School Shooting Prevention(incl discussion of mental health)

[sprigfan]

In my opinion, the easiest and most obvious (although expensive) course of action is to seriously increase security at schools. Every single school, private and public, should have armed guards/police during all school hours and sporting events. There should be only one entrance to the building, manned by an armed guard during all school hours.

In addition, active shooter drills should be conducted by all staff and students, just as regularly as fire and tornado drills.

I fully acknowledge that this is not a solution for the underlying problems that cause these shootings, but I think it would be the most effective course of action for the time being.

[farmerj]

In my opinion, the easiest and most obvious (although expensive) course of action is to seriously increase security at schools. Every single school, private and public, should have armed guards/police during all school hours and sporting events. There should be only one entrance to the building, manned by an armed guard during all school hours.

In addition, active shooter drills should be conducted by all staff and students, just as regularly as fire and tornado drills.

I fully acknowledge that this is not a solution for the underlying problems that cause these shootings, but I think it would be the most effective course of action for the time being.

But it is a nice knee-jerk reaction...

[srtolly]

As someone that works in the mental health field I often see cases where a diagnosis was missed or not recognized. Other times help has been sought through school counselors and medical professionals that are not trained to deal with mental illness and the person gets swept under a rug instead of referred to a professional that can help. Health insurance in the mental health area is also lacking.

Are these missed, or undiagnosed illness to blame? I remember trying to get some help for my son several years ago and couldn't even get a referral from a counselor or doctor. Fortunately my son has been learning to deal with his issues and is now in college. My wife and I both work in the same field and can recognise some problems.

Is this the case for some of these shooters and such?

Scott

[minnhawk]

In my opinion, the easiest and most obvious (although expensive) course of action is to seriously increase security at schools. Every single school, private and public, should have armed guards/police during all school hours and sporting events. There should be only one entrance to the building, manned by an armed guard during all school hours.

In addition, active shooter drills should be conducted by all staff and students, just as regularly as fire and tornado drills.

Can't speak for private schools, can't speak for all public schools, but our public k-12 building has a full-time deputy sheriff liaison officer in the buildings, complete with his .40 s&w. Both schools have a single point of entry with a video camera and doorbell/remote buzzer entry covering that entry. If the secretary doesn't like your looks, she won't buzz you in. If she doesn't know you, she'll ask who you are and what your business is. If you upset her, the liaison officer shows up or is already in the office. A shooter cannot shoot the secretary because she is unseen. 3M ballistic plastic covers the glass, so it is very difficult to break/shoot through it. Not all windows are covered in the 3M plastic, just the main entrance. The school tells us they cannot guarantee our kids' safety, but I think they are giving it a good shot.

Code red drills (active shooter/intruder) by Minnesota state law must be conducted four times per year. The county sheriff's swat team has trained in our K-12 building on the weekend for Code Red situations as well.

Arming teachers might not be the best idea. A teacher carrying a hand gun could be overwhelmed by bigger and stronger students and supply the very weapon to create a school shooting. And yes, even with great training, a teacher or administrator could be overwhelmed by a surprise assault and lose their weapon. A rapid response team using shotguns kept in a secure part of the building might work better, i.e. administrators, counselors and so on.

[farmerj]

a cop could also.....jeez....

[TTS]

a cop could also.....jeez....

We had a cop at my High School and that was in Owatonna over 15 years ago.

[The Lance]

Forbidding news outlets for reporting the news infringes on our 1st ammendment..
Each and every one of them are important

[sprigfan]

Can't speak for private schools, can't speak for all public schools, but our public k-12 building has a full-time deputy sheriff liaison officer in the buildings, complete with his .40 s&w. Both schools have a single point of entry with a video camera and doorbell/remote buzzer entry covering that entry. If the secretary doesn't like your looks, she won't buzz you in. If she doesn't know you, she'll ask who you are and what your business is. If you upset her, the liaison officer shows up or is already in the office. A shooter cannot shoot the secretary because she is unseen. 3M ballistic plastic covers the glass, so it is very difficult to break/shoot through it. Not all windows are covered in the 3M plastic, just the main entrance. The school tells us they cannot guarantee our kids' safety, but I think they are giving it a good shot.

Code red drills (active shooter/intruder) by Minnesota state law must be conducted four times per year. The county sheriff's swat team has trained in our K-12 building on the weekend for Code Red situations as well.

Arming teachers might not be the best idea. A teacher carrying a hand gun could be overwhelmed by bigger and stronger students and supply the very weapon to create a school shooting. And yes, even with great training, a teacher or administrator could be overwhelmed by a surprise assault and lose their weapon. A rapid response team using shotguns kept in a secure part of the building might work better, i.e. administrators, counselors and so on.

