This may not be a popular opinion to put out there, but as a mom and a reasonably serious gun owner — I’ve made it my entire career, after all — it needs to be said. If you have kids, you are responsible for giving them the tools to make it in life, and that includes teaching kids of all ages what to do if they’re ever faced with an active killer.
Does that seem harsh? Too bad, because what gun owners and parents need is a far greater grasp of the enormous importance that training and preparation play at all stages of life.
I am in no way victim shaming here. As someone who has lost a child and with a friend who just now lost one, as someone familiar with attending visitation and graveside services where the smallest caskets have been lowered into the earth, I feel the pain of losing our kids.
Make no mistake, those who take the lives of innocent children are the lowest kind of scum and deserve the harshest possible punishment. It’s in no way the fault of the children, and it isn’t the fault of the parents: the fault lies entirely with the murderers.
That said, if you could better equip your kids to handle an active killer situation, wouldn’t you do it? If you could impart tiny slices of wisdom, adding details as they get older and can handle it, wouldn’t you?
If you ask my oldest, who is now 19, what she was taught about active killers and schools, she’d probably tell you I taught her to get out and not to wait around for her friends. I have a feeling that particular detail has stuck with her, probably because it sounds like incredibly harsh advice.
Get out. Wait for no one.
I want my kids alive at the end of the day.
What Do Schools Teach Our Kids?
Speaking from personal experience with a number of schools, teachers instruct their students to shelter in place during an active killer event. It’s really not unlike the way we used to prepare for tornadoes, earthquakes or random natural disasters: Get under your desk/a piece of furniture, put your arms over your head, and be quiet.
Kindergarteners duck and cover during an earthquake and tsunami drill Thursday, May 31, 2012 at Blossom Gulch Elementary School in Coos Bay, Ore. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)
When it comes to fighting back, our kids are told by school systems to either do nothing or to throw books at them. Is this terrible advice? Not exactly, because if the only choice left is to throw books, you throw the heck out of War and Peace (hopefully here are hefty books like that around). But how many classrooms even have many books in them anymore? Not a lot, and when they do, it tends to be limited to one per student…or less.
So far we have sheltering in place and throwing books. What’s left? Some schools teach the kids to huddle together in the corner of the classroom farthest from the door, which basically makes them one compact target. Does that seem terribly helpful?
Cindy Bullock, Timpanogos Academy secretary, participates in shooting drills at the Utah County Sheriff’s Office shooting range during the teacher’s academy training, in Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah. (AP Photo/ Rick Bowmer)
What Do School Teach Teachers to Do With Active Killers?
Although this varies widely by district, the general consensus seems to be that teachers enforce the aforementioned steps for the kids and try to barricade classroom doors. That might mean simply locking the handle, or there might be a built-in door stop that locks into the ground (those are actually somewhat useful). They might be told to turn the lights off and to keep the kids quiet.
Did teachers sign up to defend their students from armed psychopaths? No, they did not. So how did this become a hazard of an underpaid job?
Signage at a school in Texas, letting people know the staff is armed. NOT a soft target. (Photo credit: Argyle ISD)
Schools are Soft Targets
The primary reason schools are targeted is because schools are largely soft targets. At most, they might have a security vestibule — something that was apparently disengaged at Robb Elementary in Uvalde — or maybe they have an on-campus guard or resource officer. We know how guards can operate (think Broward County).
Schools have been crafted into gun-free zones full of easy, inexperienced young targets whose parents would rather cherish their innocence than give them the tools to protect their lives.
If you’re going to commit mass murder, would you rather attack a police station full of armed cops or a school full of kids who can’t fight back? Mass murderers are cowards at heart, so the answer to that is easy. Active killers hit soft targets. Schools. Churches. Movie theaters. Whatever will get them the greatest notoriety with the least of being injured or killed before they’re finished.
A Kids S.A.F.E. Foundation staff member educates kids about firearms safety. (Photo credit: Kids Safe Foundation)
What Do Professionals Say?
This is where I bring Derek LeBlanc into the discussion. Derek runs the Kids S.A.F.E. Foundation, an organization dedicated to teaching firearms safety to kids nationwide. Kids S.A.F.E started small, but they’ve grown quickly in the time I’ve known Derek. He’s doing amazing work. I posed a series of questions to him regarding how to teach kids what to do when faced with an active killer, so let’s do this in a Q and A format.
Kat Stevens: Is sheltering in place ever a good idea for kids facing an active killer?
Derek LeBlanc: I would say that it’s only a good idea if the classroom is secure. I am ALICE certified and some of the training talks about locking the doors, turning off the lights, and hiding under their desks. This is a viable option only if the doors are secure, if not the results will be tragic. We are breeding the fight out of our children. The last two years has been really traumatic on our kids. During the most important time in their development, they were muzzled with masks. This has affected the way that they interact with others and also has softened them up. While I understand not many fourth graders will be fighting back, teens and high school students most definitely can. Harden our schools, teach our kids to be strong, independent thinkers. This will help curb potential violence.
KS: Does teaching kids to shoot help clear the magic and mystery of guns and also make them more capable of acting during an active killer incident because guns won’t be brand new and shocking? Violence is always shocking, but there’s something to be said for understanding guns.
