While schools in Arizona are adding armed posses and schools in Connecticut are arming janitors, a Minnesota school has turned to bulletproof whiteboards as its last ditch defense against attackers. Two students died in a shooting in the Rocori School District in 2003 so the school has purchased 18-by-20-inch whiteboards that can be used by teachers for instruction or bullet protection.
Maryland-based Hardwire LLC is tapping into the near hysteria over school shootings, even though such shootings remains incredibly rare.
The boards are $109 a pop as opposed to normal white boards that cost as little as $23.
I must confess some skepticism on the practicality of a shield for a teacher. First, it appears to protect only one person and only from a frontal attack. The teacher would have to lose use of one hand and arm in managing children. The teacher would also have to find the board in the chaos of a shooting. The teacher would then be protected while the kids behind him or her would be exposed. The magic board strikes me as more of a psychological than practice protection for these reasons.
What do you think?
Source: USA Today
Dredd: Statistically lightening [sic] is as much a danger as a school invasion death.
And yet, many parents with brains still take precautions to keep their kids from being struck by lightning, don’t they? Many schools and other public buildings still put in lightning rods to prevent such disasters, don’t they?
There is also a significant difference between destructive acts of nature, senseless molecular biology, unintentional accidents, and deliberate criminal acts.
To put it in words you might understand, “one of these things is not like the others.” Perhaps some puppetry would help your attention span.
“Frankly: A ‘bullet-proof’ vest is useless against a long gun”
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Not true. Depends on the armor. The statement is true for low-end body armor. Top quality armor will withstand a hit from a .50 caliber sniper round. However, the impact will feel like getting hit with a baseball bat swung by Sammy Sosa.
I checked Gall’s web site, which is one of the “go to” online stores for police supplies. Their body armor vest prices range from a low of $56.99 up to more than three thousand dollars. You get what you pay for.
The video below is an actual incident of an American soldier being shot by a sniper which just happened to be caught on camera. For those fearful of opening the video, it’s OK. He survived to tell the tale with no serious injury, thanks to his high quality body armor. FWIW, snipers do not use “assault weapons.” They prefer heavy caliber rounds for long range and a sure kill. The point here is, ballistic body armor can protect against a rifle round, even from a high-powered sniper rifle.
Tony C. 1, April 30, 2013 at 11:29 am
Dredd: Perhaps what? Did you not read the rest of the post? The fact that accident is the leading cause of death does not mean reducing homicide is pointless, as you implied in your post. You seem incapable of understanding the written word.
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Yes, your word is incapable of being understood, so I admit of that when it comes to your tortured logic.
I notice what JT said in the post:
What would you advocate next, thicker white boards to ward off lightening strikes or meteorite impacts?
Statistically lightening is as much a danger as a school invasion death.
Get real fantasy boy.
Frankly, I am not opposed to background checks, per se. My picking the Newtown shooting could be called “cherry picking,” but as I said, that is what precipitated the bill. It sounds like we agree it would have had no effect on Newtown. Auto safety is a topic on which we are in agreement. Many of the cases I worked were auto accidents, a large % being fatal. The big difference is there is no constitutional right to drive. There is one to bear arms. I remind you, I’m not even close to being an idealogue on this. I sympathize w/ those who want the end to gun madness, I have also worked too many cases involving gun deaths. However, the paranoia idealogues have invlolving those who would like to ban guns, or make gun owners follow draconian rules is not unwarranted. “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean someones not out to get you.”
Tony C:
“I also reject the idea of double-duty by teachers as armed guards. There is no need to save a dime, here. Let teachers be professional teachers and let the cops be professional guardians; trying to mix the two diminishes the execution of both functions and increases the chances of tragic error.”
Seems to be working okay in Utah, which has allowed concealed carry in schools by teachers and other permit holders, since January 2001. So far, at least, there don’t seem to have been significant problems.
You know I always feel safe when the government is in charge of something….. I just wonder how many rights one must voluntarily give up before they have none left to give…
Common fact…. Cops and most crooks have guns….
Common myth…. All cops and crooks gun have been registered…. And both are qualified to carry…. Another myth… all cops are honest…..
Somebody google up the required accuracy for police officers… Hence the departments proficiency requirments for officers to fire a weapon…. You’ll be amazed that lots of police departments have no required qualifications…. Nor a requirement that the officers recieve any training to carry….or to even be employed….
Frankly: A ‘bullet-proof’ vest is useless against a long gun
It is also useless against an atomic bomb, a head shot, and a fleet of bulldozers. Yet for some reason cops still wear them.
You seem to think the only solutions worth considering are those absolutely guaranteed to solve the problem completely, otherwise we should just take our chances. I think that a plainclothes cop with a hand gun could reduce the death rate; I think standard one-way doors (locked from the outside, open from the inside) could reduce the death rate.
Wild extremes can defeat any solution. The Newtown shooter walked into a school unopposed by any security personnel or physical security barrier.
You cannot walk into a Congressman’s office (or even my Mayor’s offices) armed to the teeth and unopposed. For a good reason, those things reduce the chances of those politicians being killed by disgruntled citizens. The politicians certainly believe that, you do not hear them calling to end their security details as a “waste of money.”
Why should school children be more expendable than grown politicians? Other adults have a choice, and in many states the choice to carry concealed weapons. Children have no choice, and (with good reason) their parents cannot choose to arm them, and I do not think any teacher should have the choice to be armed in a school either; the lack of training and the possibility of some kid ending up with the gun is too great.
The question isn’t whether the cop can be defeated, the question is whether a trained cop, as a deterrent or as a defender, would reduce the incidence of child mass murder. The same question applies to physical barriers like self-locking one-way doors.
Elaine,
A reasoned voice of reason… Thank you for your valuable input….
