Preventing juvenile mass murder in American schools is the job of police officers, school teachers, and concerned parents
Doug Wyllie
PoliceOne.com
5/5/2010
“Never call an unarmed man ‘security’.”
“How many kids have been killed by school fire in all of North America in the past 50 years? Kids killed… school fire… North America… 50 years… How many? Zero. That’s right. Not one single kid has been killed by school fire anywhere in North America in the past half a century. Now, how many kids have been killed by school violence?”
So began an extraordinary daylong seminar presented by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a Pulitzer Prize nominated author, West Point psychology professor, and without a doubt the world’s foremost expert on human aggression and violence…
…“Look up at the ceiling! See all those sprinklers up there? They’re hard to spot — they’re painted black — but they’re there. While you’re looking, look at the material the ceiling is made of. You know that that stuff was selected because it’s fire-retardant. Hooah? Now look over there above the door — you see that fire exit sign? That’s not just any fire exit sign — that’s a ‘battery-backup-when-the-world-ends-it-will-still-be-lit’ fire exit sign. Hooah?”
Walking from the stage toward a nearby fire exit and exterior wall, Grossman slammed the palm of his hand against the wall and exclaimed, “Look at these wall boards! They were chosen because they’re what?! Fireproof or fire retardant, hooah? There is not one stinking thing in this room that will burn!”
Pointing around the room as he spoke, Grossman continued, “But you’ve still got those fire sprinklers, those fire exit signs, fire hydrants outside, and fire trucks nearby! Are these fire guys crazy? Are these fire guys paranoid? No! This fire guy is our A+ student! Because this fire guy has redundant, overlapping layers of protection, not a single kid has been killed by school fire in the last 50 years!
“But you try to prepare for violence — the thing much more likely to kill our kids in schools, the thing hundreds of times more likely to kill our kids in schools — and people think you’re paranoid. They think you’re crazy. …They’re in denial.”
Teaching the Teachers
The challenge for law enforcement agencies and officers, then, is to overcome not only the attacks taking place in schools, but to first overcome the denial in the minds of mayors, city councils, school administrators, and parents. Grossman said that agencies and officers, although facing an uphill slog against the denial of the general public, must diligently work toward increasing understanding among the sheep that the wolves are coming for their children. Police officers must train and drill with teachers, not only so responding officers are intimately familiar with the facilities, but so that teachers know what they can do in the event of an attack…
The complete article is at PoliceOne.com
Editor Wyllie’s Note: Visit the Newtown Shooting special coverage page for more perspectives on active shooters in schools, including my article “Active shooters in schools: Should teachers be trained by police firearms instructors?”
Related: More NBC leftist hypocrisy: David Gregory Mocks LaPierre for Proposing Armed Guards, but Sends Kids to High-Security School Guess who else’s daughters attend that very same school? Hence, the provided security.
Update: Did David Gregory just violate D.C. gun law by possessing a high-capacity gun clip? (Update — No response yet from NBC) It sure looks that way, unless the gun clip Gregory held up today was just a dummy prop…
Watch NBC’s Full 23 Minute Interview With NRA Chair Wayne LaPierre at Breitbart.
Also, at Big Government Gun Control Advocates’ Loudest Voices are Most Heavily Protected
Update 2: Liberals deny link between mental illness and mass shootings
Think Progress and other liberals appear to believe that focusing on a link between mental illness and mass shootings is a tactic designed to divert attention away from the need for gun control legislation. …
But not all parents are in denial, evidently. Via Instapundit:
NEW JERSEY TOWN FOLLOWS THE NRA’S ADVICE: “We’ve made a collective decision as a town that we need armed security in each of our schools.”
