The system, which authorities say was put in place about a week ago, prevented a "much larger tragedy,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said.
I'm all for gun control. As in, significant reforms, nationwide reforms. Real background checks. Limits on the types of guns. Insurance requirements. Safety training requirements. The list can keep on going....
That said, I'd still want an emergency alert system in schools. There are other threats and other situations where it could be needed, there is nothing wrong with having both.
For the US, I think it would be so slow at catching up to more developed standards of gun control that it would be generational and not a matter of years. It's not so much the laws that are currently in place that's the issue, it's the lack of regulation that's created such an ingrained culture that's going to take a long time to evolve. So, technology like this would stil definitely be utilised in the future.
My thoughts, anyway.
And honestly, I didn't even realise there was another school shooting in the US. Internationally, I guess it just gets covered less and less because it's not really "news" anymore.
I’m sure that’s a comfort to the families of the two kids who died and the two adults who died.
Make sure to tell them that everything will be fine now across the nation since there will be panic alarm systems instead of, you know, FIXING THE FUCKING GUN PROBLEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.
They are virtually banned. Like you can't just have a gun. You need an actual reason to own one like being a hunter though I guess you can claim it's for hobby too. Still nearly no one here owns a gun.
No, no! To prevent these shootings it's obvious that removing every kid's trigger finger is the best solution. First we need companies to emerge that can receive these fingers and keep them alive and healthy until the kids are 21 years of age. We should also remove their penises. Sure we could teach sexual health but that's not something you want in school! Plus just imagine all the money 💰💰🤑🤑 to be made during the removal and reattachment procedures!!! There could be re-attachment ceremonies! And they're kids so you're bound to end up with extra fingers in case the 4th of July goes wrong or because the 4th of July went really wrong. And you can choose the orientation! Forget opposing thumbs! That was between us and the animals! Imagine opposing pointing fingers! What couldn't you do! What couldn't you do indeed!
Simplistic logic that sounds nice but doesn't actually work.
There are more guns than people in this country.
We have significantly bigger problems with illegal drug cartels than most. Drug gangs, who have access to illicit import capability, commit the lion's share of gun violence.
The right to keep in their arms is literally written into our Constitution.
Put those things together and you have a few very big problems.
The first is that any sort of gun ban will basically fail unless you amend the Constitution, which there is not political will to do by any means. And those who want to keep their gun rights will point out that there are at 4-5x as many defensive gun uses by law abiding gun owners as there are gun homicides. So it is unlikely that you will be able to get any sort of gun ban to happen.
Second, even if you did, you could never get rid of any significant number of them. There is no national registration scheme. A couple of states have their own registration schemes but those are generally not the states with the majority of firearms.
Look at other countries that had similar situations like Australia, they have had numerous amnesty periods for people to turn in firearms and they still don't think they have a significant majority of them collected.
Finally the question is who you are disarming? Remember, the lions share of gun murders are committed by drug gangs. A gang that can import illegal drugs can just as easily import illegal guns. Or, guns are actually not that hard to make, significantly easier than drugs. Any decently equipped machine shop can crank out guns, and unlike a drug lab which has to be out of the country the machine shop has a legitimate day shift use so it can operate in the open and pay taxes.
Point is, you will end up disarming the law abiding citizens while the criminals will still be armed, and willing to sell those guns to other criminals.
I also very much want to end school shootings. I hate that we are turning schools into fortresses or prisons. I hate the teachers, who are already paid shit, have to think things like 'time to attack a gunman with scissors'.
But I want to spend effort and money on the policy that will most likely bring that goal about. Maximum bang for buck if you will. And I'm sorry but gun control isn't it.
you say the lions share of murders are committed by drug gangs, but that's ignoring the majority of gun injuries are self inflicted.
And while it was written into the constitution it was amended into the constitution, and like the 21st which repealed the 18th, could be amended out again.
you also say there are 5x defensive Gun owners. This is a made up statistic - there is no formal definition of a defensive gun owner, there is no way to shoot a gun defensively.
While it may take time - a few generations - maybe even a dozen generations - to disarm the majority of households, it's possible.
who are you disarming
the majority of gun owners own guns for fun/sport. So while, yes, it is sad to ruin fun, it's also sad to have children killed.
Finally, you don't have to ban all guns, you could keep say, bolt action rifles and single barrel shotguns - where sports and hunting could still continue. This wouldn't solve all the problems but it might have saved lives multiplicatively in mass shootings.
Gov Abbott already gave law enforcement a verbal handjob for standing around while 20 people were murdered. If we can't get our numbers down to that of other civilized nations then we're utter failures at keeping our citizens safe.
I like these badges, and want them for my school. First, we absolutely need better gun laws and need to change the gun culture in the United States. But even the school shooter stuff aside, we have 700 elementary kids at my school. Several are prone to seizures. Several are diabetic. MANY have life threatening allergies. Several have disabilities (or poor parenting/lack of resources at home) that leave them prone to outbursts that at a minimum disrupt the classroom and at most endanger the safety of the other students. We do not have enough walkies to give one to every teacher who has a severe need in their classroom. That leaves the option of calling the front office or going to the wall and pushing the call button for the office to respond. Badges like this can help so many stressful situations, and eliminate the excessive amount of chatter on a walkie.
How does that even work? I’m glad lives were saved but the system must have something I’m missing.
If there is a button on the back of the badge with your picture on it, you can’t use someone else’s badge. It also means there are electronics in the badge, and therefore a battery.
Over time batteries will die and the badge system will become useless unless everyone gets new badges once a semester.
I think the way the article worded it is confusing. Every staff member wears a photo ID badge, which is pretty common at most schools. At this school, their photo ID badges have a little button on the back. When that button is pressed, it activates the system.
I’m sure the buttons have little batteries inside them, probably similar to the type of battery in a smoke alarm. These types of batteries can last for years. However, many school districts issue new photo ID badges to staff each school year, so perhaps batteries are being replaced at that time if needed.