Part 2: What will be done?

Question

 [Please note this is a two part question.  Please read both parts before responding to either.  Thanks!]

But enough about that. I want to address the idea that some teachers and/or administrators should be armed. Really? Let’s say we give five people the authority to bring a gun into the school. No matter how “secret” the plan is, it would not take long before just about every kid in the school knew not only who had the gun but where it was kept. So… for a student with bad intentions, he now knows where there is an available gun. If a teacher is one of the 14% of teachers in the country who is going to be physically assaulted....... now he/she has to deal with the very real possibility that he/she may be overpowered and lose possession of his/her gun. If a student comes to school knowing he can’t get into the building with a gun, and if he has the intention to commit violence against a teacher, an administrator, a security guard, or a fellow student or group of students who have been bullying him, then he knows where he can arm himself. Go to the where the gun is and get it. Then use it on the teacher or on the kid’s perceived enemies, or both. Don’t think, “Oh, that wouldn’t happen.” Ask just about any teacher. You’ll find they think it could and would happen.

Oh… Right. Lock up the gun so the kid(s) can’t get to it. Now an active shooter enters the room with his AR-15, ready to fire. The first person he looks at is the teacher. If the teacher is reaching for the gun he/she has in the ankle holster, in a purse, or locked in a desk drawer, do you really think there is enough time for the teacher to react, get the weapon, load it, aim it, and fire before the shooter does? The shooter was already preparing for this moment. The teacher wasn’t. That teacher is dead. And the shooter has another gun.

These school shootings are over in a matter of minutes. Sometimes seconds. It is unrealistic to think that a teacher, whose daily job is… uh.. TEACHING… would be so well-prepared and so well-trained for this moment that he/she would be effective in the situation, regardless of previous training, military or otherwise.  

For example… this week’s shooting occurred AFTER armed authorities confronted him outside the school. They opened fire on him. Despite this, the shooter, protected by body armor, was able to enter the building through a rear entrance after being confronted by the school’s armed security guard, who “engaged” the suspect (we don’t know at this time if they exchanged gunfire.) This time, the shooter entered a classroom, locked the door, and began to shoot. Official reports say he was in the school for 40 or more minutes before a tactical team was able to break in and fatally wound Ramos. But we should arm the teachers… Really? I mean, REALLY???

So what will be done? A week ago on my Facebook page, I wrote about the Buffalo shooting and said NOTHING will be done. And so far, nothing HAS been done. What do I think now? Hint: right after the Parkwood shooting when the students themselves organized and held a march in Washington, D.C, I was hopeful that something would finally – FINALLY – get done. But I was wrong. Nothing was done. So what will be done? I HOPE something reasonable will be done. But I have had my hopes dashed too many times in the past to be optimistic. My reluctant bet is that nothing will be done... again. Where do I get this pessimism?

Counting ONLY school shootings where total dead/wounded = 5 or more:
1999 Columbine, CO (13 dead, 21 wounded)
2001 Santee, CA (2 dead, 13 wounded)
2002 Grundy, VA (3 dead, 3 wounded at law school shooting)
2005 Red Lake, MN (7 dead, 7 wounded)
2006 Nickel Mines, PA (5 dead, 5 wounded)
2007 Blacksburg, VA (32 dead, 17 wounded at Virginia Tech)
2008 DeKalb, IL (5 dead, 28 wounded)
2012 Chardon, OH (3 dead, 3 wounded)
2012 Oakland, CA (7 dead, 3 wounded)
2014 Newtown, CT (26 dead, 2 wounded)
2015 Rosebud, OR (10 dead, 9 wounded)
2017 Rancho Tehama, CA (6 dead, 18 wounded)
2018 Marshall County, KY (2 dead, 14 wounded)
2018 Parkland, FL (17 dead, 17 wounded)
2018 Santa Fe, TX (10 dead, 13 wounded)
2019 Charlotte, NC (2 dead, 4 wounded)
2019 Highlands Ranch, CO (1 dead, 8 wounded)
2019 Santa Clarita, CA (2 dead, 3 wounded)
2021 Grambling, LA (1 dead, 7 wounded)
2021 Oxford Township, MI (4 dead, 7 wounded)
2022 Uvalde, TX (21 dead, 15+ wounded) [Count ongoing at this posting] 

Note: no incidents are being reported where there were no fatalities even if the number of wounded was 5 or more.

Answer 1

Media, 

    Thanks for the time you spent to write this insightful writing. I appreciate it. 

