Stop school shootings...

A

adamBomb

New member
So my question to you all, what the heck can we really do to stop these things?

The left wants guns banned. The right wants teachers to carry. Neither is going to happen and each is really just a bandaid to the real problem about why these are happening in the first place. So realistically, what can be done? I don't have a solution but the gun community really needs to work on this problem because if this keeps happening the left is going to get their ban.

My thoughts on potential solutions:

- allow teachers/students to carry if they choose to and have ccw but do NOT require it because that is asking for trouble
- bullet proof doors/windows with good locks
- drill and practice 'what if' scenarios in schools so teachers know what to do
- Maybe hire a police officer for each school...but way too expensive probably.
- Good alarm systems.
- Lock down drills


Realistically, this is probably it.
 
Other than being ratted out by other students or co-workers, and getting arrested before the event, there is no way to stop a school shooting until after it has begun.

Once it begins, the only way to stop it is armed response by the closest person carrying a weapon.

Your suggestions above are all good ones. However, I would not say hiring a police office for a school is too expensive. An armed officer on a campus would cost what, perhaps $50,000 a year? Many school systems spend that much money bussing kids to sports events, field trips, or just heating the gymnasium while the cheerleaders practice.
 
Repeal the " Gun Free Zone" the news will go crazy over it and will be broadcast over and over. This will not stop all but it will make the person thinking about it rethink because they will not know if or who would be able to stop them. With only 1 exception the only thing that has stopped mass shooters is more guns showing up to stop them.
 
My thoughts on potential solutions:

- allow teachers/students to carry if they choose to and have ccw but do NOT require it because that is asking for trouble
- bullet proof doors/windows with good locks
- drill and practice 'what if' scenarios in schools so teachers know what to do
- Maybe hire a police officer for each school...but way too expensive probably.
- Good alarm systems.
- Lock down drills
Click to expand...


In our local school district, they already do 5 of the 6 you list. All but the first one is already being done. With the atmosphere I felt from the local police when we had our two days of training here, was that at some point, the first one will probably become reality also. Still it won't stop all the attacks, nor will it stop all the killing. But then neither will more gun regulations.
 
adamBomb said:
So my question to you all, what the heck can we really do to stop these things?
Click to expand...
You can't stop them, unless you're willing to turn schools into prisons with wire screens on the windows and armed guards with metal detectors at the doors.

Even then, you may stop "shootings" but you won't stop massacres. There was one in Germany several years ago in which the assailant used a home-built flame thrower. The worst school massacre in the history of the United States was in Bath Township, Michigan. I believe it was 1927 (or thereabouts). The weapon of choice was dynamite. The only reason the death toll wasn't double was that the guy set charges under both wings of a school but only one of them went off.

Review your list carefully, and not a single one of your suggestions will prevent an incident. Some of them may reduce the body count, but they won't prevent the incident.

Police in every school? There was a police officer on duty at Columbine. Lotta good that did.

The only thing certain about life is that nobody gets out alive.
 
Like some have said, short of getting rid of carry bans on campuses, there really isn't a lot that can be done.

- BACKGROUND CHECKS - All fine and good but it only weeds out criminals and creates a registry if not done properly.

- PSYCH PROFILE & REPORTING - Aside from the slippery slope on who gets to define the standards, what about the sane person that goes through a series of stressors and snaps? Absolutely no way to prevent that.

- REPEAL 2ND AMENDMENT - Yeah, right. How fast can you say civil unrest?

I can go on for many more paragraphs & bullet points, but I have to go pick up my pizza. :)
 
Good guys with guns. The same as deterrence for anything else. This ain't rocket science. It's a violent world. No gun laws will alter that.
 
Just getting rid of the "gun free zone" and allowing concealed carry according
to state law would go a long ways. By "allowing carry" I mean everybody.
Staff, students, visitors----if they are legal to carry on the street, they are
good-to-go on campus.

It wouldn't take much. These whacko's are NOT interested in resistance,
they want a target rich environment to max the body count before they go out
in a blaze of glory. Just the POSSIBILITY that this student or that teacher
MIGHT have the means at hand to stop their evil intentions before they
even get started would probably be enough to make them reconsider.
 
Are we focusing on the wrong thing?
It appears that we have a mental health issue. Don't get trapped into a debate over firearms.
 
