If one of those kids had been Barron Trump, and if the armed guard hanging around outside had been a Secret Service officer, then I imagine people would be holding him to a higher standard.
Why IS that? If Deputy Fife was not supposed to stick his neck out to defend his charges, then WHAT WAS HE THERE FOR?
Err… because it’s probably in the job description of a secret service bodyguard to place their life on the line, as opposed to a law enforcement officer.
While lamentable, the deputies were quite likely “doing their job” .
Let me guess the “job description” of this “law enforcement officer”
0 voters
I’m sorry, WHAT?
I thought, in all earnest, that they take an oath to protect and so serve. I also thought that that means that they are obligated to risk their lives to protect others. This, of course, does not mean they are obligated to run into open gunfire, or shielding victims with their body. But I thought it means that they do, in such circumstances, evaluate the risk for civilians against the risk for themselves and act accordingly to serve the public best. Which means, to my non-jurispudent mind, that they would approach a situation with open gunfire, protecting themselves by means applicable, and risking being shot if civilians are being endangered without being able to be ordered to. You can’t order someone to get killed. You can expect someone to enter a situation where there is a chance of being killed, however, if upholding the law and saving more lives is more likely than getting killed.
That’s big IFs.
However, my WHAT? stands.
Is that a typo on your side, or am I being an idiot spoiled by US-produced TV and films? O_o
It’s difficult for me to answer that , as I live in Australia where we don’t have on site cops and metal detectors and idiot plans to arm teachers because. …22yrs ago in Port Arthur an insane person armed with a colt ar-15 killed 35 people and wounded 23 (some not shot directly but from bone fragments from other victims). After that the Aus government banned semi auto assault weapons AND THERE HASN’T BEEN ANOTHER MASSACRE SINCE.*
…oh, and we haven’t become a communist state either 
Both figuratively and literally accurate here and in life.
Upon hearing that sheriffs deputies remained outside the school because they believed the shots were coming from outdoors, Trump remarked “I would have run into the school.”
Americans don’t have to think about anything. It is an exceptional country with an exceptional President and exceptional law enforcement bodies and exceptional gun laws. America is just exceptional. What’s to think about?
ETA /s just in case.
Haven’t you? Haven’t you? Think about it.
You are so very spot on with this comment.
From the timeline that I saw, he was in the building for seven minutes, with the shooting only being 2 minutes or so within that after pulling the fire alarm and waiting for the halls to fill with people.
I heard a panel speaker on CNN say the doctrine has changed since Columbine (or one of the far too many mass shootings…); used to be stay outside, seek cover, wait for backup, etc. Like how passengers are expected to act in a hijacking: you’re probably going to die, so try to subdue the hijackers.
Has anyone heard the Sheriff explain their department’s policy in this situation?
Another segment discussed the Texas (and some other states) armed teachers/coaches/admins program, with appropriate warning signs to alert the gunman. I really wish someone asked the question “What makes you think your officers will do better than the ones in Parkland?”
Donnie Bone Spurs is correct on one point: you don’t really know how you’ll react when the bullets started flying. I was a well-trained infantryman… to this day, I don’t know if I could shoot someone.
Edited to add 2nd paragraph.
Not to mention that doing this is almost impossible for a single person. By yourself you have no cover. Minimum would be 2.
Let’s be fair to Donnie Bone Spurs… he’s been pretty clear that these teachers would be “adept”, which I take to mean trained.
Which begs the question: if 20% of teachers are to be armed and trained to be “adept”, ~720,000 teachers, where is the money going to come from? I’ve seen teachers on TV complaining they can’t get funding for simple school supplies. While I’m sure the money could be found (cut military budget, for instance), I’d like to hear the administration’s estimate.
Has anyone hear a rational dollar figure for this?
Oh, they are; but that ‘oath’ only applies to the laws, and property… not the people themselves.
Didn’t you just admit yourself that essentially no amount of training will prepare you for an actual gun fight? What’s there to be fair about? I know the difference between shooting on a range and in an “gunfight” as well. You shit your pants… period. Your accuracy goes to hell and decisions are much harder to make. You can forget it completely if you’re shooting auto. All that will happen is elevated casualties from “friendly fire”.
Even if it made sense that trained individuals would be an effective deterrent the government (especially T’s admin) would never find it adequately or would try to externalize the cost on the schools and or the states.
Further, there’s no amount of compensation that would be worth the trouble should a teacher kill or injur the wrong person or covering the legal and medical costs when people get shot. The money will never be found and schools will inevitably shut down when multi-million dollar cases bankrupt the districts.
The idea is indefensible.
He actually did explain that, eventually - the money’s coming from “the states.” Yes, after saying that it would be really inexpensive (but being careful to not actually mention any figures), he fobbed it off on the states, the ones that can’t all afford to fund 5 days of classes or pay for basic school supplies. Much like his “infrastructure plan,” or health care reform, his attitude is: “someone else will do it.” (This has the added benefit of allowing him to be angry at other people for failing to implement his “easy” and “cheap” ideas which in reality are anything but. Of course Trump hasn’t formed any plans or even thought them through the least bit - he’s just repeating what someone else has said, but “improving” their idea by also calling it cheap and easy.) Reasonable cost estimates run somewhere between almost half-a-billion dollars (for the “here’s some guns, guys - have fun” plan) to well in excess of a billion (for still fairly minimal training), with additional costs for any ongoing training. So yeah, in addition to there being no will for this, there’s no money, either.
You aren’t an idiot, but you are being brainwashed by US movies/television. For one, “Protect and serve” is simply the motto of the LAPD, not an oath and not even a nation-wide mission statement. (But since movies set elsewhere in the US were filmed in LA, with LA cop cars, it’s a general misconception that it’s the motto across the US; even cops believe this and have accidentally ended up adopting it elsewhere because they assumed it was already their motto.) This notion of how cops work is entirely a media creation - throwing themselves into danger isn’t a job requirement (and honestly is pretty rare).
I don’t know if that was all intended to be sarcasm, but the first three are accurate. That is, pretty much, what cops are doing in schools, although you can add performing illegal searches to the list. (Occasionally they shoot someone in the back who ran away after having been in a fist-fight.) And although their job isn’t to run away, it’s not to run blindly in, either. Police on campus is generally considered a bad idea because they cause more problems than they solve.
Holy aunt of fucks not given, the US legal system (and constitution) are even weirder than I assumed after years of reading hyperventilating comments on the internet about it.
Let me phrase this cautiously: I am under the impression that, to the best of my current information, in any European country, this would not legally be possible. Even the weird legislation in the UK should prevent such a bullshit ruling.
And stupid. And will inevitably lead to a teacher shoo– just a moment…
holds finger to imaginary earpiece
We take you now to Figure A, already in progress.
Has anyone checked to make sure we aren’t in an AGDQ speedrun of reality? Because I really feel like we are.
Alas, 'tis true.
I love my country, but:
