Crazy some people want to lock kids inside schools with all those groomers and pedo teachers...wait...are we not still concerned with those?
they also want to hand these teachers weapons We can’t even trust trained cops to take down a mass shooter, but we can expect Mrs. Smith, the 50 y/o 4th grade teacher, to do it?
This is a great point. We can design great schools but ultimately how well that works is up to the end users. In this case the faculty and students. A lot of what people are saying should be done are already being done. Most schools in the US have a primary entry control point. In many cases this isn't even just one door but a control vestibule or security office that during school hours you have to pass through. If you're an outsider comign during school hours it's not just one door you have to pass through but multiple doors. This isn't something that has just been started but has been part of school design for decades. It's also not a complete solution because at Sandy Hook they did have a controlled entrance but the shooter was still able to shoot through and gain access to the school. Also as noted we can't design schools with just one door. A school that way would become a death trap like a Great White concert in Rhode Island. If there aren't fast and clear ways of getting out during a fire or other disaster far more people will die than in even the worse mass shooting. Besides just getting people out from a fire you still have to consider the practical considerations of moving a lot of students at the start and end of the day. Imagine trying to exit a few thousands students every day from one door in a large highschool.
There are no quick or easy solutions, we have a policy and cultural issue that will take decades to unwind. The increasing anger and isolation of men is very concerning.
"Think of the children. Give up your rights!" No. Guns are a right our founders fought for and won from a tyrannical empire. Such arms are a human right. Everyone has the right to defend themselves. Tyranny is the main reason we have our gun rights and they shall not be infringed upon. Worried about the kids? Address the mental health and cultural decay within the US / look into homeschooling Gun violence is not the issue. It's the symptom of a deeper issue.
Yes. I will agree gun violence is a symptom of deeper problems. It is a symptom of a political culture that simultaneously calls for mental health care while cutting millions from mental health funding. It is a symptom of a culture that fetishizes violence. It is a symptom of a culture that fetishizes imagined tyranny. It is a symptom of a culture that values freedom without responsiblity.
Another big problem with the "hardening schools argument" is that putting in measures like bullet proof glass isn't cheap. Because school funding is primarily based on locality we already have some big disparities in school design based on location. If we're going to rely on design of schools that disparity will get even greater.
A mix of hardening schools and gun control can help in preventing these types of mass shooting situations. I imagine just keeping all the doors locked has probably already prevented some unknown situations where a shooter has tried to enter a school. It's sad that both parties have their own idea what's best and want to make it a political debate for what to do, while nothing will probably get done. Biden refuses to look at hardening schools to solve the problem, while republicans don't want to give up any gun rights. They both want to push their parties agenda to say they "won" instead of coming together for an improvement for what's happening. More restrictions on AR-15's, and increased funding for school hardening. Whatever that is.
People are hesitant with "hardening" schools because people see it as a patch work solution that doesn't solve the root issue. We have to ask ourselves why do other nations not have to "harden" their schools at treat it like prison security? Why have we reached a point in this nation where we need to do prison level security of our schools? Is it healthy for our kids to live in a society where we feel the need to "harden" schools?
Heard on the radio this morning that the side door wasn't left propped open, that the teacher closed it but it failed to lock like it was supposed to. I feel really badly for this teacher, whom I imagine is living with a lot of guilt over that door. I also feel bad for the school officials and police in Uvalde because of the way this whole tragedy gets politicized. Republicans don't want to blame gun laws, so they blame school officials for not being secure enough. Democrats are embittered by all the police brutality stories so they blame the police for not madly rushing in when a little brutality is called for. It's really not fair to anyone in Uvalde. I think hardening and gun control are separate issues. If we got all the gun control measures liberals want, we'd probably still get the periodic mass shooter for years to come. And even if we get all the security right in all these soft targets, we'll still have mass shooters. So both need to be pursued. I appreciate that it's difficult to run an operation with thousands of people and stringently enforce rules about entry. A design we see in private schools is a fenced campus. To get in, you have clear security outside and away from any of the buildings. That clears issues around students inappropriately leaving doors open or getting out of danger in case of fire. It's not perfect -- I've seen opportunities during carpool to breach the security. Public schools do something like that, fencing in their property so that only a few doors face the public, which is better than it was. But I haven't seen a public school where you have to pass a security gate before you can even knock on the front door. My kids' old elementary school which was just rebuilt after Harvey is fenced in so they can close it completely, but the gate to the front door is open during the day and there is no gatehouse for security at the front. So, once you're in, you're in. And, I understand why. Having a gated community like that takes up more real estate and has associated operating expense. And we have many campuses that would need to be redesigned and rebuilt to accommodate it. And, to do so cordons off the school from its community which sucks. There's lots of good reasons why we don't do this. But the achievable measures (one entrance, locking doors, resource officers, etc) have already been done. Robb Elementary did those things. So, if you really think we need to do more on hardening, I think the next step change involves massive infrastructural changes that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars at least. We could, perhaps, decide all new campuses will be completely gated (except in urban settings where space won't allow), and in 50 years we might have half the school stock transformed -- and wonder why we went so overboard in the first place.
So... you are even against a simple federal law like preventing the sale of AR15 type weapons to people under 21? You know, like anchor and tobacco? There is still not any serious federally elected official that has proposed taking away all guns.