DL: Absolutely. I wholeheartedly believe that education will take us further as a country than any type of new restriction. When we teach firearm safety from a young age, we take the novelty away from the firearm. When we treat it as a taboo, it is counterproductive to their safety. Books are NOT firearm safety. This is not how a kid learns effectively. Books can be used as a supplement, but not in the forefront. Our children need repetition, they need continuous training.
KS: How do we, and should we, teach kids to ignore what the teacher is saying and, instead, do as their parent instructs in case of an active killer situation?
DL: We want them to respect their teachers as long as their teachers have the students’ best interest in mind. So often the teachers are politicizing topics in front of the kids. I know that this is a generalization, but I know teachers who I would not trust to defend my kids. In some cases if the kids can have an escape route planned, this can be helpful. Ultimately this would be age-specific. Our best bet is upgraded security and an armed response will always be the best bet. The fact that we have politicians fortifying Washington, D.C. and our kids are left to be slaughtered is simply unacceptable.
KS: What signs of readiness should parents watch for when talking to kids about what to do in case of an active killer?
DL: It is very common for us to follow Jeff Coopers signs of readiness, which I believe can be effective depending on the age group. Obviously the age group that was targeted in the past few days, most likely without repetitive training would have had trouble remembering this concept. I am currently developing a teen class where we will be utilizing this concept because of the age group of the students. The tragedy that just happened in Uvalde was compounded because the killer gained access to the school and then was able to barricade himself in a classroom. This should have been prevented if the classroom was fortified. There are many different quality products that could have been used to secure the door. A teacher could have secured the door with something as easy as an extension cord in a pinch.
KS: What should we teach kids the age of the Uvalde about what to do? Furthermore, how about kids who are both younger and older?
DL: This is a tricky question. While I believe that it’s never too early to be talking about firearm safety and accident prevention, I also believe that we can start preparing our kids at a young age on threats that they may face. I am really careful about how I talk about potential threats in front of kids at this age. I want to be able to somewhat protect their innocence. There are some teachers, especially where I am from in Oregon, who project their fears onto kids. This isn’t right. If we look at the data, our kids are more likely to be struck by lightning than to die in a school shooting. We need to teach our kids empathy and kindness, but also to look out for warning signs from their peers. We need to normalize the behavior that if something doesn’t seem right, they need to talk to someone. We shouldn’t look at it as tattling, but in reality they are little first responders. They really could be the difference in discovering a potential killer or not.
This gun writer thinks you should teach kids to fight back, to know when to flee, and also how to handle guns safely and responsibly. (Photo credit: Kat Stevens)
What Does the Gun Writer Say?
There is no one-size-fits all answer to any of this, but here are my two cents. Your kids are more capable of comprehending things than you believe, and your desire to somehow protect their innocence could get them killed.
Here are a few ideas:
1) Teach kids when to hide, when to fight, and when to flee. Understanding the nuances in these situations is going to be hard for kids of all ages, but you can give them age-appropriate instruction on when to do what. Very rarely will simply hiding be a solution, but all scenarios are different. Work at helping your kids understand when to hole up and when to make a run for it. And if they’re stuck and forced to fight, give them the skills to fight like badgers. Not those prissy-looking European badgers, the angry, four-inch clawed American badgers.
2) Show kids how to fight. I taught my daughter how to properly throw a punch when she was in grade school. This was done with the instruction to never a start a fight, but to darn well finish it. What good does fighting do? To put a very emotional face on this, would you prefer your kids cower in fear, terrified, or get up and fight for their lives? Whether your kids are in kindergarten or high school, they can learn age-appropriate fighting techniques. Keep it realistic, but prepare them.
3) Teach kids about gun safety, shooting, and how guns work. Take the mystery out of firearms and make them less terrifying from the moment a gun appears. It will still be scary, but at least guns won’t be brand new, mystical objects to them. If they’re old enough, start teaching them when the right moments can be to fight back. Is the killer in the middle of a reload? Did his rifle jam and he’s standing there trying to clear a round? These might seem like crazy things to talk to your kids about, but guess what…I’ve had these conversations with mine, and it’s gone well.
4) Instruct your kids to know where exits are and how to leave an area. Making sure they know how to find exits isn’t teaching your kids to be fearful. Neither is showing them how to smash a window with a chair to get out of a building. You’re teaching them to be self-sufficient and courageous.
5) Question authority. That might sound bad, but if kids are totally unwilling to question authority, they’re going to blindly do what a teacher says, even if it means certain death. As Derek mentioned above, this is tricky, but you need to find a way to have this conversation and teach your kids what to do. Teachers and adults in general don’t always know best, especially if the adult in question has a built-in fear or dislike of firearms. Adults can freeze in place and panic while kids near them become brave and tough enough to act in their stead. It happens all the time. Give your kids the tools they need to be brave and to know when it’s right to defy authority.
6) Remind kids they don’t have to be heroes. This is going to rub some of you the wrong way, but I have flat-out told my kids to just get out. I remember the first time I told my daughter I wanted her to flee, not to shelter in place, and not to wait around for friends, let alone go looking for them. On one hand, we want our kids to be selfless and bold. On the other hand, we want them alive. Of course, I ended up with a teenager who is selfless and loves to help others, which is wonderful, but I hope she makes good choices for survival if the time ever comes. When she got old enough, I bluntly told her I did not want her to make herself a sacrificial lamb. Use the skills and knowledge she has? Yes. Sentence herself to death? No.
Schools should arm qualified staff. (Photo credit: Claude ISD)
What Can You Say to the School?
