Massive School Walkout Across Florida and Elsewhere

[_honorentheos]

Not to mention it's exactly the narrative pushed by Russian trolls and bots on social media within an hour of the shooting...not a good look for a President already trying to tell people the whole Russia thing is a liberal conspiracy to undermine his Presidency.

[_EAllusion]

Other than the Columbine shooters, did any of them expect to be killed in the process?

The Columbine shooters had fantasies of getting away and continuing their rampage. But most spree killers go in on a suicide mission, yes.

Or it would provide teachers with a method to bring an end to the killing much faster.

I previously linked this analysis of active shooter situations from 2000 to 2013:

https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/act ... 1.pdf/view

Of the 160 situations 4 were stopped by armed civilians. 3 were on-duty security guards and 1 was a ex-military who happened to be in the area. The majority of the incidents were stopped when the shooter took their own life or fled the scene. There is a wealth of information here indicating cross-fire in mass shootings is potentially dangerous and confusing for emergency responders. The "good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun" narrative almost never happens.

Meanwhile, arming teachers, cafeteria workers, and janitors increases the odds that one of them uses their weapon when they've snapped or have their gun taken from them to start a violent incident. It also increases the odds that some will use their guns to intimidate others thus creating a more threatening environment for students to be in.

It's just about the worst possible idea imaginable, and it is not a coincidence that it is the one response that allows gun manufacturers to respond by selling more guns.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Who in their right mind would arm teachers? Lol. Half those people are ready to snap and you want them armed?

No thanks.

- Doc

[_EAllusion]

The Sheriff who has the Parkland school in his jurisdiction has announced they will be having deputies patrol the school grounds with rifles. Because nothing says liberty quite like attending a school guarded like it is a prison. It never ceases to be nuts that the same people who argue that the public retains the right to be armed to the teeth with little to no regulation due to the need to protect against the government are the same people who are mostly likely to argue for a veritable police state. I predict there'll be a good overlap between people most opposed to new gun control laws in response to this even and people who think this is a great response that should be an enduring feature of how schools work.

To quote Radley Balko, "There's little data to suggest putting cops in schools has made the students at those schools safer. The students *are*, however, more likely to be tased, beaten, body-slammed, and arrested for misbehavior that previously resulted in detention or suspension."

It's also good time to remind people that armed police walking around creates non-trivial risk of innocent people being killed by those police. If the incidence of mass shootings is your baseline, then we can say it happens all the time.

[_EAllusion]

Who in their right mind would arm teachers? Lol. Half those people are ready to snap and you want them armed?

No thanks.

- Doc

I know this is hyperbole, but there are plenty of people who work at schools who are on the edge at one point or another in their career. There is a ton of evidence that one of the factors that determines if a person uses a gun against themselves or others is if a gun is readily available. I would bet my house that widespread adoption of concealed weapons among teachers and other school officials that are expected to respond to violent situations would create more deaths than it would prevent in the form of spree killings.

On a personal note, I was a slacker in high school. I performed well on tests, but I didn't take the classes seriously. In AP computer science my senior year, I put most of my effort into cracking computer science jokes during lectures. After doing this one time too many and the entire class bursting into laughter, the teacher completely snapped. He marched over to where I was, kicked another student's chair out from under him to get closer to me, and proceeded to pick up a computer monitor and throw it against the wall over my head. He then shouted in a crazed, squeaky pitch about how we are all killing him. I don't remember the exact wording, but he said a line close to, "I have to die of a heart attack in my 40's for this?!" But that didn't happen until he shouted "Stop it! Stop it!..." way too many times. He turned purple. Afterwards, he sat in his chair for the remainder of the class, which was at least 15 minutes, running his hands through his hair repetitively in silence.

If he was armed, I'd give it a coin-flippy chance that dude would've eventually killed someone. That wasn't the only time he exploded. I know he once was suspended for fighting a student.

[_Kevin Graham]

It's just about the worst possible idea imaginable, and it is not a coincidence that it is the one response that allows gun manufacturers to respond by selling more guns.

Bingo.

[_Gadianton]

If I were a teacher I would refuse to be armed. The probability I would ever be in a situation where I could put down a planned attack with an AR-15 and Kevlar with a small side piece is about zero, and the probability that students would accuse me of threatening them with a gun for playing with their cell phone or being late for class is about 1.

[_DoubtingThomas]

It's just about the worst possible idea imaginable, and it is not a coincidence that it is the one response that allows gun manufacturers to respond by selling more guns.

Science and technology (not politicians) are going to find the most effective solution to stop mass shootings. Gun control can help, but it is not a magical solution.

2 | Schools Become Fortresses

As mass shootings become a fact of life in the United States, some buildings are getting outfitted with technologies that might at least limit the bloodshed. High-tech, high-volume body scanners and bullet-resistant, automatically locking doors are already on the market. “Gunfire detectors”—originally developed for use on battlefields and the streets of high-crime neighborhoods—are popping up in classrooms, playgrounds, and cafeterias. A company called SST ShotSpotter recently introduced SecureCampus, an auditory gunfire-detection system that maps the layout of a school and sends the precise location of a shooting to security guards and emergency responders.

In July, after a sniper shot 12 officers in Dallas, police armed a small robot with a bomb and detonated it next to the shooter—killing him, and ending an hours-long standoff. It was the first time police in the U.S. had ever used a robot to kill a suspect. As robots and drones become more commonplace, they’re likely to play an increased role in all areas of public life, including mass shootings. So-called security robots already patrol parking lots and shopping centers in California, like dehumidifier-shaped mall cops. The Knightscope K5, for instance, uses sensors and high-definition cameras to monitor a GPS-defined area, scanning for people who don’t belong there. The company behind the robot is hoping to develop gun-detection software that will let it recognize firearms and alert authorities if one is spotted. One day, such robots might even be able to stop a gunman on their own. A weapon-equipped robot might track down a shooter using visual sensors and data gathered via a ShotSpotter-like system. After locating the gunman, it could fire at him—or, perhaps, incapacitate him with nonlethal force.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I sure hope this younger generation can effectuate change. In 2015 over 132,000 Americans were shot:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GunsAreCool/wi ... ar_figures

with over 36,000 fatalities.

HOW IS THIS ONGOING WAR AGAINST OURSELVES IS ACCEPTABLE?

- Doc

[_subgenius]

Other than the Columbine shooters, did any of them expect to be killed in the process?

The Columbine shooters had fantasies of getting away and continuing their rampage. But most spree killers go in on a suicide mission, yes.

Do you have evidence that "most" intend suicide...and more importantly, do you have a specific response to the context of Shades' question whereas "most" school shooters" expect to be killed?

Nevertheless, the expectation of the shooter is irrelevant - the means by which a motivated killer is halted from killing is the issue of providing school staff with a means to do just that.