Current Events > Video: "America's Safest School"

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://youtu.be/kcpsnrxHdCc

Saw this video last night. Report said it cost about $400k to put in the security measures they have in place.

This school has a pretty sophisticated security system. The cost was $400,000. Sounds kind of expensive, until you remember that several schools across America dropped anywhere from $40 million to $70 million for new football stadiums or revamped Athletic Facilities the past few years.

Bro fuck this shit. Ban guns.

They could probably stand to up the bandwidth on the network connection for that so they get more than 2 or 3 frames per second on the video

But that's probably the most realistic solution since our government doesn't want to do anything

Squall28 posted...

Bro fuck this shit. Ban guns.

Ok. Well, that's not happening. So let's actually find some common sense solutions.

I saw a stat flying around that the US sent 53 Billy to Ukraine.

And if it was divided amongst schools it would equal slightly more than 400k per school.

bigblu89 posted...

Ok. Well, that's not happening. So let's actually find some common sense solutions.

Even actually putting some emphasis on mental health would do a lot to solve these problems. It almost feels like once in a while we should try different solutions.

Its clear gun control isn't gonna actually go anywhere, even if it would be a good idea, so maybe there's value in trying a different solution instead of crying about gun control that will never happen, while republicans cry about mental health issues they have no interest in solving, until the shooting is forgotten about and nothing is accomplished.

Proto_Spark posted...

Its clear gun control isn't gonna actually go anywhere, even if it would be a good idea, so maybe there's value in trying a different solution instead of crying about gun control that will never happen, while republicans cry about mental health issues they have no interest in solving, until the shooting is forgotten about and nothing is accomplished.

Which is why I suggested something like this is a possible solution, not to end gun violence in school, but perhaps limit the damage.

Proto_Spark posted...

Even actually putting some emphasis on mental health would do a lot to solve these problems. It almost feels like once in a while we should try different solutions.

Its clear gun control isn't gonna actually go anywhere, even if it would be a good idea, so maybe there's value in trying a different solution instead of crying about gun control that will never happen, while republicans cry about mental health issues they have no interest in solving, until the shooting is forgotten about and nothing is accomplished.

I feel like some kind of effective healthcare reform is something voters on both sides can get behind, now if only there was something we can do about the few hundred politicians in the pocket of big pharma.

How safe is it against a meteor strike?

Joshua_Graham posted...

I feel like some kind of effective healthcare reform is something voters on both sides can get behind, now if only there was something we can do about the few hundred politicians in the pocket of big pharma.

Well that's also an issue.

Half the politicians being in big phama's pocket, and the other half being in the NRA's pocket kinda stops any sort of real changes in mental healthcare or common sense gun laws.

bigblu89 posted...

. Sounds kind of expensive, until you remember that several schools across America dropped anywhere from $40 million to $70 million for new football stadiums or revamped Athletic Facilities the past few years.

Those are high schools. There are several more elementary schools and middle schools out there

That system cost $400,000. Same as the Uvalde police department. Would have done a better job too.

americans, justify why this is better than gun control

bigblu89 posted...

This school has a pretty sophisticated security system. The cost was $400,000. Sounds kind of expensive, until you remember that several schools across America dropped anywhere from $40 million to $70 million for new football stadiums or revamped Athletic Facilities the past few years.

Yeah, this honestly infuriates me. They don't want to spend money for updated textbooks or to pay teachers higher salaries, but will bend over backwards to spend tends of millions on sports facilities.

Returning_CEmen posted...

Those are high schools. There are several more elementary schools and middle schools out there

Take it from the federal budget. Would cost about $55 Billion to literally put this in every US Public School. And that sounds like a shit-ton of money, but think about it this way...