We’ve moved a few times before finally finding what I feel is the most awesome place ever (spoiler alert, it’s in Texas). Here’s what I did when we moved here and what I’ve always done when faced with a new school.
1) Walk the hallways. Familiarize yourself with the layout. Use that knowledge to help your kids memorize an escape route. This gets tougher in high school when they’re in multiple classrooms, but it’s not impossible.
2) Ask the school if teachers and other employees are allowed to carry. This varies by school, but in many places it’s up to the school to decide if qualified individuals will be allowed to carry firearms. Let’s just say our school up here in North Texas is not a soft target.
3) Find out what security measures the school takes. Maybe that security vestibule is obnoxious because you’re always standing there waiting to be buzzed in, but it serves a purpose. It might not totally stop an active killer, but it could slow their progress enough to give students time to get away.
4) Find out how the school handles mental health issues among students. There have been multiple instances in recent years where a serious mental health issue was set aside in favor of letting the kid attend class.
5) Come right out and ask what their active killer action plan is. Don’t be afraid to question parts of it.
By the time she was a teenager, my daughter could fight and shoot. (Photo credit: Kat Stevens)
The Bottom Line – Teach Your Kids
When my daughter was little — about the age of the Uvalde kids or younger — teaching her meant helping her memorize an escape route. She knew the path to follow to get away from the school and that it would take her to a spot where I would meet her. We had safe words that she’d know meant another adult had been sent or otherwise endorsed by me. We had plans of action for everything. Despite what you might think, this did not turn her into a kid who was terrified of violence. It just left her prepared.
A lot of parents, especially new ones, are making comments about how they’re considering homeschooling. We won’t get into the many, many problems in school systems, but I will say homeschooling doesn’t save your kids from violence. What it does do is deprive them of the opportunity to socialize and learn from a diverse group.
Stop teaching your kids to curl up in a corner and wait to die. Teach them how to fight back. Teach them when to flee, and how to do it in their specific classroom and school. Guns aren’t the enemy. Evil is the enemy and evil will always be around.
I am fully on the side of arming qualified, trained teachers and upping security so schools are no longer soft targets, but I’m also a passionate endorser of teaching your kids how to survive.
I’ll say it again. You are not robbing kids of their innocence by teaching them to fight, you’re giving them the ability to come home. You are the parent. It’s your responsibility to properly equip your kids, and that means having a game plan when it comes to active killers. Stop side-stepping the issue and face it head-on.
Kat, excellent blog. I’ve taught my kids about guns and school safety a long time ago. Now I’m teaching grand children. Fortunately, my grand kids are in private school or home school. I disagree with you about benefits of home schooling, but that’s a subject for later. Even though my grands are in home school, I still teach them about being safe and what to do if someone comes around with a gun. Even my 4 year old grandson knows what to do if he sees someone with a gun–run like crazy, then tell an adult. By the way, one of my sons is a school teacher in a public school. His school had a shooting a few months back and he successfully protected his students (he locked the door which would kept the perp out. Fortunately, the shooting was in the other end of the school. My kids were taught there is a time when you have to fight, but bare-handed against an armed adversary is NOT the time to fight, if you can get away.
—–>Make no mistake, those who take the lives of innocent children are the lowest kind of scum and deserve the harshest possible punishment. It’s in no way the fault of the children, and it isn’t the fault of the parents: the fault lies entirely with the murderers.<——
No. The fault lies in you people not being flexible in transitioning yourselves from individualists into commie collectivists and embracing's social engineering and gun control. Because a guy shot up a school, successfully, and murdered a bunch of small children, our freedom is the problem!
If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
We need to make America into a prison, so we can all be safe! This is the end goal. Endless safety and the government, stepping in, because they are here to help. And that prison cell can start, with gun control. Then later, we can expand it into other subjects, until we are all literally in a prison cell, and peacefully, and blissfully safe. And the government can take care of us! And we can all contribute, from each according to their ability to each according to their need, in a state of ecstasy, enjoying total equality and equity, in a safe little cell.
Fake dacian of course you can tell if you have brain one.
It does depend on the age and size/strength of the child. Teaching him/her to hide is a good thing, but hide in a place where they are not expected to hide. a top shelf in a closet could work, especially with cover in front of them – under the stage in the auditorium – on the foot way in a rollout bleacher system – in the kitchen of the Cafetoria – back behind pans in a cupboard. Teach them to hide singly, even if they have to climb a tree and be very, very quiet.
You have to tell them that the teacher has a job to do, but you have a job also – which is more important than hers is – you have to live, and that means to break with the crowd. Get on the roof, climb a fence into a neighbor’s backyard, do whatever you can to get out of there.
Now, a couple of jocks in 11th or 12th grade, could give the shooter a problem. A fast pitch the the head could just stun him enough to drop him so he could be rushed and overcome, but this isn’t a job for a school child. Their job is to get away and make a great start on life.
Schools shouldn’t have to train for this if our American society at large can come together to the table and come up with real solutions to reduce the number of weapons of war on our streets. Why does an 18 year old kid with mental health problems need an AR15? The background check system is broken. As long as you have a clean criminal record but you are a high functioning psychopath, you can pass the check and get yourself whatever assault weapon you want on your 18th birthday, as many high capacity magazines you want and as much ammo as you can afford. How does this make any sense?
