Use Rocks to fight back school shooters (?!)

[hatcheckgirl]

I guess this is part of the world becoming "faint out of fear", as one school district in Pennsylvania has resorted to using a bucket of river stones in their efforts of protecting school children from shooters.

 

"District superintendent David Helsel said throwing rocks at school shooters was more effective than crawling under desks and waiting, and it gave students and teachers a chance to defend themselves.

The buckets are kept in classroom closets."

 

Very hard to be a parent sending kids to school these days.  I can feel for them in their desperation to do something constructive, but they aren't looking in the right place for the solution, are they.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-24/us-students-armed-with-rocks-to-fight-school-shooters/9583134

[Tortuga]

My past employer security department use to arrange Active Shooter training classes. One point that I remember is if you are confronted by the shooter to start throwing things at them, throw anything and everything you can. It distracts the shooter, may affect their aim and possibly allow time for someone to stop them.

[Tortuga]

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/active-shooter-pocket-card-508.pdf

 

Here is a pocket card from DHS, fighting back is the last thing on the list.

[hatcheckgirl]

The rocks are also the last thing for defense: "Staff and students in the Blue Mountain district are trained in a program called "ALICE", which stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate. The rocks are part of the "counter" portion of training, fighting back if the intruder makes their way into the classroom."

 

But  "the tactic has been criticised by security expert Kenneth Trump, president of security consulting firm National School Safety and Security Services, who called the idea illogical and irrational and said it could possibly cost lives.  He said arming kids with rocks filled an emotional security need, but did not actually enhance security."

 

Which is what I see with the gun protests by school children gaining momentum.  People are so freaked out (understandably) that they can't see how else to protect their children.  So sad.  The terror those school kids feel by risking going to school is the same sort of terror the terrorists from ISIS and other similar organisations inflict on their targets.  People cannot go around doing everyday normal things without looking over their shoulders, feeling uneasy, or downright scared to go there - think concerts, sports games, schools, shopping malls.

[Saffron]

When I was in school, this just did not happen. The biggest problem was bullies, the worst that would happen would have been a fist fight or something along these lines. Malls were where teens walked around and socialized, kids played outside, only coming in when they were called for dinner. Parents didn't necessarily see their kids and they weren't worried- they just hollered out the front door, knowing that kids would hear them and come home. Even the airports.. I remember walking a friend of mine right to the boarding area and being able to watch the plane take off. 

 

I still can hardly believe how bad things have gotten. How are kids supposed to learn anything if they are attending school with bullet proof back packs in a classroom with buckets of rocks? My kids don't go outside without me, and nobody is particularly comfortable at events with large numbers of people. We occasionally will go to something, but remain aware of our surroundings. The airports are a nightmare now; we avoid flying whenever possible. 

 

How people can continue to take no note, I have no idea. Where the solution is not seems to be very clear at this point. 

 

 

 

 

[tekmantwo]

On 3/24/2018 at 6:26 AM, Tortuga said:

My past employer security department use to arrange Active Shooter training classes. One point that I remember is if you are confronted by the shooter to start throwing things at them, throw anything and everything you can. It distracts the shooter, may affect their aim and possibly allow time for someone to stop them.

One of my former bosses did that.  It was his own son that came into the shop with a shotgun. The kid shot at one of the other employees,  who, in his haste to escape, had tripped and fell just as the blast went over his head,  missing completely. 

The shooter turned towards his dad just in time to get a hammer in the face. He wound up loosing an eye because of that.