School shootings. Ideas on how to reduce the damage?

[DrivesGuy]

My wife is a teacher's aide and works with special needs children. She has also taught kindergarten. She has a degree in early childhood development. She is also a former Marine. Gun Regulation is not the answer. The firearms were legally purchased by the woman who's son killed her with the very weapons she bought. She also taught at the school. After her son dispatched her, he used her ID to gain access to the school. According to my wife, the school followed protocol and because of the protocol, many more lives were saved. From what I understand is this guy suffered from a form of high functioning Autism known as Asperger's Syndrome. He was home-schooled because he could not function in the class room. But apparently this guy was a video game freak who spent his days playing murder and mayhem online in a virtual killing field. It was here he began to be desensitized to the slaughter of innocent people. His mother was somewhat responsible because she failed to keep the weapons secure along with the ammunition. Now you have the precious children of New Town Connecticut becoming victims along with their parents. Can anyone imagine the sorrow and pain these mothers and father's must feel when they went home on Friday night and looked at all those presents for their babies under the tree? The heartache must be searing. What can be done? I have heard a lot of suggestions, but I am just not sure that arming the teachers or the administrators is the answer. Educators are not trained in handling weapons. They are teachers. To me the solution might be a volunteer watch to guard the children while they are in the class room.

 

[Glocktogo]

What can be done? I have heard a lot of suggestions, but I am just not sure that arming the teachers or the administrators is the answer. Educators are not trained in handling weapons. They are teachers. To me the solution might be a volunteer watch to guard the children while they are in the class room.

They can't be armed without training and coordination. Not effectively or safely that is. Even volunteer watch persons would require the same. In a perfect example, the community itself would set the policies and procedures, using guidelines promulgated by personal security professionals. I specifically point to personal security professionals because neither the police nor most security are trained in response and protection for individuals. Most security is trained to protect property and police are trained to process crimes and protect themselves. Having worked in all three fields, I have a unique frame of reference for that assessment.

When discussing armed security in a school setting, you're essentially talking in-place VIP protection. Your VIP’s are the children and to a certain extent, unarmed adults who comprise the potential victim pool. Security of the property itself is only relevant in the context of advancing security for the principals (protected persons, not school administrators in this context). Due to the nature of the setting and environment, weapons control, accountability and deconfliction are critical elements of a successful plan. TTP’s have to be developed, coordinated with local law enforcement agencies and practiced. Hardly any school is going to spend much if any money on the project, so it would require volunteers willing to spend time, money and effort on it. A perfect model would be the TSA Federal Flight Deck Officer Program as administered by the TSA Office of Law Enforcement. All FFDO’s are volunteers who spend their own time and money to get training and remain current.

The only relevant question is whether our school children are valuable enough to make the effort worthwhile. We tend to guard our money and gold with armed men. We tend to guard our children with words and signs. Priorities of the damned if you ask me.

 

[farmerbyron]

I don't think that IEP's are the issue to solving school shootings. It's all in how they are implemented. My special needs daughter who is in elementary school in Owasso is on an IEP. It's the best thing in the world for her. I can see how some abuse the system, but I don't see how that really adds to the risk of school shootings. It all goes back to parenting in my mind, or the lack there of. my kids back packs get checked daily and we stay in constant contact with there teachers via e-mail, phone calls, and parent teacher meetings. You can't let your kids raise themselves these days. There is way to much messed up stuff out there and the internet makes seeing it and participating in it way to easy. It's instant access to the most vile things in our society. Parents for the most part have checked out and the kids are using their friends, TV, and the internet to find answers to what life is all about. That's the recipe for a morally bankrupt generation. It's where we are now and not getting better.

That's how I see it anyway. Feel free to disagree.

I'm not saying "do away with IEPs". Just that when students show aggression and violence towards other students and teachers, they should not be shielded by the IEP. My wife is a teacher and it blows my mind the things that these IEP students get away with. I'm talking outright threats and picking up scissors as weapons, etc. Basically they have to actually hurt someone before the can really take action. Otherwise they are open to lawsuits for not taking their IEP into account.

It's insanity and I don't know how you could not see a connection between emotionally disturbed kids on IEP and school shootings.