The media should stop publishing the 'nuts' names and background information. These characters are looking for publicity and their perverted glory and fame. Denying it will cut back on copycats.
 
I hardly knew what to say when I heard the head of that school refer to his campus as a "gun free zone." Little to nothing was done to secure the campus, and people had just died by gunfire, and to him it was a gun free zone because he wanted it to be. In the face of that kind of thinking, I am afraid that nothing at all can be done to keep people safe.
 
Create a magic spell to remove all guns from the USA.

Otherwise - from my reading of the literature, you can make a dent in the number by emphasizing folks who hear the threats to report them. That is usually done by women. IIRC, around 50 shooters were caught or prevented by such.

I suggest that if you have a relative with mental health issues - depression, suicidal ideation, paranoid delusions - AND you know of a secret arsenal.

What's that? Lots of guns with no real interest in the sporting sports, discussing self-defense with others, etc. Basically a hidden stash - and with the other signs, - might suggest getting help or reporting. That's harsh but seems an indicator in a few cases.
 
As a student in the public school system, these lock down drills are idiotic,IMO. The students hide behind a desk or in the corner of the class room in every drill, lights go off in EVERY ROOM, so the shooter knows there are kids in the rooms, half the kids are on their phones/cutting up with friends, and they announce that there is going to be a drill most of the time. We're like cattle.
 
Are we focusing on the wrong thing?
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Yes, and both sides are. We keep going after the tools used rather than the underlying problem.

Background checks and categorical bans aren't going to fix this. Neither is CCW in schools.

What is the problem? It's hard to nail down. Narcissism, failure, depression, and nihilism appear to be factors. So do SSRI's (Prozac, Zoloft), which were prescribed to all but one school shooter, as well as the Aurora and Tucson shooters.

Of course, nobody wants to be the one calling to restrict those. Half the kids in the country are on that stuff. It's easier to shout about guns.

It's easy to get trapped in the argument and start proposing solutions. That's a bad idea. Why? Partially because we're not (well, most of us) experts on the subject. But also because it's not our responsibility.

There are plenty of folks claiming to have the answers, and they think restricting guns is going to fix the problem. The responsibility is on them to prove their proposals will work.
 
Andy Blozinsky said:
How is turning off the lights in 100% of the rooms separating out empty rooms from full rooms?
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Classroom lights typically stay on all day. If a classroom is empty, who's going to turn off the lights in that room?

Ergo: Lights off = Occupied
 
One of the least expensive things that can be done to curb this whole thing is for the media to quit publishing the guy's name. If they give no attention to the guy himself then it will cut at least half of these guys out. That is also one of the hardest things to accomplish.
 
Here in our little middle class rual Sothern County we have a County Officer in every school every day . Not a security gaurd or rent a Cop but a County LEO carrying a hand gun and a carbine and shot gun in thier patrol car . If we can do that here on our budget why cant the rest of the Country . They also are good at calming rowdy students and angry Parents .
 
We have those aswell. An old guy with a 1911 and a big dude with a Glock. They both have patrol cars and I assume they have more firepower inside.
 
We can never PREVENT all school shootings...

but we can, hopefully, minimize the number of victims by providing for an immediate armed response. I don't favor having teachers/staff carry personal concealed weapons because (1) inevitably someone will get careless and leave a weapon in a briefcase, purse, or desk drawer where a student can get ahold of it, and because (2) you're asking a minimally trained individual with a small concealed weapon to engage a shooter possibly armed with an autoloading rifle or shotgun.

Rather, I would encourage schools to stage secure lockers around the campus with fully-loaded AR-15 rifles and armored "raid jackets" clearly marked "Police" or "Security." Only properly trained and qualified school staff would have keys to the lockers. Upon hearing shots fired, the designated staff would unlock the lockers, don the raid jackets and engage the shooter. The raid jackets would provide a modicum of defense against return fire, and would plainly identify the staff member as a "good guy" to responding law enforcement.

Also, I would encourage the Federal gov't to lean on the news media to get them as much as possible to not publicize the shooters' names or any details of their lives. If prospective shooters were to understand that they would not gain fame from their deeds, that would do more to prevent future mass shootings than anything I can conceive of.

Since you asked.....
 
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