You roll it out to a few hundred schools every year. The US Military Budget was $800 Billion last year. You only need to take 1% of that every year for the next 7-10 years, and it's paid off, and would only costs a few thousand per school to maintain it.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

americans, justify why this is better than gun control

Because this is something possible. Its not like you cannot do both. Do this for a more immediate solution and continue to work on gun bans. If safety is the #1 priority then thatd be the logical choice.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

americans, justify why this is better than gun control

No one said it's better.

This should be done in conjunction with more common sense gun laws.

Master_Materia posted...

Because this is something possible. Its not like you cannot do both. Do this for a more immediate solution and continue to work on gun bans. If safety is the #1 priority then thatd be the logical choice.

America doesnt get a free pass to call gun control impossible when most other countries have already done it.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

America doesnt get a free pass to call gun control impossible when most other countries have already done it.

Gun control is possible.

And all-out ban on guns is seriously impossible at this point.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

America doesnt get a free pass to call gun control impossible when most other countries have already done it.

Its not impossible, its just nobody wants to do it, so its basically impossible.

Though building more "shooter-resistant" schools is just trying to put the majority of the work of not dying in a mass shooting on the children instead of literally anywhere else, which is just kind of despicable.

bigblu89 posted...

Gun control is possible.

And all-out ban on guns is seriously impossible at this point.

Very very very few countries have all out bans on guns. Even China and Japan permit people to have guns.

I think we have different definitions of possible. Is spending $400k per school to turn them into doomsday bunkers filled with drilled 6 year olds really more possible than changing our laws around guns?

Antifar posted...

I think we have different definitions of possible. Is spending $400k per school to turn them into doomsday bunkers filled with drilled 6 year olds really more possible than changing our laws around guns?

Why does it have to be one or the other. Why can't something like this happen in conjunction with the passing of some common sense gun laws?

bigblu89 posted...

common sense gun laws

whats your definition of common sense gun control laws

Kloe_Rinz posted...

whats your definition of common sense gun control laws

To start

National Gun Registry.

National Gun Permits with competency testing prior to issuing.

Wait Periods on purchasing while background checks are being done.

Storage laws with harsh punishments for the owner if their gun is used in a crime.

Will these stop every crime? Of course not. But better than doing nothing. And most, if not all of these have widespread bipartisan support.

bigblu89 posted...

Why can't something like this happen in conjunction with the passing of some common sense gun laws?

Because it would cost several billion dollars at a minimum and the primary impact would be to stress out children.

Antifar posted...

Because it would cost several billion dollars at a minimum and the primary impact would be to stress out children.

Most public schools have shelter in place and active shooter drills in place already.

bigblu89 posted...

Most public schools have shelter in place and active shooter drills in place already.

Yeah I don't think that's what we should be striving towards

bigblu89 posted...

Ok. Well, that's not happening. So let's actually find some common sense solutions.

There's nothing common sense about this. The rest of the world doesn't have to do this kind of s***.

Yeah I mean the city can be taxed also and vote on it too. Its all about funding.

I think the real concern is still throwing money at something that could be solved with stricter gun laws and even with that security will police engage?

How about the NRA and Republicans sign up to be volunteer school shooting defenders who will go in without hesitation if it occurs?

bigblu89 posted...

Most public schools have shelter in place and active shooter drills in place already.

That's not good. That in itself is a symptom of how broken things are. Let's not go further in that direction by brutalizing society.

I'm really terrified of this impulse to 1. Simultaneously say that better things are not possible/Problems cannot be addressed and 2. Spend a ton of resources on false solutions that merely make life worse in a truly dystopian way.

It's truly madness and it will take us all down a dark path.

Building a society in which we're constantly fortifying ourselves against threats because everybody has the capacity to kill us otherwise is building a right wing society.

BioShock is literally the GOP utopia

Antifar posted...

Building a society in which we're constantly fortifying ourselves against threats because everybody has the capacity to kill us otherwise is building a right wing society.

Exactly. It's just externalizing and making permanent and real the right wing siege mentality where home invaders, immigrants, minorities, poor people etc are always seconds away from victimizing innocent middle class/rich people and the only thing that stops them is the use and threat of personal and state violence.