Jones and Scott Staska, the Rocori superintendent, noted that the boards are a supplement to a broad plan that includes lockdown drills and school resource officers. -from the following link
Jones and Scott Staska: Proud members of AIIA — American Idiots In Action
http://www.securityinfowatch.com/news/10930223/minn-school-district-gets-bulletproof-whiteboards
“Police Chief Phil Jones demonstrated the whiteboards Tuesday in a school gym by leveling a karate kick at one, whacking it with a police baton and stabbing it with a knife — all with no apparent effect.
Jones didn’t fire his gun at the whiteboard, saying it would have been unsafe and inappropriate at the school. But he said he’d tested it earlier by firing several rounds at it.
“We put this board to the test, and quite frankly, that was the day I became a believer,” Jones said.
The manufacturer, Maryland-based Hardwire LLC, has been working on armor protection devices for military vehicles and personnel for years. The company turned its attention to school security after the Connecticut elementary school shootings in December that killed 20 children and six educators.
Company officials said the whiteboards are already in schools in North Dakota and Maryland, and are being rolled out in Pennsylvania and California. Jones said Rocori schools are the first to use them in Minnesota.
At least one security expert questioned whether the boards would be effective. Bill Nesbitt, president of school security consulting firm Security Management Services International, wasn’t familiar with the whiteboards but said his initial reaction was that they may provide a false sense of security. The prudent thing to do would be to retreat from danger rather than hide behind a whiteboard, he said.
Jones and Scott Staska, the Rocori superintendent, noted that the boards are a supplement to a broad plan that includes lockdown drills and school resource officers.”
Nick, I can’t disagree with most of your thinking on this but you are cherry picking when you say background checks wouldn’t have stopped Newtown. You are right but your sample size is too small.
I compare it more to how we started dealing with highway safety since the mid 60’s. Licensing and training has been beefed up, insurance is required, roads have been improved, cars have been made safer through mandated features. People still die in car accidents but only at a rate 1/3 of what they did in 1965 (per million miles driven). Sensible things like background checks, limits on weapons and magazines, insurance requirements and, yes, even licensing and registration, would go a long way towards reducing the number of gun deaths in the US. The government has not tried to take away our cars after all this improvement btw
How ’bout full body armor for teachers and kids? Or maybe bulletproof bracelets a la Wonder Woman?
Wonder Woman – Bullets and Bracelets 2
What do I think?
It’s a complete waste of money! A bulletproof whiteboard would not have made me feel secure when I was teaching. This would be just another rip-off of taxpayers’ money.
SWM, I’ll refer back to my original comment in this thread. “A false sense of security is more dangerous than no security.” The Newtown shooter’s mom would have passed any background check, and this is the tragedy that caused this bill. I’m closer to a “no gun” person than I am to “gun nut” on the 2nd amendment spectrum. However, above all else I believe in common sense. Background checks apparently will make some folks “feel” better. It will not make it any better.
Sounds like race discrimination to me.
You guys that want more cops on school sites have two problems to overcome.
First, one cop in a large school against a nut job like the one in Newtown, armed with a high powered semi-auto is in deep trouble. A ‘bullet-proof’ vest is useless against a long gun firing 7.62×39 or 7.62×51 to say nothing of the response time to find the shooter who in all likelihood will be in something of a crowd.
Second, I believe these stories have even been posted here but there are several good studies that cops at schools have not had the desired results of lowered crime but have done a marvelous job of criminalizing youthful misbehavior in ways that were never intended. Kids that would have been suspended for some minor infraction are ending up in juvie with a record.
The one case in GA where the asst. Principal ‘stopped’ a shooting with his handgun? Well, the shooter had stopped shooting, gone outside and was sitting under a tree waiting for the police to arrive. The good guy with a gun didn’t do anything except wait with him
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/28/manchin-says-working-to-get-another-senate-vote-on-gun-background-check/ Another vote might be coming, nick.
raff, It is a MINOR waste of monry. Chump change in how govt. wastes money. The false sense of secrity is much more wasteful and dangerous than the few bucks extra. Now, your pipedream regarding background checks is well..a pipedream.
dkenner: If “good man with a gun” means a cop with a gun, I am not opposed. If our society has become so depraved that children entrusted to the public good (public schools, public daycares) are now targets, I am not opposed to facing that reality.
I see no reason to not post trained police personnel with guns at schools to protect them. I would not mind any increase in taxes that presented to me (about a 1% increase in current public school budgets to have two cops protect each school). I believe such police should be in plainclothes with their weapons concealed beneath a jacket in a shoulder holster. Plainclothes would also make them harder to target by those intent on causing harm.
Politicians seem to have no problem protecting themselves using plainclothes armed guards (like the secret service); even in the presence of children. Citizens see no reason to deny them that protection. I fail to see what harm would befall children in grade school if another adult in a suit is walking the halls or perimeter. They don’t know what half the adults in their school do anyway, they regard any adult as an authority figure.
I do think such personnel should be trained, full time police officers, perhaps with additional training to deal with children (like child psychology). If they meet that standard, they are good enough to protect our children from criminals elsewhere, so they are good enough to protect them when entrusted to a public institution like a grade school.
I also reject the idea of double-duty by teachers as armed guards. There is no need to save a dime, here. Let teachers be professional teachers and let the cops be professional guardians; trying to mix the two diminishes the execution of both functions and increases the chances of tragic error.
Darren; I’d like to hear your opinion on that.
While I agree that having these whiteboards is better than arming teachers, it is a waste of money for the district and highly unlikely to be of any real value. Keep guns out of the wrong peoples hands with universal background checks. It already works when utilized.
Dredd: Perhaps what? Did you not read the rest of the post? The fact that accident is the leading cause of death does not mean reducing homicide is pointless, as you implied in your post. You seem incapable of understanding the written word.