A reader explains why armed guards will not end the violence:
As my own experience with troubled children, and as pointed out in the PBS ‘After Newtown’ program of 12/21/2012 pointed out:
(1) the shooters tend to be young males who largely fantasize about the shooting long before they act,
(2) they strongly tend to do active research of their act before doing so,
(3) they see this as a way to end their misery and gain a huge place in the theater of the public mind, and
(4) they know they die knowing the media will have to cover their shocking crimes.
So here are the consequences of putting armed guards in schools:
(1) the young assisins will only see the armed guard as the first thing to take out,
(2) this crime will only add to their search for infamous glory, and
(3) the school is no more safe from the shooter progressing into greater carnage.
The number of youth actively and progressively fantasizing about such things is relatively small, and can be identified. We would be remiss in just thinking that all we have to do is make sure all can get some mental health counseling. We actually have to treat our whole society’s basic mental disease of accepting high levels of alienation, mental narratives that exuse and allow alienation to grow, and not doing the work of community building that naturally curbs alienation. That would-be school guard with the equivalent firepower of our recent shooter would be better serving the memory of Newton by joining Big Brothers, Big Sisters, starting community centers, getting scout units that willing accept anyone, getting the lonely and alienated in on lots and lots of social activities, and other such ideas. Trying to end a gun culture will not happen, but it is possible to work with our gun culture to start selling the wisdom of the gun safe, and the need for a bigger vision of community than those that like shooting ranges.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m not satisfied with this conclusion:
“Trying to end a gun culture will not happen, but it is possible to work with our gun culture to start selling the wisdom of the gun safe, and the need for a bigger vision of community than those that like shooting ranges.”
The gun culture that surrounded Nancy Lanza was stoked by her specific social identity politics, the very ones promulgated by LaPierre in his toxic rant. She wasn’t a hunter, but a political paranoid gun collector aligned with supposedly virtuous forces of law-and-order, preparing for violence in an an imminent collapse when others would try to take her money and property. I suspect her guns were locked up, and Adam knew where she kept the key.
Adam’s broken, isolated world view was shaped by a different commonality. Microsoft’s spectacularly successful first-person-shooter educational software was refined by experts, in release after release, for maximum addictive power over a young nervous systems like Adam’s. With remorseless patience, it offers an illusion of endless power and agency to mold a young neural network into a massively pointless simulacrum of a mindless killer.
Both horrific “cultures” are driven by the profit motive of corporate entities like Microsoft, Sony, and Fox News on the ideological front, and gun manufacturers and retailers on the culture front. The bottom line for all of them is their bottom line, and we have to take control of that through determined public advocacy and political action.
I am not satisfied either with the idea that we must learn to live with our gun culture. We didn’t have to learn to live with slavery or many other really horrible practices. Why learn to live with the culture of death?
The NRA’s idea of armed guards in schools is so delusional that it doesn’t even need a nicely-thought-out reasoned dissent like this one. It’s just transparent shilling from the firearms industry.
“Trying to end a gun culture will not happen” was not the take away that I got from the PBS “After Newtown” special.
In fact, there were several examples of how such shocking events have historically resulted in dramatic actions, most, though not all, to the benefit of our society.
We need to drive the direction of this matter towards satisfactory resolution. We should not react by accepting a gun culture as inevitable, or with knee jerk responses, such as legislation to arm educators, or with hair-brain defenses espousing a need to put guns in the hands of more “good guys”.
As Gwen Hill pointed out and Arne Duncan agreed, it’s a very complex matter but we can respond with nuanced resolve.
Here’s a little FYI on the Founders’ Intentions ..
Or, “Death By Bad Editing” …
Truthout • The Wait-Just-a-Goddam-Second Amendment
Ok – this is tough to read but…(sorry but I did use this already on another post response) – but armed guards in elementary schools are not the answer. And, for those of us with School Resource Officers in high schools – they are there for totally different reasons than what happened in CT. So, hold your nose – this is a cold, clinical explanation:
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were 98,817 public schools during the 2009-2010 school year.
49.8 Million public school students in Fall 2012
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
School shooting death statistics include attacks in schools, shootings at dances and events, inside schools, lured outside schools…
Approx 150 school shooting deaths in 2000-2010; Approx 200 school shooting deaths 1990-2000
http://www.k12academics.com/school-shootings/history-school-shootings-united-states
A terrorist attack is a terrorist attack and that’s what these are. Metal detectors, armed officers, and certainly armed teachers are not going to stop them or even slow them down. Again, as one police chief explained, the only way to make schools 100% safe from these attacks is Israeli airport security.