   I too believe that guns in the hands of teachers woud fail. Firstly, I would not have wanted that responsibility, to be in front of a classroom and aim at a shooter. I could not hold a gun, even if I was trained, it's just not me. Secondly, the gun could be wrestled from me if the gunman had a chance to do it, and the situation would be worse. Now he has two weapons. 

  I remember the lockdown procedures and drills that we had in schools--first, for bombs (in the case of notes left on teachers' desks saying that a bomb had been placed in a bathroom) and later for the case of shooters in the schools (never happened, thank you, God).  During my last years as a teacher I was in a pre-kindergarten class, and twice a month we had the lockdown drills. We had to place an entire class (18 or so) in the bathrooms and in the classroom closet (we'd split the class into boys and girls sometimes, I had one set of chilldren and the regular teascher had the other).We had to tell the children while trying to maintain quiet that we were doing this to practice in case there were "bad people" in the building that wanted to hurt us. The principal and vice principal would make sure that our doors were locked, doors had a dark paper covering them, windows were locked and secured, and then we'd wait until we heard someone rattling the doorknob (the Princ or V Princ). The children were frightened--so they'd have this look of horror on ttheir faces whenever these would happen. Some thought it was funny and we had to keep them quiet. Mind you, the ones in special ed that I taught were sometimes the best behaved--and some were the worst to try and keep quiet. 

    I am for having trained marshalls inside the schools--but besides this, as expensive as it is--metal detectors should be made madatory in all schools. But the real solution would be--to own a gun would be very difficult. 

    On my niece's FB page, she was very upset about this last shooting, and she posted the pictures of all the children who had died. I wrote on it, and I added "We need to get guns out of the hands of people".  And when one nephew disagreed with me and told me that more guns (with more policemen, etc) would be the answer, this is what I replied: 

C- , read these facts. The US is #2 in the world for homicides due to guns, second only to Brazil. It is pretty obvious that the more guns people can get--the more potential for violence in that country. The fact is--guns are too easily gotten, and by the wrong people. By contrast, in Japan, it is very hard for someone to get a gun. It has a population of 127 million people, and yet in 2019 the death rate was .02 per 100,000 people. In order to get a gun there, a person needs to attend an all-day class, pass a written exam, and copmplete a shooting-range test with at least a 95% accuracy. They ALSO receive a mental health evaluation, performed at a hospital, and will have comprehensive backround checks done by the gov't. ONLY shotguns and rifles can be purchased. The class and exam must be taken every 3 years. While this may be a little too late for this country to do that now--I think we should follow similar procedures at this point --and have whatever agency or organization take care of finding out information on guns that were bought legally and illegally, and get information on those people. These would be contacted and brought in, and their guns "held" until it was found they were sane enough to possess arms.

       And that, seemed to make him think some. It is up to the politicians to do something, and that is the problem we face. 

Answer 2

It's a very simple answer.

Guns + people kill.

One has to be removed. 

Answer 3

The teachers at my kids schools have access to a gun.  

They are locked in a box in certain rooms 

.

Do I feel better about them having access if a psycho starts shooting?

In a high stress situation people act differently.   

I've had teachers who were a bit nutty and wouldn't trust them with a firearm.   

Hell,  regular handgun ammunition won't go through body armor  which BTW is easily bought online.   

The local sheriff posted his thoughts and prayers. 

I pretty much told him to shove those t&p up his ass. 

I looked up the type of gun they have. 

Glock 9mm.      Definitely won't go through a bullet proof vest.     

They ain't working.    

 My suggestion to him:  retrain teachers to aim for the head.    It's the only damn thing that will instantly stop a psycho.     

Comments

Several simulations have been conducted where trained subjects were put into “classrooms” where they know there will be some kind of disturbance during the course of the class. In nearly every instance, the trained subjects were ineffective and often the first ones to be shot by the intruder, who saw them going into purses or leg holsters. 

I have qualified with several weapons with both hands for some of the things I did many years ago, but even at that, if you are focused on teaching and the safety of your kids, you cannot instantly change ro “combat mode."

Answer 4

The S.A.S. will tell you your first option should be to run.

Answer 5

It's so damn frustrating!  Why the FUCK can an 18 year old (or any civilian really) get military style guns and oversized ammo clips!  The NRA and it's mentality are a cancer on our country. 

Comments

It would be great if the NRA were fined everytime something like this happened.  Clint Eastwood should be ashamed.