Barf.
Security companies spent years pushing schools to buy more products — from “ballistic attack-resistant” doors to smoke cannons that spew haze from ceilings to confuse a shooter. But sales were slow, and industry’s campaign to free up taxpayer money for upgrades had stalled.
That changed last February, when a former student shot and killed 17 people at a Florida high school. Publicly, the rampage reignited the U.S. gun-control debate. Privately, it propelled industry efforts to sell school fortification as the answer to the mass killing of American kids.
Since that attack, security firms and nonprofit groups linked to the industry have persuaded lawmakers to elevate the often-costly “hardening” of schools over other measures that researchers and educators say are proven to reduce violence, an Associated Press investigation shows.
The industry helped Congress draft a law that committed $350 million to equipment and other school security over the next decade. Nearly 20 states have come up with another $450 million.
Most everyone agrees that schools can be more secure with layers of protection, such as perimeter fencing, limited entrances and classroom hiding spaces.
But there’s no independent research supporting claims that much of the high-tech hardware and gadgets schools are buying will save lives, according to two 2016 reports prepared for the U.S. Justice Department.
There also are no widely accepted standards for school building security, as there are for plumbing and fire protection systems. That has not stopped industry representatives from rushing in, as they did in past high-profile shootings, some stoking fears that “soft target” schools could suffer terrorist attacks or negligence lawsuits.
[…]
Educators worry that hardening will siphon focus and money from programs that prevent bullying and counsel at-risk kids. Students have reported in government surveys that metal detectors, armed officers and similar measures make them feel less safe.
School psychologists like Tricia Daniel say campuses are more secure when students feel comfortable reporting suspicious behavior and trained staff can decipher whether that behavior is dangerous.
Yeah, but where’s the profit in that? Gosh, I just can’t understand why some people don’t see capitalism as such a good thing anymore. Wherever could they have gotten that idea?
Still waiting for Abbott and the gun lovers to come to rescue Santa Fe School District.
http://www.fox26houston.com/news/parents-say-santa-fe-isd-not-doing-enough-to-protect-students
Instead of sending State Troopers to the border they should be sending them to schools.
Instead of sending National Guard to the Border they should be sending them to schools.
Maybe they could require everyone to register their guns, just like they do cars, they can even make some money from that.
I agree that all the high tech security stuff is pretty much a waste of money that would be better spent actually educating students.
” School psychologists like Tricia Daniel say campuses are more secure when students feel comfortable reporting suspicious behavior and trained staff can decipher whether that behavior is dangerous. ”
“Yeah, but where’s the profit in that? Gosh, I just can’t understand why some people don’t see capitalism as such a good thing anymore. Wherever could they have gotten that idea?”
Identifying troubled kids will do way more for school safety than any amount of bullet proof glass, high tech security, metal detectors, etc., will do. I am against wasting huge amounts of money on all of this. Figure out who the violent loons and predators are and deal with them before they hurt innocent people.
Manny: Thanks to Kavanaugh, if you want to repeal the 2nd, you’ll have to do it with a constitutional convention of states. An activist court will no longer be an option. Gun registration? Yeah, don’t hold your breath waiting for that one.
Also, while I understand your objection to stopping illegal aliens, drugs, gangs, terrorists, etc. from crossing illegally into Texas, you make no sense when you make your emotional appeal of saving kids from harm. Having boots on the ground at the border will save more lives than having them at schools. If I was running things, I’d insist that every school police department redeploy everything they have to the border, to stop the crime and drugs, before it can get here.
Bill why would I want to repeal the right to own guns. I just think that people need to register their guns, the same way they register automobiles or a driver license.
Bill, do you always use the same tired argument that all the racists and bigots use? The only ones that believe what you wrote are people with little or no education and those that are scared of their own shadow.
But, you must be a paid troll because it always the same boring arguments, how about reading some new material.
By the way, why would I care if they secure those schools, I was making a stupid argument like you and Abbott and all the other crazies like you’ll do.
Manny, I would be careful about mentioning “always the same boring arguments”, since you wold also be referring to yourself and your one note line of reasoning.
Bill, there are enough homegrown criminals(far more than are here illegally) to justify a police presence here, rather than at the border.
Ross, as a long time previous Republican using the same argument is effective. I don’t like using it but what I write is true and factual most of the time, I do engage is some fibbing every now and then.
I am not against guns, I have numerous family members that have at minimum four weapons each. One nephew goes hunting all over the United States. I will probably purchase a revolver soon, probably a Smith & Wesson Governor, but still researching.
Last week I went to visit family that are within a mile of the border, it was very peaceful, if there guards and DPS they certainly were not stationed near Rio Grande City or Roma.
If anyone was familiar with the border in those areas, they would realize that building fencing is foolish, it is not like Arizona and New Mexico.
Do we need to stop illegal immigration of course we do, but e-verify should be the first step. All employers should be required to e-verify.
Gun registration every few years may catch some of those kooks that are doing the mass shootings. Stiff penalties for anyone caught with a gun that is not registered.
But depending on the topic is not one line, but Ross as a person that had a target placed on my back by Trump, I have reason to be concerned.
Mexico sends us the worse. I am not Mexican, but what white person or brown person can tell the difference when they look at someone that was born here and someone that was not.
I can tell the difference in Central Americans and Mexicans from the Northern part. Facial features are different. Most Central Americans have a more Mayan look. But most people can’t.