How to survive a school shooting - sad commentary on our times?

[Numo]

I originally was going to post this on the other side because my intention is not to make a political point, but figured it wouldn't last long there.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/02/2...p=trending

[cbelt3]

Not political, and not a 'sad commentary'... Stuff like this has happened before, even 'in my time'. Just not as widely publicized.....

I'm glad to see the 'throw and go' approach documented. The 'hide and don't defend yourself' approach to most attacks that was widely pushed on the American populace fell out of favor on September 11, 2001. We are Americans, not sheep. We prefer to go down fighting.

I can recall an incident in my middle school years where an armed young man (rifle) was seen wandering the campus. My history teacher gave a rapid class in how a pen or a pencil could be used as a short range throwing knife.He had come back after two tours in Vietnam as a Ranger, doing Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols in North Vietnam. Intelligent, soft spoken, solid muscle and incredibly deadly.

[Ted King]

Sounds reasonable to me. The school I taught at never had such training, but I had run through in my mind what I would do if a shooter ever tried to get into my classroom. I always kept an extra fire extinguisher near my lab demonstration table so I envisioned myself grabbing it and either swinging it at him, throwing it or "firing" it off at the shooter depending on the situation and then jumping the guy. I have pretty strong doubts I could have pulled it off successfully even though I'm fairly physically fit, but I always felt like I had to have some contingency in mind just in case. Thank goodness we never had such a situation happen, though one time we did go on lockdown because some guy had shot at a police officer from inside a house just about a quater of mile down the road (they got him to peacefully surrender less than an hour later).

[Ombligo]

Very interesting read that I just shared with my school principal.

It goes against everything we have been taught, but offers valuable and valid insight for doing so. Poltically it would be a huge hot potato in any setting, I can see the basis for lawsuits if implimented. Yet I would rather face a hundred lawsuits than attend a single student funeral.

Times have changed. sigh

[mattkime]

>>Stuff like this has happened before, even 'in my time'. Just not as widely publicized.....

I'd be curious to see the numbers. I don't remember it occurring when i was school age and TV existed so it would have been covered.

[Grace62]

Did Larry Banaszak pay for this "article," which is essentially an infomercial for his services?
I don't see any other points of view presented nor mention of the fact that hundreds of private security training organizations exist all around the country, with all sorts of different "methods" taught, and many are not appropriate for educational settings even though they market themselves as such.

[Grace62]

A book I would highly recommend if you're interested in this topic is "Columbine" by David Cullen. He was one of the original reporters in Denver on that story and researched it for 10 years.
I think all high school teachers should read it; parents of teens will find it interesting too.
First he dispels the various myths that media pushed around for years after that event, then he talks about the backgrounds of those particular shooters and how that event changed schools and police departments all over the country.

If you look up the list of school shootings in the US at wikipedia, you see they go back to the founding of our country. In the early to mid 70's there was a lot of violence on campuses, and then in the 90's these "school shooter" events as we understand it today got going.

The numbers are not big and your child is safer at a public school in the US than just about anywhere else. But the fact that adolescents and young adults can get their hands on powerful weapons and ammunition fairly easily is definitely a factor. If you're going to do widespread destruction very quickly, that's what it takes (see Columbine and Virginia Tech for examples of the weaponry and how the killers got it.)
It's just crazy to me to discuss this and not consider the weapons element.
People are not more unstable now than in the past, they are just better armed.

[cbelt3]

mattkime wrote:
>>Stuff like this has happened before, even 'in my time'. Just not as widely publicized.....

I'd be curious to see the numbers. I don't remember it occurring when i was school age and TV existed so it would have been covered.

Matt... good question. I'd have to do some significant research. I can remember shootings in and around schools when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's... mostly inner city schools. My mother taught English and Reading in inner city schools, and I remember being worried for her safety. Lots of race related issues at the time. While TV existed, most stuff was handled as local news. Keep in mind that CNN and whatnot did not exist, and the evening national news really only had time for stuff that affected the nation as a whole. Deaths were only shown when it was huge.. a plane crash, a whole building burning up, that sort of thing.

I wonder where one would obtain those stats ?


Grace- Yeah, good point. Probably one of those wonderfully placed 'AdStories' that get published.

[Grace62]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting

May not be a 100% complete list but a place to start.

[mattkime]

I don't remember where i read about this but sometimes these behaviors become outlets for desperate people and are widely copied for some time. Like suicide bombers. I think the main difference between school gunmen and suicide bombers are their cultural context. The causes may be different but i suspect a similar desperation.