Some real solutions for making schools safer.

Vanity | 12-20-2012 | servo1969

[servo1969]

OK. What are your real solutions to make schools' "Gun Free" zones safer? The current policies are as useful as the TSA - they only give the illusion of safety while actually accomplishing nothing.

I think there are a few different changes that can be made both to the schools and the policies in place. I've tried to limit it to things which aren't really that noticeable to the students. My idea was to make them safer without making things look all that different.

First of all the doors should lock when closing and people should need to be buzzed in. I know, I know. A lot of the schools were already doing this and then stopped because it became too much of a hassle. Well, make it so that it's not a pain at all. Rearrange things so that it's simple and no big deal to follow the rules. If the door is not visible from the desk then install a good camera and intercom if necessary.

How about a little ballistic film on the entrance and exit door windows? If the money is available you could even put some on the classroom doors. You might not even have to replace the glass you have currently. A high quality film on both sides might keep someone out or at least slow them down long enough for the faculty to execute their planned response.

And when I say response I mean various things. The faculty and students should drill at least once a month for this sort of thing. But, once again, it doesn't have to be a big deal to the kids. Call it a fire drill or an earthquake drill or whatever you wish. Only the faculty needs to be concerned with the full aspects of the drill.

The planned response to an armed intruder should be both passive AND aggressive.

The passive should at the very least include calling 911(duh), locking doors and sending the kids to the areas of the rooms that have the least line of sight for any bad guy. All of this should be part of the drills. These passive actions are probably in place at most schools already. And none of them will stop an armed intruder who is truly determined to kill.

So that's where the aggressive response comes into play. The only real thing that will stop a killer is to severely injure or kill him. Up till now the killers have always had the advantage. There has been nobody in the schools who can oppose them with any real force. That needs to change.

Some people may opt for armed guards but guards are expensive and stand-out in the crowd. I think the teachers and other faculty in the schools should be utilized as armed security. Now, I know what some will say. "My kid's teacher is an idiot! Now you want her to be an armed idiot, as well?" Listen, I've seen my share of stupid teachers but that doesn't mean they're necessarily dangerous. And besides, I'm not suggesting we just say "Hey, if anybody wants to bring a gun to school, knock yourself out!"

The teachers should have to volunteer to carry on the job. There should not be any extra pay for doing so. That way only the people who really want to carry will bother. They should have to attend classes by the NRA or police dept. and qualify with the gun they will carry. This qualification should expire every 90 days or so. Then they must re-qualify at the appropriate facility. If they violate a school policy or seem to be acting a bit 'iffy' in some way their permit can be revoked. They won't lose any money if this happens because they weren't being paid for it in the first place. They just won't be allowed to carry at work until they satisfy some guideline or another.

Now, like I mentioned awhile ago, all of this should be 'under the radar' so to speak as far as the kids are concerned. The people who carry should do so safely and discretely.
The students should see nothing but this:


While their security remains quietly just out of sight:




Now I wouldn't recommend thigh holsters for teachers in elementary schools. There's too many kids grabbing the teachers around the legs and the whole idea is for the kids to be completely unaware of the guns. It shouldn't even come up in conversation any more than necessary.


So, to re-cap: Harden the building just a little, have a plan for an armed attacker and practice it, and use some of the people you have on the job as armed security. These are just a few ideas I had. I expect many people will disagree with them. Maybe some will sound good. Something needs to change and I can't see how taking guns away from people who have never hurt or threatened anyone will make children any safer. But, then again, safety is not really the point of gun control no matter what certain politicians may say.

[DustyMoment]

Not trying to start a fight, just looking at the numbers.

Meet me by the bicycle rack after school!!

Just kidding. I think you are looking at the wrong thing. In this case, the numbers don't tell the story; in fact, they provide misleading information.

Israel is surrounded by enemies who are constantly trying to destroy anything they can and kill as many people as they can. That's a bit different than the US who's enemies, for the most part, are separated by oceans or thousands of miles of land.

If we take the event that triggered this debate, the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, and we envision Connecticut not as a state in the United States, but as a sovereign nation surrounded by other sovereign nations that may be hostile to it, does that change the picture for you?