Gee David, too bad the adults couldn’t come up with real solutions so that us kids didn’t have to “duck and cover” in response to a simulated nuclear attack during the Cold War. Well, guess what? They didn’t and I don’t know anybody emotionally scared by the drill. The NICs system was always broken and unless the HIPA laws are amended to allow mental health records to be open to law enforcement when you have reported incidents like there were with many of these shooters, this will continue.
Well Parnell, there isn’t a whole lot you can do (/imposing baritone) “if the atomic bomb explodes.” “Duck and Cover” might give you some protection from broken glass or falling objects, but little else. But it made people feel like they knew what to do, and the people who made the film probably figured that if it didn’t work, there wouldn’t be anyone to complain anyhow.
You want more school shootings.
You want more mass shootings.
You want more of all types of shootings.
You want the death toll to be as high as possible.
david hoggwash…Cease creating soft targets for criminals who misuse anything they can get their hands on.
Only real issue I have with the article is the author self describes herself as a reasonably serious gun owner…Hopefully she is not reasonably serious with perps who are serious about inflicting bodily harm.
I’ve got everything you hate in my house and for some weird reason none of my apparatus is sneaking out and killing people. I’d ask you to try harder but you already reached Peak Hogg.
Dave history is on your side. Almost all civilized nations have much better and more thorough vetting of gun purchases and most severely restrict or outlaw weapons of mass destruction.
We all know that in Capitalvania anyone can buy a second had weapon of mass destruction with no paperwork, no background check and no questions asked except “Do you have the cash on you”. This is of course pure insanity but the Far Right cannot see this because their minds are so poisoned with paranoia they actually believe more guns make us safer. If this were true the U.S. would be the safest country on earth but it is the most violent industrial nation on earth. When faced with these facts the demented far right simply laugh it off with the wave of a hand.
We need to raise the age of when you are old enough to buy deadly weapons and we need to adopt draconian vetting like the Japanese have where you must go through 3 interviews with the police who also interview family members, neighbors and co-workers about you. Of course your mental history is evaluated and any past crimes that you may have been arrested for. Japan also has safe storage laws as well. The result is something the demented Far Right cannot lie their way out of and that is Japan despite having gun ownership has the lowest crime rate with guns in the world. Positive proof their gun laws work and work well.
dacian, the Dunderhead, you just flow with that Horse Pucky, don’t you. Where can you buy a “weapon of mass destruction” without paperwork? Did you get dropped on your head when you were a baby? LOL
David Hogg, you and people like you have been pushing this narrative for years. It has never worked or will work. It is a fundraising mechanism for you all. If you cared you would be addressing mental health and the hardening of our schools. It’s far past time that we get the opportunity to present our solutions.
I love you man. I wish we could hang out. There is a really nice bath house I like to go to, that I think you would love. When you gave that parkland speech and put your fist in the air, I cried. I love everything about you man, from your hatred of the older generations that don’t know anything, to the confidence in the newer generations that know everything, you are the future man. And we could spend it together, at the bath house, talking about gun regulations. Really Stiff gun regulations.
I’d be interested to know if the little girl who covered herself with the dead child’s blood was following a learned instruction or just acted spur of the moment.
Very good article. It is never too soon to teach your children. As a child in elementary school I remember being taught what to do if someone tried to abduct you. “Don’t dig caves! They’re graves!” etc. One night my mom was frying chicken and not paying attention. Grease fire. She started flapping around the kitchen saying, “Oh! Oh!” I was trying to wear out a Crayola at the kitchen table at the time. Mom said I looked up and said, “Put a lid on it.” and went back to my coloring book. My mom did. Tragedy averted. I learned that in elementary school at the same time I learned “stop, drop and roll.” Our children can be taught to deal with adversity. They’ve had to do it for thousands of years. We are not doing them any favors by shielding them from it.
Well said, sir. Give kids as much knowledge as they can handle. I’d rather “traumatize” my kids with knowledge of reality and good training, than allow reality and lack of training to kill them.
First of all, teachers are not underpaid. Education funding and the taxes that support it have been going up my entire life. Several of my wife’s high school companions became teachers and they make more than I do as a healthcare professional. Perhaps we could reduce administration and athletics and give that money to teachers and to buy supplies, since people keep saying that supplies are an issue.
Second, home schoolers are not deprived of the opportunity to socialize and learn from a diverse group. Most home schoolers belong to a group or organization, and many home schooled children participate in group athletic leagues for football, baseball, soccer, swimming, etc. Many home schoolers are also in church and associate with other kids in their neighborhood, including those who attend public and private schools. What home schooled kids get to skip is the political indoctrination that has been rampant in public schools for decades.
Third, why do we have this inane focus on “trained” and “qualified”? Many people, teachers or not, carry guns legally every day. They manage to not do too many stupid things and also use them successfully in self defense hundreds of thousands of times a year, at minimum. They should be able to carry in school without having to worry about training and qualifications and being identified to and approved by school bureaucrats. Why does a God given, constitutionally guaranteed right end at the edge of school property?
Pirate, you are exactly right. We home schooled John and Katherine until middle school. Our schedules allowed it. After that it was pivate schools. No public indoctrination, thank you. Even though my sister has taught in public schools for 30 years. Wait! Especially because my sister has taught in public schools for 30 years. Katherine was involved in dance. John baseball and martial arts. Both in church. They both had/have lots of friends and family. Both are well employed productive citizens. And POTG. I did the best I could.
