Armed Cop was at School: didn't go in

[_Jersey Girl]

Well EA, this Florida shooting had one SRO covering a student body of 3K HS students and I don't know how many buildings. At least 2 buildings.

That doesn't seem like enough to me. I think I'd be tempted to go with one per 1K students?

[_EAllusion]

Well EA, this Florida shooting had one SRO covering a student body of 3K HS students and I don't know how many buildings. At least 2 buildings.

That doesn't seem like enough to me. I think I'd be tempted to go with one per 1K students?

Well, on the one hand we have almost incalculable harm being created by police criminalizing student behavior that used to treated as a disciplinary problem leading to lifetime reductions in quality of life and societal harm.

On the other, in the very rare case of active shooters in schools, we have zero incidents of them being stopped by police engagement. I guess the solution is that we need to have even more police in schools to stop them.

[_Jersey Girl]

EA is that you editing my above post for language or is the word censor doing that. Either way, why was that edited? Explain please?

[_EAllusion]

EA is that you editing my above post for language or is the word censor doing that. Either way, why was that edited? Explain please?

I deleted instances of the f-word and s-word per the forum rule that states:

Do not use the "F" or "S" words or any of their many variants.

[_Jersey Girl]

EA is that you editing my above post for language or is the word censor doing that. Either way, why was that edited? Explain please?

I deleted instances of the f-word and s-word per the forum rule that states:

Do not use the "F" or "S" words or any of their many variants.

I thought that's what we have the word censor for? In any case, thank you for answering and how about take a crack at this one. viewtopic.php?p=1112805#p1112805 Also the post that preceded it authored by the same poster.

[_Jersey Girl]

Well, on the one hand we have almost incalculable harm being created by police criminalizing student behavior that used to treated as a disciplinary problem leading to lifetime reductions in quality of life and societal harm.

I'm going to read through that before commenting further. I'm thinking you're referring to the hypothetical 5th grader with autism who is cuffed and detained in a police cruiser. Will read the article less I assume.

On the other, in the very rare case of active shooters in schools, we have zero incidents of them being stopped by police engagement. I guess the solution is that we need to have even more police in schools to stop them.

I think the theory behind this is two-fold. 1) That police would be on site when an incident took place and 2) as a deterrent, the thinking being that once potential shooters know a facility is under heavier and armed security that they won't choose that as a soft target because it isn't any longer.

I don't think those are unrealistic solutions. At the same time, I wouldn't want to see teaching staff as part of the stepped uparmed security force in a school. Maybe...maybe...if the teacher with prior miltary service volunteered to CC or has a FCC permit. Maybe then. But only then.

[_Markk]

Can you explain what you think would've happened had you been armed in scenario 1, 2, and 3 respectively? This is interesting.

- Doc

1. The pistol thing was bang bang, I was walking home at night when I was in my late teens and a car pulled up and a old man ( lol probably 40) parked his car, walked briskly over to me and said "have you ever been shot punk" pulling out a pistol..when he was about 5 feet away I started to put my hands up... then he just pistol whipped me, got in his car and left. I woke up on a lawn bleeding, and that was it.

2. The crescent wrench thing was at work, before I got into construction...again late teens... I worked in a steel foundry ( for not very long:) ), making train wheels. We were working grave yard and me an few buddies jumped in a maintenance cart that wasn't ours to go to the break room. Everybody did it on grave yard shift in that very few maintenance folks worked grave yard...turns out it was assigned to one that was working...he got upset, there were words, he picked up the wrench and attacked me with it, I in turn hit him with my fist and it was over. I got fired in that I was in the weaker union, he kept his job.

3. The tire iron thing...I was making a left hand turn into my driveway, and did not have my blinker on...and a guy was going way too fast in a residential neighborhood and tried pass me on the left and we almost wrecked. He got out and started to walk to my car, I opened the door to get out and he slammed the door on me and pinned me, and he punched me in the face. I got out from behind the door and kicked his butt pretty good. I walked him back to his truck by the arm and kinda pushed him into his seat as I said "don't come back here again"...he went crazy, momentum shifted, and he grabbed a tire iron and started swinging it at me wildly as I did my best to not get hit, doing my best Ali imitation. My next door neighbor was a older lady that started freaking out and said she was going to call the cops...he gave up trying to catch me and got in his truck and left.

That's pretty much it.

1. I had every right to shoot that guy...but probably would not have time to do much if I was armed, it happened so fast, maybe 5 seconds, and I am not in anyway, shape, or form endorsing letting teenagers carry...I was 17-18?

2. I was at work. It was a huge mistake on my part, I could have handled it much better and just walked away and said I was sorry, and he could have said no problem ask next time.

3. I had no idea the guy was going to punch me...I handled it okay after he hit me.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Markk,

I'm glad to see you got out of those situations relatively unscathed. It's strange how life can go sideways in an instant, and how violence can manifest so quickly.

- Doc

[_Kevin Graham]

Well EAllusion, this Florida shooting had one SRO covering a student body of 3K HS students and I don't know how many buildings. At least 2 buildings.

That doesn't seem like enough to me. I think I'd be tempted to go with one per 1K students?

Well, there were four officers not just one. And they hid instead of engaging the assailant.

https://nypost.com/2018/02/23/four-sher ... -shooting/

[_Kevin Graham]

While I have empathy for Peterson, the fact of the matter is he's a coward. His literal job is to protect the public from those who would do it harm, and he sat there frozen. That is cowardice.

But, in my opinion, the real cowards are those who keep us all armed to the teeth because they believe, against all odds, that they'll be the ones who have to fend off a home invasion or worse, the government will try to round them up and send them off to whatever sick fantasy they've built up in their minds. They live in fear, cowards, clutching their guns, viewing everyone with suspicion to the point of arming themselves.

That's cowardice. That's a lack of balls. To live your life thinking, at odds greater than that of winning the lottery, that you're going to need to discharge your weapon in defense of your life.

And we're all paying the price for it. Cowards.

- Doc

The more I think about this the more I'm inclined to agree with Doc. I get that people don't know how they're going to respond unless they're in those situations. And if this were some kid in Iraq freezing up in his first act of live combat, I could understand if he froze up a bit.

But anyone taking the job as an armed security guard at a school for children has to know that he is there for the sole purpose of circumventing mass shootings. He also has to know that if he feels that he is not, absolutely, 100%, up to the task of facing armed assailants, then he needs to step aside and let someone else handle it. Because otherwise he is bargaining with the lives of hundreds of children. Which he did. And lost.