My school had one today. Turns out a Student tried to commit Suicide on Campus so they locked down the school till S.W.A.T cornered him and his little pistol. 4 hours... doesn't matter I mainly just slept.
Did the guy succed in his grim task? Or he chickned out/came to his senses when he witnessed the badassery of the SWAT approaching him?
Thats the problem with kids today, no follow through. /jk I've always been confused about lockdowns, you're trying to contain any problems, but when you're the one in a lockdown all you want to do is get the hell out of there. When I was at school we had a lockdown when the IRA bombed the village next to my school, they set up a load of different bombs, 2 of which had already gone off earlier during the school run. Me, I walked up the main street past those two bomb sites (I wondered why there was a hole in the wall of a shop) but because they discovered another bomb further up the road it was deserted where I walked. Anyway I got to school and they wondered how the hell I got there, and then kept me in all the rest of the day, along with the 30 or so other kids who managed to evade the police lines and bombs..
Lockdown for a suicide with a measly pistol? Pfft. Guns, especially pistols, aren't THAT dangerous. They require skill to aim and their ammunition is limited. A CAR is more dangerous, easier to access and easier to use for ill purposes than a pistol, as it is essentially a giant ground based human guided missile of medium destruction that most people are expected to be able to operate by adulthood.
Sure there is. It's the context where people don't overreact to every little thing. I'm not saying guns shouldn't be respected or that they're not dangerous, I'm saying that most guns, especially ones civilians can easily access, are on the mild side of the spectrum. For example, cars are more dangerous and easier to find and use.
Good, maybe now he can get the help he needs. So noone was hurt, and you got to take a nap? Sounds like the best possible outcome. You're right, I can think of no situations where a person armed with a pistol has caused any sort of violent disturbance or injury at a sch-OH WAIT.
Most people lack the skill to use a pistol in anything but extremely close range. He didn't start shooting people, so he didn't do a surprise attack. Without the element of surprise, it's a hell of a lot harder to do damage with a pistol. Quarantine and a resumption of normal activity would have been sufficient. A lockdown was unecessary.
A car has a greater potential for damage, but I wouldn't say it's more dangerous. A gun can be concealed, carried virtually anywhere (inside and outside of a building), can be targeted to a great extent, are reloadable, and can be instantaneously threatening. Cars on the other hand are large and fairly easy to spot, can't really do much to a person that they can't reach (such as someone at the top of a stairwell), can be targeted only to the point of really hitting a person or possibly a limb as opposed to a head shot, take a lot of damage when they are used as a weapon (hence making them not exactly reloadable), and ultimately require at least some running distance to get up the necessary momentum to cause a significant impact. It's sort of like comparing an elephant to a venomous insect. Elephants are dangerous for sure, but I'd rather stick my hand into a room with an elephant than into a jar with something that will kill me with a single bite.
^ Not really my point. Each is dangerous, yet people typically only fear the one that can only cause damage along a narrow vector and requires a fair amount of uncommon skill and training to use effectively. People overestimate guns and overreact.
I look at a pistol and see a weapon, I look at a car and see something that gets me from point A to B. While in the wrong hands, yes a car can be more destructive - a gun is more inherently dangerous. it's sole purpose, is to harm and damage.
^ Its sole purpose is irrelevant. If someone wants to cause harm with a car, they can do it far more effectively and far more easily than with a gun.
Fixed. A car cannot possibly fit into a school. A gun is a lot more precise and carries a more deadly payload than a stinking car. On the topic of lockdown, the SRO at my highschool was attacked by a girl with scissors. He had to cuff her. We've only ever had practice lockdowns at my school.
You're right, we should ban kids from having cars inside of school to keep the student body safe. I imagine going through metal detectors at the entrance will determine which kids are actually inside of cars.
I think the point he is making is missed. When someone wants to cause harm and are not trained with that weapon the chances of them causing harm are greatly decreased. That is why the military spends a lot of time training on rifles and every other weapon system. If someone wanted to cause harm with a car all they would have to do is wait for school to get out and run into the crowds leaving the school at a high speed. It isn't exactly rocket surgery. Chuck
So when some idiot points a gun at you, you're just gonna say "Oh look, a gun, whatever." You're not an action movie hero bro, you're gonna duck, cry, and possibly crap yourself.