Messed up, but the fact is there are people out there that intentionally target children now to gain instant notoriety. These shooting really didn’t take of until the 2000s, where the degredation of morality in American culture really started to show its face.
We have a bunch of narcissistic, ill-concieved, degenerate humans walking amongst us and were not talking politics. We are talking about culture and all it incompasses. By trying to pass gun control, one is either taking advantage of these tragedies and moral stagnation, or suggesting that there is nothing wrong with our culture.
Since the Liberals and the Left want to Lower the voting age to 16.
Then all 16 year olds in the United States should receive Firearms education and Marksmanship training by the age of 16. And if 16 year olds can drive a car in the United States. Then a 16 year old should be able to buy and own handguns and long guns in the United States.
Their training can begin as early as possible.
“11-Year-Old Girl Brings Her AR-15 to Idaho Statehouse for a Hearing, Internet Melts Down”
I agree with most of the article and also the comments. I think the challenge in this day and age is teaching your kids not to be one of the sheeple, while also preventing them from triggering a “see something, say something” response from the kids raised by nanny statists.
The most overlooked weapon readily available to teachers and students in every single school no matter where they are?
The Fire Extinguisher.
A teacher or even a student can grab one, pull the pin and hide on the hinge side of a door. If an intruder comes in, hose them in the face with the whole damn can. They’ll be blinded and suffocated by cold gas and dry chem. Remember, even the most hardened individual will protect their eyes. If that’s not enough to stop them outright, beat the shooter with the metal can.
I’ll leave the ideological discussions about what school environment is best for whom to others. I was a public school elementary teacher for 30 years. I never taught anything remotely related to CRT, racism, gender identity or equality, etc. I instructed my students in basic reading, language and math skills as well as geography, history, natural and physical science.
After the Columbine tragedy, I reassessed the security at my school and in my classroom. Like most schools in my area, it was a very soft target. I periodically made suggestions to my principal about simple, inexpensive way to improve our security. Unfortunately, most were ignored, probably because no one wants to believe that violence can happen to them. However, I made small changes to my classroom and my behavior to increased my students’ safety. I thank my chosen deity that nothing violent or tragic ever happened at my school.
P.S. A package of 50 heavy duty zip ties can be used in many ways to secure doors, etc. and costs about $20 at Home Depot.
What the kids will be wishing if they’re caught up in an active shooter event in their school is that their parents had had the foresight to pull them out of public school!
Can’t get murdered like fish in a barrel if you’re not there!
And educate them at home where you have more control of your environment and can have all the guns you want to protect what’s most precious to you. Take the red pill, Neo!
To Neiowa: You are correct. Sometimes a couple of broom handles taped together will work. All our doors were solid core wood or metal fire doors. They all had hydraulic door closers with a hinged scissor-type arm near the top. A couple of heavy duty zip ties around the hinged arms would keep the door from opening. I know because I experimented after hours. Not perfect but better than nothing. About 10 years ago a small (one man) company marketed a clamp that did the same thing, albeit stronger. He couldn’t interest any districts in my area, too expensive and not necessary.
Teach your kids how not to get shot at school.
Yah know that’s pretty messed up that its come to this.
Hang the perpetrator, news media coverage and attendance.
Like back in the old days, granted there will be a few who think they can get away with it, but there will be a whole lot more who thinks swinging from a rope ain’t just what they want to do.
As the wicked witch of the West said, ” Oh what a world, what a world.”
Define ‘kids’. Elementary aged individuals should not need to be taught about active shooting. That would be the task for the –true adults in the room– who should provide a fortified structure, filtered by LEO\Security personal.
Prison’s and County jail structures do a better job at this. Yet our educational facilities lack the same.
THe mere fact that some body, anybody feels it nessessary to put all that effort [ though I prefer iNDOCTRINATION ] into the minds of small children only illustrates just how backward and uncivilised the uSA has become The poor kids must be scared out of ther minds whenever they go to school. I simply cannot believe it! THat a civilised country could even consider such a thing and consider it bloody NORMAL.
What next? Arm them? Send them to kindergardten with their very own bloody magnum Even in nthe worst days of WW2 children in Europe let alone the UK were not indoctrinated in this way and we had bombs, REALLY BLOODY GREAT BIG BOMBS falling arouind 7uus all the time. [I was born in ’38 in what became known as BOMB ALLEY because it was in the centre of the LUFTWAFFE BOMBER runs coming in from the Continent and wher the RAF tried to intercept them. I Saw the Dog Fights I saw the Heinkels and the Junkers and the V1 ‘Doodlebugs’ and later the LANCASTERS going the other way]
Sooner or later much harsher gun controls WILL have to be applied in the USA in spite of crazy ex-Presidenets being fundeed by the GUN MANUFACTURING LOBBY into even lower control standards and who if he truly believes that MORE guns on the streets are the answer IS most definitely certifiably insane along with his more extremist followers. . . .
Albert Hall, of course you prefer indoctrination. To have an educated person is anathema to the Leftist mind. You want us in lock step with your control of all citizens. Anyone who deviates, you want ostracized.
We like the US and it’s Constitution. Preferable to your ideology of control. No one here proposes tht we arm children. Only a mindless ideologue such as you would ever propose such. No, Lefty, we will not stand for your control over us.
Let me put it another way. Do something about your Muslim neighborhoods that your own Bobbies can’t enter.
