A BIGGER gun would be a fitting American policy. How about making an effort to remove guns and easy access to guns?
The school where this shooting took place is a huge area with many buildings. How many armed guards and bigger guns are needed?
After Sandy Hook, the authorities were talking about putting AR-15s in school offices. That was a desperate response to a national problem. Schools have such dynamic environments that I don’t know how you completely control access to the building. Given the number of windows and doors (all required for fire safety) there are so many access points. If two kids were coordinating their efforts, it would be simple for one kid to go to class, ask to use the washroom at a specified time, and open a door for his buddy with the weapons. Unless fences are built around schools, similar to prisons, to ensure a single access point you will always have weaknesses.
Somebody asked earlier if teachers would avoid teaching in American schools due to safety concerns. I am a teacher and I wouldn’t teach in that environment even though the odds of it happening at my school would be slim. I was also a principal for years. The thought of having a gun in my office so that I could deal with intruders is just so foreign.
I can’t imagine what these teachers and students are experiencing. While I was a principal, I had 3 incidents where an individual walked by the school with a rifle (these were all on reserves). At the time, there were individuals with mental illness living beside the school. One of the events happened while the kids were outside on recess. Another event involved the police who failed to notify me that they were doing a drug bust at a trailer about 200 feet away. During one incident, a student noticed my concern and told me the guy walking by was her dad and he wouldn’t do anything—he was only the local drug dealer. All of these incidents were uneventful but it is a sickening feeling.
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