It's baking in the idea that nothing can or should ever actually improve, we must simply spend all our time and energy defending the walls.

But there is precious little evidence that any of this stuff makes schools safer or prevents shootings. A review by the National Association of School Psychologists found no research showing that security technology actually reduces violence, while highly visible security measures contribute to students feelings of danger and unease.

Even officials from the School Safety Advocacy Council acknowledge that a lot of the hardening efforts are half-baked. After the Parkland shooting, the groups director told the New York Times, Theres going to be a lot of appropriations dollars being sent to school districts without a lot of oversight There are no national standards in terms of products for school safety.

And the focus on hardening schools with design and technology to resist shootings can take attention and resources away from identifying risks and preventing attacks in the first place. As one school-security expert explained, A skewed focus on target hardening neglects the time and resources needed to spend on professional development training, planning, behavioral and mental health intervention supports for students. Texass governor has slashed public dollars for mental health, and the state ranks dead last in access to mental-health care.

In the end, school-hardening efforts are work-arounds to avoid the much more obviously effective but politically difficult task of dealing with the deluge of guns in the United States. This cant be done by tossing schools some money that ultimately gets passed on to contractors or police budgets it requires changing laws, regulating the gun industry, and swiftly intervening when people make threats. For instance, only a handful of states have so-called red-flag laws that allow courts to seize weapons from people threatening to commit harm, and of those that do, even fewer allow school officials to file for such an order.

A schools design, no matter how hardened, can only mitigate so much harm once the shooting starts. But that wont stop certain lawmakers from pushing for more of these failed efforts. In Uvalde, Abbott called the 2019 spending package that gave the school district money for its ultimately failed security plan one of the most profound legislative sessions, not just in Texas but in any state to address school shooting, and a model for future action. Texas can expect a repeat of past practices to produce similar results.

https://www.curbed.com/2022/05/school-hardening-industry-fails-texas-uvalde.html

Antifar posted...

https://www.curbed.com/2022/05/school-hardening-industry-fails-texas-uvalde.html

Agreed on all of this, because it was half-assed attempts instead of full-on, sophisticated systems COMBINED with sweeping changes in gun control legislation.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

americans, justify why this is better than gun control

Not American, but it's better solely because it actually has a chance of happening.

There's no chance of anything happening, lest we not forget that the reason this kid legally bought assault rifles is because Abbott loosened restrictions.

DarkRoast posted...

How about the NRA and Republicans sign up to be volunteer school shooting defenders who will go in without hesitation if it occurs?

Sounds good to me

Trumble posted...

Not American, but it's better solely because it actually has a chance of happening.

See, your first mistake is assuming Republicans give a shit.

They already refuse to fund public schools. They're not going to invest billions of dollars into turning them into a fortress.

All of this is strictly so they can deflect away from the real problem (which is loose gun control). They're going to say we need to protect our kids and then continue to do absolutely nothing.

I think there are some good ideas here, such as the bulletproof doors and automatic locks, but other parts are excessive. A few of the ideas sound decent, and sound like they can be implemented for much less than $400k.

I do agree that it perpetuates the right wing home invader fantasy, gun control efforts would work better, and many schools don't even have the budgets to provide basic educational resources, making a lot of this a spectacle.

There's nothing stopping a student school shooter there. People don't have a light above their heads flashing "bad guy," now do they?

Also Republicans never actually implement any of the shit they recommend as alternatives, because the point isn't to solve a problem - the point is to get people to stop talking about it.

DarkRoast posted...

Also Republicans never actually implement any of the shit they recommend as alternatives, because the point isn't to solve a problem - the point is to get people to stop talking about it.

Exactly

We can spend $400,000 on making schools more secure or we can ban guns.

I think well be more successful with attempting to ban guns. With the power of love & friendship anything is possible.

Ban guns now!