Shootings where students bring guns to school might – might – be stopped by a metal detector or armed officer is s/he is nearby but for decades we haven’t gone that far. But once there are detectors (in suburban schools, they are already in many urban schools) those with intent to kill like the school shootings for decades, well, they’ll get the guns in.
One death is too many, so please, please, pleeeeeeassse don’t take this wrong but, we could add 98,817 officers and metal detectors and we still won’t exterminate the problem.
And, arming teachers is absolutely not the way to address this.
Why not get serious about budget cuts in social services? Why not get serious about budget cuts to diagnostic services? Why not add departments to local and state governments that increase school/community partnerships to address mental illness and kids and families in stress.
Just like addressing achievement with standardized testing, we’ll spend billions on the wrong solution to the problem just so some politicians (and others) can feel good.
(there – whole response without mentioning the New Record for Arrogance NRA once)
Thank you for the links, Jere. I just used them in a couple of of ongoing discussions.
Like most urban teachers, I’ve participated in lockdown drills. Sitting in the dark with 24 kids (a couple of whom always insist they urgently need to go to the bathroom), I’ve thought through exactly where I’d stand if somebody was shooting out the lock, what I’d be holding (the fire extinguisher, of course), and how many deciseconds I’d have to use it. I certainly don’t think it would be safe to try to keep a gun “locked up” anywhere in the room; we can’t even keep the balances from being stolen.
The only real lockdown we’ve had was pre-Columbine, and we just winged it. An armored car robbery had gone bad, and heavily armed robbers were being chased by helicopters and swat teams through the neighborhoods around my school.
We do have some armed police presence, and although I’m not interested in undertaking any effort to throw them out, I recognize they can’t replace sane gun policy in providing a safe environment.
For God’s sake everybody, get real on this question. We need to pass sane regulations, like the bill the gun lobby defeated this year in Connecticut.
And right back at you – Thank you. 30 years ago as an assistant principal, I dealt with one of the first murder-suicides in public schools. So, last week at a parent meeting I was holding about security many parents were demanding armed guards in the elementary hallways and I lost my cool when they asked, “Do YOU have kids in this school?”
I get it – they are at a raw emotional it can happen here level. And, I don’t want to gamble on statistics with their kids (which is how insurance companies make billions – they know the odds).
But what they are all missing is all of this through the eyes of a 7 year old.
The armed police in urban settings are for the exteriors. The armed School Resource Officer in suburban high schools are not there to stop terrorists – adult or kid – they are there to get tips on kids on the edge, kids who might bring the gun, drug deals, etc.
Hopefully all professional organizations can unite on this one. Our lower hudson superintendents have already crafted a statement and I hope every American Association of… Pediatricians, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Teachers, School Administrators, PTAs, School Boards, Athletic Associations and anyone who cares about children will stand up and be heard because the New Record for Arrogance NRA doesn’t care and they are en embarrassment to any bona fide hunter and marksman out there.
You cannot call these cases terrorist attacks. If you did your homework you would understand that the motivations for killers at Columbine, Aurora, Newtown and others like the school you said you were at are very different that those of the terrorists on 9/11. You must be more careful in lumping all of this together and read some of the scholarly work in this area without muddling in your opinion and tossing around terrorist. Otherwise, you will do a great disservice as a school leader in trying to prevent such future occurrences where you work.
Evidently the President, Vice President, movie stars, sport complexes, banks, White House, Congress, hospitals, to name a few, do not see things that way. They all have armed security.
The shooting on that military base would have turned out a lot differently if the two armed security guards were not standing together chatting so they could have been taken out first.
Some people in England have guns. A few years ago there was one of these attacks and citizens had to surrender their guns. My friend in England says that now “Gun crimes are spiraling out of control.”
Those areas that have conceal and carry have a dramatic drop in crime.
We shall agree to disagree.
I will not check off “notification of follow ups.”
Every year there are over 5,000 ER admissions due to pillow related incidents.
Doctors create errors that kill more people than cars.
Cars kill more people than guns among average citizens.
Mexico has strict gun control and is a smaller country than us. In 2010, over 5,000 people were killed by guns.
Instead of a knee jerk reaction, look at the numbers. How many people are saved because they had a guns? How many people were saved because there was an armed guard?
These nut jobs do create a tragic situation.
