Opinion/Crowley: Making our schools more safe and secure
Joseph H. Crowley is past president of the Rhode Island Association of School Principals. He lives in Cranston.
In school safety, two elements have particular relevance. In terms of school shootings, the first element is the school shooter. The second is time.
School shooters differ from other mass killers. Many of the latter have been radicalized on political or religious issues. School shooters, as a rule, have issues with a particular school – often the one they attended.
The FBI reports school shooters act on any number of emotions – hate, fear, rage, a desire for attention, revenge and excitement. School shooters often signal their plans with a threat. Threats may be direct, “I’m going to…”; indirect, “If I wanted to, I might…”; or veiled, “That school messed up my life….”
Understanding school shooters are most likely to come from the community in which they do their harm, it becomes incumbent on school staffs and parents to listen closely to their students and children. Parents are most likely to hear a threat and must be ready to report any threats to school officials. Parents are also responsible to any guns within their homes and available to their children.
Monitoring the children’s possessions is a parental prerogative. Parents have been charged with crimes for not reacting appropriately to a threat or indication of violence from their child. Students themselves can protect their own safety and that of other students by reporting to an adult any indication a fellow student might be a threat.
The second relevant issue is time. The more time a potential shooter is delayed the more time law enforcement has to stop the shooter. All exterior doors on schools should be locked. One point of entry should be monitored from inside the building. Once a visitor is identified, they can be given access to the building. An additional safety measure is a vestibule beyond the entry door with another locked door. Once someone is allowed into the vestibule, a more thorough identification can be made before the visitor has access to the school.
A heavily armed intruder may be able to violently create access. The weapon of choice is another time factor. The Second Amendment provided the right to bear arms. The arms, at the time, were muzzle loaders. A well trained soldier could fire up to four rounds per minute with a muzzle loader. An AR-15 is capable of firing 60 rounds in that time.
The NRA has lobbied against any legislation relative to guns under the premise any laws restricting any part to gun ownership will cascade into more gun legislation. History would suggest otherwise. In 1934, the National Firearms Act (NFA) was passed. Under the NFA, machine guns were banned. Based on the proliferation of gun ownership, particularly in the last several years, there is no indication the NFA diminished gun ownership in any other way than to eliminate machine guns.
It is time to amend the National Firearms Act to include assault-type rifles. They are, particularly when modified with 60-round magazines and illegal bump stock modifications, the equivalent of machine guns. They are the weapon of choice for those intent on killing large numbers of people. It is not a weapon that should be available to them. Time is the key element. If other weapons, which take more time to create carnage, are used, law enforcement has more time to stop the carnage. More lives will be saved. Ban assault rifles.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Opinion/Crowley: Making our schools more safe and secure