IMO, if we take the cut and dry numbers you calculated to provide another number for the solution, we ignore the fact that those numbers represent a person. People are unpredictable. On any given day, Egypt, Hamas, Lebanon, Syria, or Jordan may, individually or collectively decide to launch an attack against Israel. That's NOT the same thing as a lone, mentally disturbed individual launching an attack against small children in an unarmed school.

So, I believe that the comparison between 8 children murdered in school in the past 10 years versus 323 children murdered in school speaks volumes about having armed teachers.

[fudimo]

Thanks. I will look at the 1996 law.

[Dead Corpse]

http://www.gunlaws.com/Gun_Free_School_Zones_Act.pdf

Here you go...

[stuartcr]

The kid that did the shooting wasn’t an enemy of anyone, was he? I think that Israel just has different kids than we do in the US, as do a lot of countries.

[DustyMoment]

Perhaps Israel just doesn’t have those students that want to do these things, like the US has?

There is a vast difference, here. I don't know if you were intending to be factious or not, but I think we need to explore the sociological issues involved.

Israeli children grow up with the threat of random violence every single day. That's very similar top the children in the 50s and 60s who grew up during the Cold War, knowing that war could break out at any moment between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Israeli children, as the result of Israel being founded primarily as a religious state, grow up surrounded by religion, God, prayer and an awareness of the religious history of Israel.

Most American kids have no clue what that environment is like. They don't have the fear of an attack at any moment. They haven't necessarily lost friends and classmates to this kind of violence. But, they HAVE been raised in an environment in which God and religion have been under steady attack from the left - INCLUDING the schools!

So, IMO, what we are seeing in America is a vastly different situation than that of Israel and to make a comparison on that basis is unfair.

When we analyze the rash of shootings that have occurred this year alone, we find that they are perpetrated by people who are mentally disturbed or are unable to perform any sort of critical thinking because the schools don't like it when the students can outthink the teachers. And, the demand by the ACLU and other liberal organizations to "mainstream" kids who have mental or emotional issues is not helping those troubled kids. In many cases, mainstreaming only aggravates the situation because the troubled kid may be isolated or teased by his/her "normal" classmates.

To make a long story just a touch longer, the comparison between Israeli kids and American kids is not an apples to apples one, it is an apples to lettuce one.

[stuartcr]

I grew up in the 50&60’s, there was no violence and the cold war was nothing like what Israeli kids experience.

Of course it’s different. That’s why statistics for Israel can’t be used.

[Kenny]

I bet a number of them did have mace or something similar, but no chance to use it.

I don't know for sure but thought all such "weapons" were forbidden in schools.

[stuartcr]

I don’t see why. I doubt they have purse inspections for 40yo 3rd grade teachers.

[DustyMoment]

The kid that did the shooting wasn’t an enemy of anyone, was he?

Adam Lanza was 20, not a kid. But, the issue is that HE wasn't an enemy of anyone, he considered those children and that school to be HIS enemy.

It's not a matter of playing word games, it is a matter of perception. Adam's mother voluteered at the school and spent a fair amount of time with those kids. Adam had been home schooled from about the 8th or 9th grade (I think), but saw his mother constantly going to Sandy Hook to volunteer her time with those children.

As a result, Adam didn't believe that his mother was spending as much time with him as he needed her to. This caused an anger to build in him toward a building and its occupants. He wasn't going after anyone in particular at the school, he was trying to kill a THING that he believed was robbing him of his mother's love. Those children and teachers simply became the faces of the thing he was trying to kill. This is how a mentally disturbed person sees these types of situations.

When we compare that to what is happening in Israel, the Arabs surrounding Israel are trying to destroy Israel and everything that represents or is a face of Israel to them. This includes destroying Judaism which, for the most part, goes hand in hand with Israel. So, we can see a parallel between Adam Lanza and the Arabs because both are trying to eradicate something that the believe represents a threat to them. Adam believed that the kids were a threat to his mother's love for him, the Arabs believe that Israel is a threat to their security (when the truth is the exact opposite - but don't ever try to confuse an Arab with facts!). Israel, in essence then, represents a THING to the Arabs that must be destroyed just as The school and its occupants represented a THING that Adam Lanza needed to destroy to regain his mother's love.

[Dick Bachert]

Every Marine I know — and that’s quite a few — never takes just a brain to a potential gunfight!