,” because we can’t defend ourselves,” Superintendent Charles McMahan said Wednesday in a telephone interview.

“(Okay’s) sign might be enough to send somebody down the road looking for some other soft target. If that’s what it does, it’s helping our school district out.”

The signs, reading “Please be aware that certain staff members at Okay Public Schools can be legally armed and may use whatever force is necessary to protect our students,” are a follow-up to a school gun policy approved by the school board in August, McMahan said.

The policy states that administrators who meet criteria set out by the state and school board may bring to campus a gun concealed on their person or kept in a locked box, the superintendent said.