The school authorities should do everything and use anything to protect their pupils and students. However, if they can be in situations where they must defend themselves, it is not correct that teenagers are taught to get together in a classroom’s corner because they become a big target. I regularly read https://artscolumbia.org/free-essays/social-problems/ to get help with my writing homework assignments and some free essays about social problems reveal to me the entire drama of our pupils’ protection. Teachers cannot ensure it, so we trust our authorities’ decisions. I like to check those papers by service’s expert writers since I hope that other students do it to improve their study success and save our teens from different community issues like the danger of schools getting under murders and others.
There aren’t enough upvotes in the whole internet to give to this writer for this article!
Kat, excellent blog. I’ve taught my kids about guns and school safety a long time ago. Now I’m teaching grand children. Fortunately, my grand kids are in private school or home school. I disagree with you about benefits of home schooling, but that’s a subject for later. Even though my grands are in home school, I still teach them about being safe and what to do if someone comes around with a gun. Even my 4 year old grandson knows what to do if he sees someone with a gun–run like crazy, then tell an adult. By the way, one of my sons is a school teacher in a public school. His school had a shooting a few months back and he successfully protected his students (he locked the door which would kept the perp out. Fortunately, the shooting was in the other end of the school. My kids were taught there is a time when you have to fight, but bare-handed against an armed adversary is NOT the time to fight, if you can get away.
—–>Make no mistake, those who take the lives of innocent children are the lowest kind of scum and deserve the harshest possible punishment. It’s in no way the fault of the children, and it isn’t the fault of the parents: the fault lies entirely with the murderers.<——
No. The fault lies in you people not being flexible in transitioning yourselves from individualists into commie collectivists and embracing's social engineering and gun control. Because a guy shot up a school, successfully, and murdered a bunch of small children, our freedom is the problem!
If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
We need to make America into a prison, so we can all be safe! This is the end goal. Endless safety and the government, stepping in, because they are here to help. And that prison cell can start, with gun control. Then later, we can expand it into other subjects, until we are all literally in a prison cell, and peacefully, and blissfully safe. And the government can take care of us! And we can all contribute, from each according to their ability to each according to their need, in a state of ecstasy, enjoying total equality and equity, in a safe little cell.
#Progress
#Democracy
#VoteBlue
Fake dacian of course you can tell if you have brain one.
It does depend on the age and size/strength of the child. Teaching him/her to hide is a good thing, but hide in a place where they are not expected to hide. a top shelf in a closet could work, especially with cover in front of them – under the stage in the auditorium – on the foot way in a rollout bleacher system – in the kitchen of the Cafetoria – back behind pans in a cupboard. Teach them to hide singly, even if they have to climb a tree and be very, very quiet.
You have to tell them that the teacher has a job to do, but you have a job also – which is more important than hers is – you have to live, and that means to break with the crowd. Get on the roof, climb a fence into a neighbor’s backyard, do whatever you can to get out of there.
Now, a couple of jocks in 11th or 12th grade, could give the shooter a problem. A fast pitch the the head could just stun him enough to drop him so he could be rushed and overcome, but this isn’t a job for a school child. Their job is to get away and make a great start on life.
Schools shouldn’t have to train for this if our American society at large can come together to the table and come up with real solutions to reduce the number of weapons of war on our streets. Why does an 18 year old kid with mental health problems need an AR15? The background check system is broken. As long as you have a clean criminal record but you are a high functioning psychopath, you can pass the check and get yourself whatever assault weapon you want on your 18th birthday, as many high capacity magazines you want and as much ammo as you can afford. How does this make any sense?
Gee David, too bad the adults couldn’t come up with real solutions so that us kids didn’t have to “duck and cover” in response to a simulated nuclear attack during the Cold War. Well, guess what? They didn’t and I don’t know anybody emotionally scared by the drill. The NICs system was always broken and unless the HIPA laws are amended to allow mental health records to be open to law enforcement when you have reported incidents like there were with many of these shooters, this will continue.
Well Parnell, there isn’t a whole lot you can do (/imposing baritone) “if the atomic bomb explodes.” “Duck and Cover” might give you some protection from broken glass or falling objects, but little else. But it made people feel like they knew what to do, and the people who made the film probably figured that if it didn’t work, there wouldn’t be anyone to complain anyhow.
You want more school shootings.
You want more mass shootings.
You want more of all types of shootings.
You want the death toll to be as high as possible.
You don’t want solutions. You want confiscation.
david hoggwash…Cease creating soft targets for criminals who misuse anything they can get their hands on.
Only real issue I have with the article is the author self describes herself as a reasonably serious gun owner…Hopefully she is not reasonably serious with perps who are serious about inflicting bodily harm.
I’ve got everything you hate in my house and for some weird reason none of my apparatus is sneaking out and killing people. I’d ask you to try harder but you already reached Peak Hogg.
GFY.
To Dave Hogg
Dave history is on your side. Almost all civilized nations have much better and more thorough vetting of gun purchases and most severely restrict or outlaw weapons of mass destruction.
We all know that in Capitalvania anyone can buy a second had weapon of mass destruction with no paperwork, no background check and no questions asked except “Do you have the cash on you”. This is of course pure insanity but the Far Right cannot see this because their minds are so poisoned with paranoia they actually believe more guns make us safer. If this were true the U.S. would be the safest country on earth but it is the most violent industrial nation on earth. When faced with these facts the demented far right simply laugh it off with the wave of a hand.
