Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/10/tragedy-industry.html
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The issue here as Cory touched on, is that it will just push the violence into another space. If a disgruntled kid that’s looking to kill knows what the security might be in the school they’ll just pivot to trying to kill fellow students in another setting. I don’t have a problem with schools having measures to address shooter scenarios per se, but ultimately it doesn’t address the actual problem. The problem is that the current home and educational environment is failing kids, to properly address the problem the US has to do it the hard way… actually help students that are struggling, that have mental health issues, that are being bullied, etc. But when politicians and schools can “fix the problem” by publicizing their purchases and safety measures of course they’re going to take the easy way out. It’s all about the illusion of safety.
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Yup. There it is, right there. Money. The single most corrupting element on the planet.
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Causing more panic with the smoke seems pretty ill advised. Let’s see your studies on how well it works. I’m sure you have them…
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“We didn’t actually have any money to buy teaching supplies or pay teachers this year, Mrs. Smith. But I’m sure you’re happy to know that little Bobby has never been safer. We’ve got, at last count, about nine former special-ops snipers located around the premises, covering all the entrances to the SchoolBunker™ … ha ha, of course you can’t see them, they wouldn’t be any good at their jobs if you could. But they’re really a last line of defense. 95% of shooters won’t make it past the electrified perimeter fences and the minefields, let alone the drones. Now, this gentleman in the flak vest with the Heckler & Koch is Mr Rigby, the science teacher. Or he would be, if we actually taught science, which we can’t afford to do. But really, I think you’ll agree that while a quality education is important, making it to eighteen alive is even more precious. And that’s why we’re fundraising to add six more vehicles to our fleet of mine-resistant schoolbuses and overhaul the pepper-spray projectors in the assembly hall. Would you be interested in making a contribution?”
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Everything you said above.
And the unknown thousands of guns around the place…
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My grandmother used to say that she couldn’t imagine dealing with the stuff my generation faced. I thought she was a bit silly about it… until I had kids of my own in public school. Good grief, being a kid these days sounds like a total pain in the ass.
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Maybe something like this - “Secure Foam”
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Yes, and the gun culture in the US is a huge contributing factor. Other countries have pretty active gun communities yet the gun violence is not like what you see here. A lot can be said on this alone
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Make the sale of ammunition illegal without a background check.
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A good way I sum it up is this: Liberals advocate for bad solutions to the problem, conservatives don’t want solutions.
A right leaning centrist friend of mine also agreed with the quip: Republicans are malevolent. Democrats are 50% malevolent, 25% idiot.
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the proliferation of guns in American homes has led to a largely silent epidemic of accidental shootings
If by “silent epidemic” you mean a steady decline in accidental deaths.
Yeah, I get it, you want different gun laws. Fine. You can make that point with out hyperbole.
Though fair point that the firearm suicide rate is rising, even as the homicide rate is dropping.
Unfortunately the suicide rate overall is increasing. I concede suicide by firearm is both easier and more likely to be successful. But it is also difficult to construct laws that prevents people from harming themselves. And even if we magically made all guns disappear, the number of people wanting to kill themselves remains the same. That there is where the focus should be.
To the rest of the article, I agree that many of the solutions proposed are not just bad ideas, but clear money grabs based on fear. Many of them peddled by so called experts.
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an unholy alliance of lying dickheads like “Joe the Plumber” (yes, that fucking guy is back)
I guess being an unlicensed plumber with a fake name didn’t make this Real American™ a $250-thousand-aire after all.
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Well, he knows at least one person with some drag in Russia; maybe he should consider seeking his fortune abroad.
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you said what I came here to say.
Preventative measures like this are not a terrible thing in and of themselves. But this doesn’t really address the real issue which stems from terrible gun legislation and a societal gun craze.
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My brother worked for a company that sold a smoke cannon type device to businesses, made to stop break-ins and theft, which went off when an alarm was tripped. The installations were always shot down by the local Fire Departments because 1) the smoke could be mistook for a fire; 2) when the emergency crew arrives they could be attacked by the thief in the smoke; 3) if the thief injured themselves running around in the smoke, the emergency crew might not be able to help them as quickly as needed. I can’t even imagine what a smoke cannon could do in a school besides sow confusion as a shooter fires blindly at students who can’t find their way out.
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Holy crap, that guy on the left looks like my brother in law if you squished his head down some.
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Remember when Russia ended that hostage taking by pumping ‘sleeping’ gas into the building and somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the hostages died from the gas?
They are going to fire these things off for a false alarm and kill a handful of kids with asthma.
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That’s Joe the Plumber (if it wasn’t obvious from the context), circa 2011. He was running for Congress in Ohio. No word on whether Stephen Seagal endorsed him.
