More Terrible Ideas
Oh, yeah, let’s arm teachers, like they don’t have too much to do already in our screwed up system, so now some clowns want them to become part-time cops.
One of the most effective and cheapest things done after 9/11 was to require airlines to install decent doors on their aircraft. If there had been good doors, and those doors were required to be locked when the aircraft was airborne, the Twin Towers would still be standing.
In Newtown, the doors to the school were locked, but there were large glass windows that the shooter broke to gain access. Why not replace the glass with a tough transparent plastic, like Lexan, that would stall the criminal long enough for the cops to arrive. It doesn’t need to be the same thickness that is used at banks, and you don’t need to make the schools fortresses; all you need is to slow things long enough for the professionals to arrive and deal with the situation.
Some schools use the ‘security glass’ with the embedded chicken fencing which is ugly and blocks a lot of light, but isn’t actually all that difficult to get through. You need the light, but the doors have to be easy to open in the case of a fire. In most schools, you can easily open the door with the crash bar if you break the window.
Replacing the glass won’t be cheap, but it will be a lot cheaper than trying to arm teachers, especially those that teach at elementary schools, and the insurance carriers will raise liability rates through the ionosphere for any district that tries it.
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😕 🙄 😐 😳 😯 👿 🙁
You get the message? Anyone need a translation? (It would be long if I use proper English, or quite short and succinct with profanity!)
As I heard many Soviet’s and Europeans say often, usually with much mirth… “Americans!!”
*SIGH*
Why do I believe that the fools who make these suggestions have never been in a fire fight, or any other stress situation.
Many of these morons are regulars in the media, which demonstrates how broken the media is. This is why we keep getting sucked into wars.
Here’s the count of mass shootings that have been stopped or short-circuited by armed civilians, including mass shootings in states that issue concealed carry permits like pedophiles issue candy to children:
That is all.
— Badtux the Snarky Penguin
It’s $166 for the course, and as the permits are issued by the Agricultural Commissioner in Florida, the background check is a joke. The Ag Department doesn’t have access to the FBI databases.
When that Congresswoman was shot in Arizona, there was someone with a concealed carry permit and weapon in the audience. By the time he thought to run towards the altercation and pull out his weapon, the perp had already been wrestled down and disarmed. From a practical point of view, civilians simply are lousy at target identification and target discrimination, and by the time they identify a target and reach for their own weapon, they’re dead.
civilians simply are lousy at target identification and target discrimination, and by the time they identify a target and reach for their own weapon, they’re dead.
Could not have said it better Badtux!
I was once called in to a Neighborhood Watch meeting of *concerned citizens* by a very frustrated Police commander, when they constantly demanded to know why the couldn’t be armed. I was into my spiel about the difference between a pro (me) and them. I was in camo’s with my sidearm (my Glock, with firing pin and ammo removed) when one of the yahoos asked to see my *gun* (which I was waiting for). I said “Sure…” drew, and in the space of a couple heartbeats pointed it at his head, said *bang* and drew a bead on 3 other loudmouths and said *bang* again, and then said “OK. You four are now dead, and I still have 15 rounds left for the other 8, who would also now be dead. Any questions?” I wasn’t expecting any as they were all screaming (and two had fainted, we had paramedics in the foyer in case someone had a heart attack or something.) Of course, they screamed blue murder to the Councillors etc, but the program clearly stated that there would be a practical demonstration and that no live weapon would be used. Not my problem they can’t read! 😆
One bright spark wanted me arrested for breaking the regulation that a serving member of the defense forces was not allowed to carry his weapons in public. But it is allowed for purposes of demonstration when approved by the powers that be, as this had been. 😀
The Police, BTW, were very grateful, but declined to invite me back for further demonstrations! Can’t imagine why… I had fun! 😈
Some days… I loved my job! I don’t think I stopped smiling for days! Heh. 😀
I went through 100 rounds a month practicing and had to requalify twice a year for law enforcement. Part of the qualification was the “Shoot – Don’t Shoot” series. If you shot in a Don’t Shoot scenario, you failed.
The last thing you want on a ‘shots fired’ call is random armed civilians, because you will probably shoot them. Hell, plain clothes officers get shot by uniforms. and even uniformed officers are shot by other officers in bad lighting. You don’t want amateurs with guns at incident sites because there isn’t a lot of time to make the decision on shooting. Further, a crowd of people rushing to the incident may make taking a shot impossible because of the danger of hitting innocent people.
People have seen too many bad movies to understand what a real incident is like, and they are not ready to deal with. Life and death is not a game.
I couldn’t even give an estimate of the number or rounds or even exercises during the almost two years of training. In many exercises, we used *low impact* dye rounds (which still stung when they hit, especially the face). You could easily tell who had failed the course by the bright red dye on the face or neck. And any blue dye on a *non-combatant* civilian (now and then, there would be a civilian who was actually an enemy combatant, especially in the terrorist scenario’s of course! Got pretty hairy!) was a fail also. Three fail’s and you were out and back with the grunts for good. Army has good incentives not to fail. 😉
What most civies don’t understand is that a lot of the training by Military and (some) security forces is not just about pulling a gun and shooting, but about threat evaluation and quick and *CORRECT* reactions. If I’m in a shopping mall and I detect a threat (people screaming is a good indicator in that case), or I see someone with a weapon, I’m not going to stand there and say *make my day!*) I’m going to dive for cover and decide how to eliminate the threat. If I have a weapon, then once I find cover and the threat is within range, it will be eliminated. But the first priority is *ALWAYS* “Secure thine own ass FIRST!!” One big difference between Military training and LEO is that we allow for civilian casualties and expect them. Our job isn’t “to protect and serve”, ours is to complete the mission “by all means necessary within the rules of engagement”. There is a good reason why most Western Military personnel are not allowed to go armed in public. 🙂
Different ‘rules of engagement’, something that politicians don’t seem to understand.
I was doing that shooting on my time, using my ammo, because I didn’t want to make a mistake, and didn’t want to have a stray bullet take out a voting, taxpaying constituent of my boss’s boss’s boss because the sewage flows downhill and I was in the valley.
Seeking available cover is taught in the police academy, as is positively identifying the target. When all the information you have is ‘shots fired’ all you know is that someone has a gun. Hell, most of time you don’t have even a minimal description to go on, and people expect you to save the day. You end up with a lot of armed jumpy people converging at a single location from different directions, and the people who might give you some information are too busy getting as far away as possible.
Simple people offer simple solutions. When the only thing in the tool box is a gun, the answer to all problems is a gun.