We need to raise the age of when you are old enough to buy deadly weapons and we need to adopt draconian vetting like the Japanese have where you must go through 3 interviews with the police who also interview family members, neighbors and co-workers about you. Of course your mental history is evaluated and any past crimes that you may have been arrested for. Japan also has safe storage laws as well. The result is something the demented Far Right cannot lie their way out of and that is Japan despite having gun ownership has the lowest crime rate with guns in the world. Positive proof their gun laws work and work well.
dacian, the Dunderhead, you just flow with that Horse Pucky, don’t you. Where can you buy a “weapon of mass destruction” without paperwork? Did you get dropped on your head when you were a baby? LOL
David Hogg, you and people like you have been pushing this narrative for years. It has never worked or will work. It is a fundraising mechanism for you all. If you cared you would be addressing mental health and the hardening of our schools. It’s far past time that we get the opportunity to present our solutions.
Dave Hogg,
I love you man. I wish we could hang out. There is a really nice bath house I like to go to, that I think you would love. When you gave that parkland speech and put your fist in the air, I cried. I love everything about you man, from your hatred of the older generations that don’t know anything, to the confidence in the newer generations that know everything, you are the future man. And we could spend it together, at the bath house, talking about gun regulations. Really Stiff gun regulations.
Let’s hook up.
Again the demented FAKE DACIAN.
Not likely.
Sounds like the lil’pedotard to me. 🤔
I’d be interested to know if the little girl who covered herself with the dead child’s blood was following a learned instruction or just acted spur of the moment.
Very good article. It is never too soon to teach your children. As a child in elementary school I remember being taught what to do if someone tried to abduct you. “Don’t dig caves! They’re graves!” etc. One night my mom was frying chicken and not paying attention. Grease fire. She started flapping around the kitchen saying, “Oh! Oh!” I was trying to wear out a Crayola at the kitchen table at the time. Mom said I looked up and said, “Put a lid on it.” and went back to my coloring book. My mom did. Tragedy averted. I learned that in elementary school at the same time I learned “stop, drop and roll.” Our children can be taught to deal with adversity. They’ve had to do it for thousands of years. We are not doing them any favors by shielding them from it.
Gadsden,
Well said, sir. Give kids as much knowledge as they can handle. I’d rather “traumatize” my kids with knowledge of reality and good training, than allow reality and lack of training to kill them.
First of all, teachers are not underpaid. Education funding and the taxes that support it have been going up my entire life. Several of my wife’s high school companions became teachers and they make more than I do as a healthcare professional. Perhaps we could reduce administration and athletics and give that money to teachers and to buy supplies, since people keep saying that supplies are an issue.
Second, home schoolers are not deprived of the opportunity to socialize and learn from a diverse group. Most home schoolers belong to a group or organization, and many home schooled children participate in group athletic leagues for football, baseball, soccer, swimming, etc. Many home schoolers are also in church and associate with other kids in their neighborhood, including those who attend public and private schools. What home schooled kids get to skip is the political indoctrination that has been rampant in public schools for decades.
Third, why do we have this inane focus on “trained” and “qualified”? Many people, teachers or not, carry guns legally every day. They manage to not do too many stupid things and also use them successfully in self defense hundreds of thousands of times a year, at minimum. They should be able to carry in school without having to worry about training and qualifications and being identified to and approved by school bureaucrats. Why does a God given, constitutionally guaranteed right end at the edge of school property?
Pirate, you are exactly right. We home schooled John and Katherine until middle school. Our schedules allowed it. After that it was pivate schools. No public indoctrination, thank you. Even though my sister has taught in public schools for 30 years. Wait! Especially because my sister has taught in public schools for 30 years. Katherine was involved in dance. John baseball and martial arts. Both in church. They both had/have lots of friends and family. Both are well employed productive citizens. And POTG. I did the best I could.
Yep – 8m a year job. No sweating or heavy lifting. Largely indoctrination.
Drive thru a gov’t school teachers parking lot and count the number of late model fauxutility import vehicles and sillyass Edisons vs povertymobile.
Excellent post.
Messed up, but the fact is there are people out there that intentionally target children now to gain instant notoriety. These shooting really didn’t take of until the 2000s, where the degredation of morality in American culture really started to show its face.
We have a bunch of narcissistic, ill-concieved, degenerate humans walking amongst us and were not talking politics. We are talking about culture and all it incompasses. By trying to pass gun control, one is either taking advantage of these tragedies and moral stagnation, or suggesting that there is nothing wrong with our culture.
Since the Liberals and the Left want to Lower the voting age to 16.
Then all 16 year olds in the United States should receive Firearms education and Marksmanship training by the age of 16. And if 16 year olds can drive a car in the United States. Then a 16 year old should be able to buy and own handguns and long guns in the United States.
Their training can begin as early as possible.
“11-Year-Old Girl Brings Her AR-15 to Idaho Statehouse for a Hearing, Internet Melts Down”
https://dev.thetruthaboutguns.com/11-year-old-girl-brings-her-ar-15-to-idaho-statehouse-for-hearing-internet-melts-down/
Call 911…………🤔
Oh, nevermind.
Call Dunkin Donuts for immediate response.
Kat, God bless. Thank you for doing what you do.
I agree with most of the article and also the comments. I think the challenge in this day and age is teaching your kids not to be one of the sheeple, while also preventing them from triggering a “see something, say something” response from the kids raised by nanny statists.