Unfortunately, killing other humans is recorded all through recorded history. If they don’t use guns, then they use bombs, broken glass in food, knives, and so forth.
Since the election, gun sales are up 25% at least at one gun store.
I’m not a big one for guns. But I too bought one after the election for fear of riots etc. with the way things are going and possible gun bans. I had to take a number like at a deli to buy my gun. It took 2 trips and several hours of my time to do the paper work. There were many, many more in line to buy guns.
Last year, somebody bought $5,000 worth of 9mm. For awhile, it was tough to get any 9mm ammo.
There are over 300 million guns in the hands of civilians.
The hunters in 4 states would make the world’s 8TH largest army.
Considering all the guns, things are not bad at all.
I know how to use a gun. My gun remains locked up with a loaded clip. I’ve not fired it yet. I really get no real pleasure from firing a gun. I don’t want to use the gun. It is there just in case and I sleep better knowing I won’t have to wait for a dial tone to call a cop a mile away.
Quick stories: My friend had people banging at his door. He called 911 and the operator said, “Put the phone down and see what they want.” It turned out to be the police at the wrong address. He would have felt a lot better holding a gun behind his back when he answered that door.
An IL politician repeatedly voted for gun bans. 3 thugs thought it would be a safe bet to break down the door of his rural house. Wrong! He shot 2 of them and let the last one run.
Remember, politician run by a different set of rules than they set for ordinary citizens. Here are two examples. First, until recently, for politicians, it was not illegal to be an inside trader. Next, they are exempt from Obama Care. Finally, they are still exempt from sexual harassment with the pages.
When I see an armed policeman, I feel safer.
Joe, you’re entitled to your opinion. But we’re about to pass legislation, so you won’t be entitled to assault rifles, high capacity ammo clips, or hollow point bullets. Now, did you really want those, anyway?
You demonstrate how you’ve been manipulated by identity politics, when you write, “But I too bought one after the election for fear of riots etc. with the way things are going and possible gun bans. ”
It was an election, Joe, and this is a democracy. Do you think you need assault weapons to mow down urban Democrats determined to exercise their right to vote? The buffoons on talk radio are stringing you along to build market share for their rants. Get hold of yourself, please.
This isn’t about hunters in four states, or your security gun, or your allegorical politician defending his rural household. It’s about the gun sales industry deliberately escalating the firepower available to crazies, by secretly funding and enforcing waves of legislation removing every sane restriction.
We’re not going to be able to just “agree to disagree” on this one.
Gun crimes in the U.K. have dropped significantly since new gun control legislation passed after the Dunbane shootings.
When will we learn?
I really really like this analysis of both the problem and potential best actions to take. One thing I like the most is that in taking Diane’s suggested actions, they are inclusive of all my other concerns about the world we live in – the issues around schooling and the environment and peace in general. Thank you Diane!
Really? Not putting armed guards in schools because the shooter would just take them out first? That’s like saying don’t lock your doors because intruders will just break a window or don’t take a bath because your gonna get dirty tomorrow. Don’t wear your seatbelt because you may not crash. Don’t brush your teeth because your going to eat again later.
Don’t go to work or don’t save money because you’ll just spend your money on something.
That justification just screams I give up. Pearl high school, pearl Ms, student with gun is captured alive after killing 2 when administrator went to his truck and pulled his personal pistol. Saved numerous lives on that day.
If only it were that simple.
What kind of gun did that Pearl MS student have? Hand guns? Rifle? Assault weapon? If the latter, you’d be saying prayers for that administrator, too.
Sorry – your arguments are apples and oranges. Locks on doors – seatbelts – even your “cleansing” arguments are great for regular crooks, regular accidents, and regular diseases that those measures stop. A terrorist determined to violate your house, blow up your car, or use germ warfare is could care less about locks and seatbelts and soap.
The issue is: What problem are we trying to resolve? What is the purpose of security?
Has it occurred to folks that the airport is NOT SAFE? The AIRPLANE IS THE TARGET. Hundreds of people outside of security not to mention the people at the metal detectors would be statistics if the only interest was protecting the airport.
So what problem are we trying to solve in schools? In high schools, yes, it’s the bad stuff teens do and a gun may show up. We need that SRO to get tips about drugs and fights and bad stuff going down and more important, to prevent.
The issue here is elementary schools. We need sound security for the restrained parent coming to kidnap his/her kid, the occasional drop in who is not stable that day, and wanderers. Terrorists like Connecticut – another goal – and one armed guard is not the answer.