President Trump and Senator Cruz have suggested making schools hardened targets by making them single point ingress, and placing security there. Experts are saying that this won’t work. They claim that because making a single point entry won’t stop all shootings, it isn’t worth doing.
Let’s just start by saying that there is not one magic solution that will stop all shooters. I don’t think that it is possible to stop all mass murderers, however, even the FBI had admitted (pdf warning) that every active shooter incident since 2000 has happened in a ‘gun free zone’. It makes for interesting reading.
All you can do is make their efforts more difficult in the hope that it will greatly reduce the number of incidents, and reduce the number of victims in each incident. With that in mind, Florida went a long way in doing just that:
- Every school in the state must be surrounded by a fence that is a minimum of 5 feet tall. Any opening in that fence must have security in place to ensure that unauthorized people aren’t entering campus.
- Security cameras must monitor hallways so office staff can monitor them for intruders.
- All schools must have armed security on campus during school hours.
- All classrooms must be locked except during period changes.
- Train teachers and students on how to barricade classrooms, which turned into a pissing contest between teachers and cops.
That doesn’t mean that Florida is perfect. They failed in one area when they instituted a “guardian” program to allow teachers who volunteer for over 100 hours of training to carry weapons on campus. The failure was that any teacher wanting to be a guardian is subject to a requirement that they be approved by both the county sheriff and the Superintendent of the school district. This has resulted in no schools arming teachers in the entire state, with the exception of the superintendents and their chosen friends in each school district. This means that maybe a dozen or so teachers at most are approved in each district, and they are likely to be office personnel that are not present on school campuses, but rather in the district central office, where no students are present. The guardian program wound up being a waste of time, like may issue.
In summary, the only way to reduce the number of school shootings is make the school a less attractive target. Single point access control is just one of several things that need to happen.
10 Comments
Steve S · May 29, 2022 at 1:40 pm
100 hours? Way more than most LE gets for range time let alone active shooter intervention.
Uvalde has many of these things, and many failure points. Back door propped open, SRO in wrong place, etc. Apparently no armed teachers though. And they had active shooter training.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-mass-shooting-uvalde-school-district-had-security-measures-in-place-prior-to-tragedy/ar-AAXGo9d
Divemedic · May 29, 2022 at 4:35 pm
Yeah, that was one of my points. When the guardian program was announced, I bought a new pistol specifically for carrying at school, and began doing hardcore practice. I was putting 500 rounds a week in for practice. Even though the training was 134 hours (basically three full time weeks) on your own dime, I volunteered. Then I was told that no teachers were going to be carrying, because the superintendent was selecting only administrators at the county headquarters to be a part of the program.
Yep · May 29, 2022 at 1:53 pm
Unknown on accuracy – according to here, the Uvalde folks (LEO) had recently completed active shooter training
https://www.sgtreport.com/2022/05/uvalde-cops-had-active-shooter-training-just-weeks-before-elementary-school-massacre/
JebTexas · May 29, 2022 at 2:09 pm
My ISD here in N. Texas allows teachers w/ a CCP to apply to carry on campus. They do not name the ones who apply, so NO ONE knows who’s carrying & who’s not. No longer a gun-free zone, ya know! Maybe not a solution, but definitely a step in the right direction.
Big Ruckus D · May 29, 2022 at 2:15 pm
I’ll just say that the authorities making the list of suggestions for impoved security are of the very same leviathan which – as in the Uvalde shooting – were involved in seeing those measures either accidentally or intentionally circumvented.
The propped back door makes a secure single point secured entrance moot. CCTV cameras? FFS, research the incarceration of one Epstein, Jeffery for the remarkable effectiveness of those. Most of the suggestions are not only big govenrmnet spending boondoggles, but are easily undermined or flat out defeated by subversive actors within the system. And I think we have to admit that there are too many convenient screw ups that ensured worse outcomes in both the present case, and in many notable past events, to really believe they were all just coincidental anymore.
Building a better mousetrap is stupid, when those designing and building the mousetraps are working in concert with the mice. I really don’t see how we can’t draw the conclusion that is exactly what’s taking place, on some level. Genuine errors have a random distribution, and yet the errors we keep seeing in how these events play out all seem to go one way: towards ensuring more dead, and reinforcing the complete lack of accountability for those ostensibly in charge.
Jonathan · May 29, 2022 at 2:57 pm
Exactly. The suggestions we see implemented are the ones that make money for special interests, not the ones that make sense.
The one door access and doors locked during class are going to fall quickly, and in most cases have already.
You can’t stop the attack – you have to be ready to fight back and minimize the damage. In most cases, that means arming personnel where it can make a difference.
AC47spooky · May 29, 2022 at 3:22 pm
Right on. Well said – when the stats all go the same way – it’s fraud.
greggBC · May 29, 2022 at 2:45 pm
Pretty much every school district has a number of retired, trained former military that would be more than willing and proud to come and provide school security. Most already have their own equipment to do the job. Some/many would do it just for lunch. A resource not being used.
Divemedic · May 29, 2022 at 4:36 pm
That won’t happen. The left believes that every veteran is a ticking time bomb of PTSD and domestic terrorists in waiting.
EN2 SS · May 29, 2022 at 4:38 pm
It just keeps getting worse;
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10865753/Mom-Texas-shooting-victim-bled-learns-daughter-lived-police-acted-quicker.html
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