ANOTHER school shooting!

I sure hope they don't waste the money on a metal detector.

 

Metal detectors are the only way.
At one school you could not get in until you passed through a metal detector.( I think it was a football game in N.C.)

These kids are walking into school with guns. The only way to stop it in ,my opinion, is METAL DETECTORS.

Not a camera system, that has no protection at all.

I know you all say that I am wrong, but I am not. Just look at what is happening. It is becoming an epidemic. It already happened at Orange High School. Need it to come closer until you all are concerned about our schools? Before anything is said, I AM working about doing something for the security in our schools in the 4042 area.

 

Ummm Orange High School's shooting would not have been affected by a metal detector at all as he never entered the building. He also drove past a manned security station.

http://www.wral.com/news/9763124/detail.html

At the school, two students suffered minor injuries after a school district spokeswoman said a former student drove into the school's parking lot at about 1 p.m. and fired a gun at the building. A girl was grazed on the shoulder, while a boy was struck by shattered glass, spokeswoman Anne D'Annunzio said.

 

metal detectors wont stop a determined person. if you try to stop them at the gate and they have a gun whats to stop them from pulling it out and killing the person/people trying to stop them? also look at airports. when you have metal detectors and large ammounts of people you get bottlenecks, and bottlenecks are wonderful for people who want to make a big impact especially if their weapon is as fast as, in this case an AK-47.

what metal detectors will really give you is a false sense of security. an unfortunate side effect of it is that you will give the students added reason to feel like they're in jail, not school.

 

Maybe so Wayne, but if he had got into the school it would have been detected. Most of the cases the child brings the gun to school.

Here are some examples:
http://www.wral.com/idipopup2/news/10007870/detail.html
Almost all of these cases the shootings happened INSIDE the school.


According to a 2004-2005 North Carolina school violence report, there were more than 3,402 cases in which someone has been caught on school grounds with possession of a weapon. There were 834 reported assaults on school personnel and 116 reports of possessions of firearm or powerful explosives.

 

Metal detectors ALONG with other securities. Teacher training, Parent awareness, student awareness. Things such as that.

 

nevilock wrote:
metal detectors wont stop a determined person.


Obviously, nothing will stop that but we can weed out some of these guns being brought on campus.

Sorry for all the postings. 8)

 

A "weapon" does not have to be something that is intentionally meant to cause harm and could mean pretty much anything the school administration wants it to mean. When I went to "First Flight" back in 2003, I had a small knife I kept on my keychain that I used to open envelopes. The blade on it was less than 2" (my car key was longer). I had to turn it over to security, though, because they considered it a weapon.

Not sure why they felt obligated to combine the number of firearms and explosives. That seems a bit odd, considering that they are two completely different classes of weapons. However, "powerful explosives" cannot be detected by metal detectors, since there is not real "metal" involved.

On the other hand, metal detectors will detect keys, cell phones, calculators, etc. causing pretty much every student to be stopped. This will slow down the overall student population from entering school, causing the students to have the need of arriving much earlier than they already do.

Combine this with the fact that metal detectors only give a false sense of security, as anyone who wants to carryout a columbine type of attack would simply start with the guards at the metal detectors, and it would seem that, although it may sound like a good idea, it is, in fact, not worth it.

 

clif, with all due respect, a knife is a knife. You can't justify it by comparing it to keys. Sorry.


Just like at the airports, You would put all your metal goods in a basket as you entered. I see your point but what exactly would you suggest? Camera's? Education? What would weed out some of these guns being found? What?
Offer rewards to the students who would anonymously turn others in? Patrol?

Lets hear some suggestions. Something. Let me hear some personal opinions.
I agree with talking with the children and teachers to educate them. We need more than that I am afraid.

 

No, a knife isn't always a knife. I could have just as easily called it a letter opener or a key fob. The blade was neither sharp nor pointy and, in fact, the keys could have done more damage.

As I said at the beginning of this thread, personally I don't know. Suggestions are always good, but when a suggestion is shown to be nothing more than a "feel good" idea, it's time to move on to other suggestions.

 

We seek answers to this problems. I thought I would share what the family of Emily Keyes has done. They want to focus on finding positive answers and I support their way of doing things. Check out the website. I love this quote "Recent events have threatened the sanctuary of our schools. We are committed to finding ways to keep our children safe without locking them up in prison-like environments. We will extend our helping hands to communities by researching and implementing alternative strategies that increase school safety. " the website is http://www.iloveyouguys.org/

What I have done is sponsored a start up dance team at my daughter's high school. She wanted a dance team and started one. I am the adult sponsor. Maybe I am helping a lonely child out...who knows...

 

Just to keep facts straight...in North Carolina state prisons, the government does not pay for TVs, the inmates do. And meal costs are approximately 65cents per meal in the Division of Prisons. (So much for big meals)

 

An old link to a discussion of costs concerning metal detectors and another link from a professional educational site which is a little older,


http://eric.uoregon.edu/publications/digests/digest145.html

Are Metal Detectors a Wise Investment?
The vast majority of schools in the United States have not had school shootings, nor do they have reason to expect shootings to take place. Metal detectors are hard to justify in such low-crime settings, and may undermine a school’s atmosphere. Unfortunately there are other schools where metal weapons are a serious, ongoing problem. In those settings, detectors are well worth considering.

Metal-detector wands are relatively inexpensive, and can be used by security personnel or other staff to check individuals for hidden weapons. Detection portals, which students can walk through, are much more expensive, and baggage x-ray machines can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The effectiveness of metal-detection equipment has received mixed reviews for at least three reasons:

1. There are usually many entry points that students can use to bring weapons into the schools, including open windows or secondary doors.

2. Use of the equipment requires the staggering of students’ arrival at school to allow sufficient time for processing.

3. The equipment cannot operate itself. At the very least, two security personnel must be hired to operate the wands: scanning incoming students, taking students aside who trigger the alarm, monitoring the remaining students, and responding to found weapons. Between the equipment and staffing, this can be a very expensive proposition.

One alternative is a free-standing metal-detection security portal. Visitors who enter the portal cannot gain further entry if metal is detected. Their only option is to leave or to communicate over an intercom, monitored by a camera. These devices are effective, but their cost, up to $80,000 per entry, is a major deterrent.

http://www.aasa.org/publications/saarticledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=3861&snItemNumber=&tnItemNumber=

School buildings should provide a warm and inviting environment that stimulates learning and development. However, with school safety concerns intensifying nationwide, architects and school administrators are concluding that while schools should not operate as secure fortresses, school building design must integrate security functions into remodeling and new construction plans.


Designing Safer Sites
Research on school building design and safety has led to the development of security systems and technologies that not only make schools safe and nurturing places, but also reduce operating costs associated with traditional precautions. For example: