After August's events in Ferguson, Missouri, when a police officer shot unarmed black man Michael Brown, a lot of Americans questioned law enforcement agencies' need for surplus military weapons.

Turns out, it's not just police departments receiving this type of equipment.

Bay District Schools Safety and Security officials recently bought six M16 fully automatic assault rifles.

Transferring surplus US military equipment to civilian agencies, through the government's 10-33 program, has been going on since the 1990's.

It helps provide law enforcement with affordable weapons and other supplies no longer needed by the armed forces.

Bay District Schools' Safety and Security Office took advantage of the program weeks ago, buying six fully automatic M16 rifles for only $50 a piece.

The question is: why?

"In the event we need that tool, we'll have it," Chief Mike Jones said.

The guns won't be on the officers' person at all times. They won't even be kept in their vehicles. They'll be stored at an undisclosed location in a gun safe.

The guns aren't the only items school district officials have bought during the last decade under this surplus program.

They have a trailer that's now a mobile command center, a 45-caliber handgun and another M16 bought before the school board shooting in 2010.

"On the day of the school board shooting, I had an M16 in my police car. But based on my training, based on the assessment I'd done on the situation, I made the professional decision not to use the M16 that day," Jones said.

"Hopefully that'll never happen again," he added. "But if it does, then we're on an equal playing field with the bad guys."

Jones says he understands why some people are critical of law enforcement carrying military weapons.

"I want them to know that my job is to protect their children, and I'm going to do everything in my power to do it," he said. "I'm going to obtain every tool I can, cameras, fencing, weapons, if it takes them, to accomplish their mission. Because that's number one: Children's safety."

He also says they'll serve as the ultimate precaution, and he hopes his officers never need to fire a single shot.

All school security personnel, including school resource deputies will receive intense training at Tyndall Air Force Base before they'll get access to the M16s.