Gun-free zones and the rise of school shootings
A Failed Experiment: Gun-free zones & gun control nonprofits promote ineffective, rights-stripping policies that invite attacks.
A Failed Experiment: Gun-free zones & gun control nonprofits promote ineffective, rights-stripping policies that invite attacks.
We were told to attend the full-day training in tennis shoes and comfortable clothes, ready to move. What was once a 30-minute training video we could watch on our own time had now turned into a full-day event. The training? A school shooting survival course for teachers.
The session was led by a company called ALICE—Alert. Lockdown. Inform. Counter. Evacuate. With training costs averaging $330 per participant in a school with over 50 teachers meant the district was spending a significant sum for just one day. On top of that, teachers were paid a per diem to attend the mandatory weekend training, making the bill for this training even higher.
Throughout the long day, we were taught how to barricade doors with desks and chairs, evacuate through windows, and run in a weave pattern to make ourselves more challenging targets. We practiced countering an attacker by throwing textbooks and other objects. Then came the simulation, a staged school shooting where instructors armed with fake guns tried to breach our classrooms. Our only defense? Soft foam balls meant to simulate throwing objects at an active shooter. Afterward, we gathered for a debrief. I will never forget one teacher admitting that she was traumatized by the experience and would never want to go through it again.
When I started teaching in the mid-2000s, school shooting training was just a 30-minute passive video. Now, it has evolved into…