Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In school shootings, there is only one person who is doing exactly what he wants to do. Everyone else has to make a ton of decisions instantly, but not him, and everyone else is responding to what that one person is doing in many different ways.
The shooter has nothing to decide except the next target. He may be totally deranged, but at the moment, he's the only one in the school with a perfectly clear mind and is fully engaged in what he's doing.
Even the most experienced gun handler does not have that advantage. They have completely no intent to kill one of their kids.
In combat it's much easier to ignore the strangers caught in the middle of a firefight. In a classroom, it's completely different. The teacher knows the children and has a relationship with them.
The odds are the teacher is a woman, not a man, and most women have never been in the military or in any kind of situation close to what they are suddenly encountering.
A man who's a vet might have better gun skills, but any vet will admit that his skills are rusty compared to what they once were. The farther a man is from his military years, the rustier he is. A male teacher faces exactly the same set of micro-second decisions a female teacher does.
No one knows when a school is going to get shot up ever. Even when there are warning signs someone may be planning a shooting, no one knows if it will actually happen or not, or when to expect it if it happens.
There is no school that is safe from a shooting, no teacher who is fully prepared every day for a shooting, and no way training can alter the nature of the crisis. One person alone has a huge advantage over all the others. One person comes fully prepared and mentally ready. All the others can never be as ready to respond.
It is only human for men to believe that we are all Rambo, with split-second reflexes and deadly aim. But the truth is none of us are Rambo when the bullets are flying suddenly, in the middle of what was only another routine day at school a few seconds ago.
In a school shooting, a brave man is more likely to act as a shield than go on the attack. Protecting the kids is a natural response. Instant lethal combat assault is not natural in a school, especially when the shooting is a total surprise.
While I've never been in the middle of a shooting, I was in the middle of a surprise knife attack once. Two guys were arguing over something in a neighborhood bar, and one suddenly got up and left. Then came back with a butcher knife. The bar was about half-full of folks who mostly knew each other, and not a one of them got up to confront the guy with the knife.
They all got up, but they were looking to get out of his way. One quick-witted lady saw the knife just as the man walked through the glass front door, and ran over and slammed the door in his face. The knife was wedged between the door and the jamb, and the man couldn't pull it free, so he ran off.
I was sitting in a circular booth toward the back with two friends, and none of us had enough time to even get out of the booth by the time it was over. If the knife had been a gun, it's quite possible we would have all been shot while trying to slide our way out of that booth.
In school shootings, there is only one person who is doing exactly what he wants to do. Everyone else has to make a ton of decisions instantly, but not him, and everyone else is responding to what that one person is doing in many different ways.
The shooter has nothing to decide except the next target. He may be totally deranged, but at the moment, he's the only one in the school with a perfectly clear mind and is fully engaged in what he's doing.
Even the most experienced gun handler does not have that advantage. They have completely no intent to kill one of their kids.
In combat it's much easier to ignore the strangers caught in the middle of a firefight. In a classroom, it's completely different. The teacher knows the children and has a relationship with them.
The odds are the teacher is a woman, not a man, and most women have never been in the military or in any kind of situation close to what they are suddenly encountering.
A man who's a vet might have better gun skills, but any vet will admit that his skills are rusty compared to what they once were. The farther a man is from his military years, the rustier he is. A male teacher faces exactly the same set of micro-second decisions a female teacher does.
No one knows when a school is going to get shot up ever. Even when there are warning signs someone may be planning a shooting, no one knows if it will actually happen or not, or when to expect it if it happens.
There is no school that is safe from a shooting, no teacher who is fully prepared every day for a shooting, and no way training can alter the nature of the crisis. One person alone has a huge advantage over all the others. One person comes fully prepared and mentally ready. All the others can never be as ready to respond.
It is only human for men to believe that we are all Rambo, with split-second reflexes and deadly aim. But the truth is none of us are Rambo when the bullets are flying suddenly, in the middle of what was only another routine day at school a few seconds ago.
In a school shooting, a brave man is more likely to act as a shield than go on the attack. Protecting the kids is a natural response. Instant lethal combat assault is not natural in a school, especially when the shooting is a total surprise.
While I've never been in the middle of a shooting, I was in the middle of a surprise knife attack once. Two guys were arguing over something in a neighborhood bar, and one suddenly got up and left. Then came back with a butcher knife. The bar was about half-full of folks who mostly knew each other, and not a one of them got up to confront the guy with the knife.
They all got up, but they were looking to get out of his way. One quick-witted lady saw the knife just as the man walked through the glass front door, and ran over and slammed the door in his face. The knife was wedged between the door and the jamb, and the man couldn't pull it free, so he ran off.
I was sitting in a circular booth toward the back with two friends, and none of us had enough time to even get out of the booth by the time it was over. If the knife had been a gun, it's quite possible we would have all been shot while trying to slide our way out of that booth.
