Terror and Shooter Drills in School

So on the one hand, I had to go through "duck and cover" drills in elementary school, which taught me that nuclear fire could rain down at ANY MOMENT.

On the other hand, they didn't accompany those drills with PEOPLE SCREAMING AND BRILLIANT LIGHTS AND RUMBLING BOOMS. Which they have, by analogy, done (blanks, paint ball guns) in some shooter drills in elementary schools, which ought to earn some folks a bloody nose for even considering.

I think it makes sense to have some sort of drill process for this, just as you have earthquake/tornado and fire drills.  But (a) it shouldn't happen any more frequently than those (the incident rate of major earthquakes/tornadoes and school fires is much higher than school shootings), and (b) it needs to be handled in a non-terrifying atmosphere.  Kids shouldn't be taught to live in terror of strangers coming and shooting them all, any more than they are taught to live in terror of the earth swallowing them or being burned to a crisp. 

(h/t +Victoria Hudgins)

Reshared post from +Salem Temple

Are terror and shooter drills healthy to society?

Kindergarten and 1st grade students are now required by law to participate in monthly terrorism drills, including active shooter, bomb threat and evacuation drills. 

One simple issue, which has been reported to have occurred, is in the event of an actual shooter, the students and staff may think its just another drill.

Read some of the reports and tell me if you think they are wisely operated?

"Basically, the weaponry is the same weapon we carry on duty," said Albany Police Sgt. Travis Giboney. "However, they use a marking cartridge: kind of like a paintball, except it's a gas-driven paint pellet."
http://www.kval.com/news/8717372.html

"About 50 teachers at a New Jersey school experienced a terrifying moment when a shooting rampage turned out to be a drill, but the teachers didn’t know it.
It happened Aug. 28 at the Phillipsburg New Jersey Early Learning Center.
A man burst into the library and started shooting. But the gun didn’t have any bullets, just blanks.
Teachers took cover under child-sized tables, crying and trembling.
“People are crying. The girl next to me is trembling and shaking. You heard people crying. You heard other people praying. It was pretty dramatic,” one teacher said."

Dec 14, 2012
"FEMA L-366 Planning for the Needs of Children in Disasters
The goal of the course is to enable participants to improve their community’s mitigation and emergency operations plan specifically regarding the needs of children. The course will provide them with the information needed to address the unique needs of children prior to, during and following disasters. It will also provide them guidance and direction on how to form coalitions and how to become advocates for the unique needs of children in all aspects of emergency management."
http://www.ct.gov/demhs/ical/eventDetail_page.asp?date_ID=CAC9C6C9CD83CDC9C7

Do School Shooting Drills Do More Harm Than Good?
"… The whole idea, brought screamingly home, is that any one of our friends or teachers could suddenly try to murder us. The message to kids is that they really can't trust anyone. It's like the TSA patting down every last granny in every last wheelchair: We are teaching our kids that only constant paranoia makes sense."
http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/07/do-school-shooting-drills-do-more-harm-than-good/

In my opinion they are not only psychologically and socially questionable, they are also not the solution. 

Lets consider the facts:
According to the FBI (1) crime rates with violent crimes in the US are at an all time low. That means that most of the gun owners who have assault rifles pose no rational threat to demand that laws change to restrict them, despite the media exploitation of the isolated cases.  Considering the population of the US (2) of 313,914,040 people it's not shocking that a few bad apples freak out every now and then. 

Next lets look at some facts about cities that have increased gun laws in an attempt to prevent crime.
In most cities that increase their gun laws, violent crimes rise. A Harvard review states "Indeed, “data on fire‐arms ownership …. from the United States, show “a negative correlation,” that is, “where firearms are most dense violent crime rates are lowest, and where guns are least dense violent crime rates are high‐est.”" (3)

In the light of these facts, it seems ridiculous to me to change laws affecting millions of people for a small handful of criminals as well as traumatize kids or implanting the idea that some shooter is out to get them when the statistic speak otherwise. However alternative solutions to the specific issues of each shooting case should of course be considered. There is no solution in taking guns out of law abiding citizens, it only makes it easier for criminals to commit crimes. The fact is that there will be a black market, and criminals will get guns illegally, and be even more likely to do something horrible or criminal with them if they know that no one else has access to guns to defend themselves. And doing drills can't be that effective when you consider that the potential shooter is a participant in the drill, they would have access to knowing the loopholes in the drill, rendering the entire processes ineffective. 

(1) http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/june/crimes_061112/crimes_061112

(2)
 http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html

(3)
http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_KatesMauseronline.pdf

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