Thanks, minnhawk. I don't think it's a knee-jerk reaction at all to require every school nationwide to have similar protocols. I didn't know MN Law required active shooter drills, but obviously I'm happy to hear it. I grew up in IL. We never had any kind of active shooter drills or training. We did have a police officer present at the beginning and end of each school day though. I think they now lock all but the main entrance during school hours, but I'm pretty sure it's unlocked and not closely monitored.

I agree that arming teachers isn't the best idea for the same reasons you cited.

[sprigfan]

Forbidding news outlets for reporting the news infringes on our 1st ammendment..
Each and every one of them are important

I agree, but I also think the national media should all voluntarily withhold the name and any photos of the shooter. They can still give out every other detail, especially motive, age of the shooter, criminal history, etc. Personally, I could not care less who the POS is. I just want to know what happened and why.

This should not apply to local media. The victims, their loved ones and the local community deserve every answer. Yes this obviously means the shooter's identity will be easy for everyone to discover, but at least it doesn't get him as much attention as it does now.

[LePetomane]

a cop could also.....jeez....

We had a cop at my High School and that was in Owatonna over 15 years ago.

I had nuns. They were less forgiving than the police.

[tman]

Our school district calls them "lockdown" drills.

[GunClasses.Net]

In my opinion, the easiest and most obvious (although expensive) course of action is to seriously increase security at schools. Every single school, private and public, should have armed guards/police during all school hours and sporting events. There should be only one entrance to the building, manned by an armed guard during all school hours.

In addition, active shooter drills should be conducted by all staff and students, just as regularly as fire and tornado drills.

I fully acknowledge that this is not a solution for the underlying problems that cause these shootings, but I think it would be the most effective course of action for the time being.

I am torn on this. Honestly. My first thought was that someone in the school should have had the ability to stop the threat; an armed guard was one of the ideas that came to mind as a possible solution to this.

However, giving it more thought... knowing that our schools need to be safe and protected, it's still a school, and school is where kids learn how the world 'should work'. Look at how much has been imposed on us since 9/11 as "the most effective course of action for the time being", only to become a hated and invasive, permanent surveillance and control system imposed on our citizens. The gun haters don't NEED gun control if we continue to go down this path, because gun control's never been about the guns; it's always been about the people. It's people control. The gun haters aren't gun haters, they're people haters. They hate self-sufficient, independent people who are able to take care of themselves because those are the people who will not let them take everything over. And this idea to put checkpoints up any place there COULD be a threat will surely lead to complete domination. Here's how...

These kids who by this proposal will eat breakfast, learn, and play under 'armed guard', grow up to believe that the answer to any threat is to install checkpoints and citizen monitoring. Threats can happen anywhere. PLEASE consider the long term ramifications. If we continue down this path, will we not only be subjugating ourselves into a prison-world? If we want to control the actions of a few, then who, exactly, gets to control the actions of all? Let's look at history...

After the TSA started searching and groping grannies and kids in response to 9/11, we the NFL caved in to this checkpoint mentality after one idiot brought mace to a game. Now it's schools. Okay, well, it's not just schools where where mass shootings happen, so... Next, it's got to be shopping malls. How about the grocery store or market? Ready for your person and cars to be searched everywhere? Isn't the TSA doing that at roadside checkpoints already for trucks? What about the DHS running checking high schoolers as they entered prom in NM last year? We've got the TSA on our light rail system. Maybe they should set up DUI-type checkpoints to look for guns in cars randomly. This is where this idea leads us. It's where it already IS leading us.

Forget gun registration, forget high capacity magazine bans, forget waiting periods. The freedom haters pass Go and collect 200 million citizens; if we decide that citizen surveillance and monitoring and checkpoints solve all our security fears, folks... it's OVER!

[LarryFlew]

You made it too easy for me - PLUS ONE

Those kinds of thought have been running through my head for years. I used to travel a lot on business and it was great to have my wife and little kids meet me at the gate when I returned.

No I get my brand new can of deodorant taken away going in............................

[thunderoussilence]

1985 we had 2 cops St Paul Central, crack cocaine and the gangs came in.

[ex-LT]

<snip> active shooter drills should be conducted by all staff and students, just as regularly as fire and tornado drills.

I work at a public institution of higher learning in the metro area. We conduct active shooter drills every semester. The campus lockdown procedure (as taken from the Student Handbook) is as follows:

l. Campus Lockdown Procedure
i. In the event of an emergency or incident which has the potential for direct or immediate harm to the campus community the Public Safety department may
lockdown the campus.
ii. The Public Safety department will issue an overhead page advising the campus of the lockdown
iii. Proceed to the nearest classroom or enclosed area and secure yourself inside
iv. Shut off all sources of light (i.e. lights, computer monitors, television screens, etc)
v. Stay away from windows and doors
vi. Remain calm and quiet
vii. wait for instructions from law enforcement or campus Public Safety

If I had to venture a guess, I would say Newtown's procedure was nearly identical.