I guess the guys who think they are Rambo just haven't been caught flat-footed often enough.
I have. That's why regardless whether I'm armed, I'm more in rabbit mode than tiger mode. My primary aim is to get my wife to cover and then safety, and guard her escape as necessary.
If you armed me as a teacher, I would lobby all the time for, first, hardening the classroom or providing secure egress so that my tactic would be the same: Get the kids to safety, guard their escape as necessary. As it is now, classrooms are designed to be death traps. In some cases, explicitly so, as more new schools actually use prison plans for their construction.
In school shootings, there is only one person who is doing exactly what he wants to do. Everyone else has to make a ton of decisions instantly, but not him, and everyone else is responding to what that one person is doing in many different ways.
The shooter has nothing to decide except the next target. He may be totally deranged, but at the moment, he's the only one in the school with a perfectly clear mind and is fully engaged in what he's doing.
Even the most experienced gun handler does not have that advantage. They have completely no intent to kill one of their kids.
In combat it's much easier to ignore the strangers caught in the middle of a firefight. In a classroom, it's completely different. The teacher knows the children and has a relationship with them.
The odds are the teacher is a woman, not a man, and most women have never been in the military or in any kind of situation close to what they are suddenly encountering.
A man who's a vet might have better gun skills, but any vet will admit that his skills are rusty compared to what they once were. The farther a man is from his military years, the rustier he is. A male teacher faces exactly the same set of micro-second decisions a female teacher does.
No one knows when a school is going to get shot up ever. Even when there are warning signs someone may be planning a shooting, no one knows if it will actually happen or not, or when to expect it if it happens.
There is no school that is safe from a shooting, no teacher who is fully prepared every day for a shooting, and no way training can alter the nature of the crisis. One person alone has a huge advantage over all the others. One person comes fully prepared and mentally ready. All the others can never be as ready to respond.
It is only human for men to believe that we are all Rambo, with split-second reflexes and deadly aim. But the truth is none of us are Rambo when the bullets are flying suddenly, in the middle of what was only another routine day at school a few seconds ago.
In a school shooting, a brave man is more likely to act as a shield than go on the attack. Protecting the kids is a natural response. Instant lethal combat assault is not natural in a school, especially when the shooting is a total surprise.
While I've never been in the middle of a shooting, I was in the middle of a surprise knife attack once. Two guys were arguing over something in a neighborhood bar, and one suddenly got up and left. Then came back with a butcher knife. The bar was about half-full of folks who mostly knew each other, and not a one of them got up to confront the guy with the knife.
They all got up, but they were looking to get out of his way. One quick-witted lady saw the knife just as the man walked through the glass front door, and ran over and slammed the door in his face. The knife was wedged between the door and the jamb, and the man couldn't pull it free, so he ran off.
I was sitting in a circular booth toward the back with two friends, and none of us had enough time to even get out of the booth by the time it was over. If the knife had been a gun, it's quite possible we would have all been shot while trying to slide our way out of that booth.
Quick-Witted Woman Saves the Day points out the obvious in more ways than one.
Not everybody runs away from danger.
That woman would be bleeding on the floor along with a bunch of the rest of you if he'd been spraying bullets instead of waving a gun around.
I guess the guys who think they are Rambo just haven't been caught flat-footed often enough.
I have. That's why regardless whether I'm armed, I'm more in rabbit mode than tiger mode. My primary aim is to get my wife to cover and then safety, and guard her escape as necessary.
If you armed me as a teacher, I would lobby all the time for, first, hardening the classroom or providing secure egress so that my tactic would be the same: Get the kids to safety, guard their escape as necessary. As it is now, classrooms are designed to be death traps. In some cases, explicitly so, as more new schools actually use prison plans for their construction.
How is it that classrooms are now designed as death traps? Because there is no way out?
What structural changes to schools should are needed? Bullet proof classroom doors?
This speaks to my recent thinking on disarming all government agents at every level first, then waiting a few years and disarming the people. Clearly, the military and law enforcement need to be disarmed. It's common sense and would have saved this kid's life.
You again with this moral and logical consistency.
Give it a rest.
There are special rules for government. They are supernatural beings.
First: One must take each situation as it comes and handle it as necessary.
Second: The guy wasn't a gun handler, or he'd have known there was no significant danger in dropping it.
WRONG! I knew a man some years ago who accidentally dropped his gun. It went off and shot him where no man wants to be shot.
I should have said "very low probability." Most guns have had safety mechanisms against firing when dropped for half a century, and those have been substantially improved in the last couple of decades.
And I suspect even the man you're talking about actually shot himself and has been telling people "I dropped it and it just went off."
Whereas the chances of being shot for not dropping the gun had very high probability. The guy was both ignorant of guns and foolish with police, and that's the bottom line of it.
Are you the police didn’t shoot him because he’s white? We all know white lives don’t matter.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