Hardening a school is not much help when people prop the door open.
Excellent article. Never hurts to learn at any age for knowledge can be a life saver.
I the case of an active school shooter, kids should hide behind a police officer. They’ll find plenty of them outside the school.
Yup
The most overlooked weapon readily available to teachers and students in every single school no matter where they are?
The Fire Extinguisher.
A teacher or even a student can grab one, pull the pin and hide on the hinge side of a door. If an intruder comes in, hose them in the face with the whole damn can. They’ll be blinded and suffocated by cold gas and dry chem. Remember, even the most hardened individual will protect their eyes. If that’s not enough to stop them outright, beat the shooter with the metal can.
Why not just shoot the bastard?
The Extinguisher will NOT typically be INSIDE the classroom.
I’ll leave the ideological discussions about what school environment is best for whom to others. I was a public school elementary teacher for 30 years. I never taught anything remotely related to CRT, racism, gender identity or equality, etc. I instructed my students in basic reading, language and math skills as well as geography, history, natural and physical science.
After the Columbine tragedy, I reassessed the security at my school and in my classroom. Like most schools in my area, it was a very soft target. I periodically made suggestions to my principal about simple, inexpensive way to improve our security. Unfortunately, most were ignored, probably because no one wants to believe that violence can happen to them. However, I made small changes to my classroom and my behavior to increased my students’ safety. I thank my chosen deity that nothing violent or tragic ever happened at my school.
P.S. A package of 50 heavy duty zip ties can be used in many ways to secure doors, etc. and costs about $20 at Home Depot.
Typically outward opening door so you need a crossbar to bridge the door opening.
What the kids will be wishing if they’re caught up in an active shooter event in their school is that their parents had had the foresight to pull them out of public school!
Can’t get murdered like fish in a barrel if you’re not there!
And educate them at home where you have more control of your environment and can have all the guns you want to protect what’s most precious to you. Take the red pill, Neo!
To Neiowa: You are correct. Sometimes a couple of broom handles taped together will work. All our doors were solid core wood or metal fire doors. They all had hydraulic door closers with a hinged scissor-type arm near the top. A couple of heavy duty zip ties around the hinged arms would keep the door from opening. I know because I experimented after hours. Not perfect but better than nothing. About 10 years ago a small (one man) company marketed a clamp that did the same thing, albeit stronger. He couldn’t interest any districts in my area, too expensive and not necessary.
Teach your kids how not to get shot at school.
Yah know that’s pretty messed up that its come to this.
Hang the perpetrator, news media coverage and attendance.
Like back in the old days, granted there will be a few who think they can get away with it, but there will be a whole lot more who thinks swinging from a rope ain’t just what they want to do.
As the wicked witch of the West said, ” Oh what a world, what a world.”
And if the perp commits suicide hang him anyway
ACCESS CONTROL !
Define ‘kids’. Elementary aged individuals should not need to be taught about active shooting. That would be the task for the –true adults in the room– who should provide a fortified structure, filtered by LEO\Security personal.
Prison’s and County jail structures do a better job at this. Yet our educational facilities lack the same.
Billions to foreign aid, while we die.
THe mere fact that some body, anybody feels it nessessary to put all that effort [ though I prefer iNDOCTRINATION ] into the minds of small children only illustrates just how backward and uncivilised the uSA has become The poor kids must be scared out of ther minds whenever they go to school. I simply cannot believe it! THat a civilised country could even consider such a thing and consider it bloody NORMAL.
What next? Arm them? Send them to kindergardten with their very own bloody magnum Even in nthe worst days of WW2 children in Europe let alone the UK were not indoctrinated in this way and we had bombs, REALLY BLOODY GREAT BIG BOMBS falling arouind 7uus all the time. [I was born in ’38 in what became known as BOMB ALLEY because it was in the centre of the LUFTWAFFE BOMBER runs coming in from the Continent and wher the RAF tried to intercept them. I Saw the Dog Fights I saw the Heinkels and the Junkers and the V1 ‘Doodlebugs’ and later the LANCASTERS going the other way]
Sooner or later much harsher gun controls WILL have to be applied in the USA in spite of crazy ex-Presidenets being fundeed by the GUN MANUFACTURING LOBBY into even lower control standards and who if he truly believes that MORE guns on the streets are the answer IS most definitely certifiably insane along with his more extremist followers. . . .
Albert Hall, of course you prefer indoctrination. To have an educated person is anathema to the Leftist mind. You want us in lock step with your control of all citizens. Anyone who deviates, you want ostracized.
We like the US and it’s Constitution. Preferable to your ideology of control. No one here proposes tht we arm children. Only a mindless ideologue such as you would ever propose such. No, Lefty, we will not stand for your control over us.
Let me put it another way. Do something about your Muslim neighborhoods that your own Bobbies can’t enter.
The school authorities should do everything and use anything to protect their pupils and students. However, if they can be in situations where they must defend themselves, it is not correct that teenagers are taught to get together in a classroom’s corner because they become a big target. I regularly read https://artscolumbia.org/free-essays/social-problems/ to get help with my writing homework assignments and some free essays about social problems reveal to me the entire drama of our pupils’ protection. Teachers cannot ensure it, so we trust our authorities’ decisions. I like to check those papers by service’s expert writers since I hope that other students do it to improve their study success and save our teens from different community issues like the danger of schools getting under murders and others.