 

[hipshot]

Alot of good idea's here but I am surprised no one has mentioned the fact that some people are evil and will do evil deeds, I am guessing that it is because of the lack of parental guidance at home and the lack of GOD in their lives at home AND at school !! Bring back prayer in school because that could be the only way some people are ever introduced to GOD and the word. When we had prayer in school years ago every morning we never saw this kind of stuff happen and I say bring back corporal punishment also. That kept me somewhat in check just knowing that if I did wrong I would get my backside warmed up regardless of what anyone else said!
GOD, corporal punishment and a few good well trained teachers with guns in the classroom will do more good than anything! IMO

 

[cmhbob]

The mother was only an occasional sub at the school, and he didn't use her ID. He breached the door with gunfire, according to what I've read.

 

[flatwins]

Unfortunately, there are domestic shootings all the time.

I remember the sad story of last Christmas where an entire family was killed by one of its own members before he committed suicide.

 

[jcizzle]

My kid's school just put in a thing where you slide your DL and take a pic. Until this year you just typed in your name and it took you picture. I always typed in a bogus name or something like SuperDad. I always duck out of the way of the camera. My wife asks why. I tell it's bc nobody ever actually pays attention to who's checking in. I hope someone will finally notice (haven't in 9 years through 2 kids) they don't have any idea who is in there and see that there is no security at all. They just want to create the ILLUSION of security.

 

[BrandonM]

Hipshot. I agree with your statement 100%

Farmerbyron. I think we agree more than we may disagree. The IEP my daughter is on is a good thing. Immunity from bad behavior just because you're labeled as "special needs" is a bad idea obviously. However my kids get in trouble at the house when they act up at school. I think a lot of the "bad" kids are not getting their daily dose of butt whoopin' at the house for acting like monsters and that clearly leads to more bad if not worse behavior. My kids get away with nothing. They are rather well behaved because of it.

Also letting mentally challenged kids play violent video games is probably a bad idea. It seems like it may have certainly been in the case at hand. Judgement needs to be used by the parents to say what is and what isn't ok. Poor parenting often leads to the crazy stuff we hear about. There are always exceptions to that rule however. When parents check out and let their kids get immersed into video games, internet, or whatever it often leads to some kind of problem. Sociall akwardness, boundary issues, not able to separate reality from fiction, etc. Addiction at any level is destructive. Add pre-existing mental challenges and access to weapons and ammunition and here we are.

 

[flatwins]

My kid's school just put in a thing where you slide your DL and take a pic. Until this year you just typed in your name and it took you picture. I always typed in a bogus name or something like SuperDad. I always duck out of the way of the camera. My wife asks why. I tell it's bc nobody ever actually pays attention to who's checking in. I hope someone will finally notice (haven't in 9 years through 2 kids) they don't have any idea who is in there and see that there is no security at all. They just want to create the ILLUSION of security.

From what I've seen this is true.

 

[ewheeley]

I'm not sure I like the idea of militarizing our schools. There is certainly no single way to fix the problem. People keep citing the Israelis' arming of educators, but they don't arm their educators to protect their children. They are their entire adult population as a deterrent against organized, external (yes sometimes internal) forces. This is absolutely not the case in the US.

We can start by looking at other countries, determining which countries have the fewest incidents like this, and examining the differences between how we operate and how they operate. This obviously cannot be done without at least looking at gun regulations in the US. Keep in mind, I'm on this forum so I'm definitely pro-gun, but I could not claim to be a realist without at least acknowledging that gun control is part of the discussion.

Beyond gun control, though, mental healthcare and societal awareness of gun safety are more important to me. The number of guns in America is not the issue here. It's the access that certain people have to guns. Their access to guns is simply more convenient than their access to other violent means. I'm just throwing this idea out there, so don't flame me... When someone purchases a gun and fills out the 4473, why not include a line that asks if you share a dwelling with someone with a history of mental issues? Some may consider this an invasion of privacy, even I do somewhat. But we as a society, through official and un-official means, need to increase our emphasis on our collective responsibility for those around us. Just because I'm safe with a gun doesn't mean that someone I'm close to can't gain access to my gun.

I'm rambling, I know. But I feel like the entire concept of American idealism is a total flop if we have to resort to openly arming our educators just to guarantee the basic safety of our children. It's backwards and points to other failures to address the real problems in America. On a different note, though, I'm fine with CCWs. If someone can legally carry a handgun to Walmart or the movies, then a school should be no different. Denying the rights of CCL holders to carry on school property is like saying "Okay, we trust you to safely carry a firearm everywhere else, but you're unsafe with guns on school property." It's counterintuitive. If someone can't be trusted to carry a gun just because they're near children, then why do we trust them elsewhere?