"Canton students to be trained to counter shooters" by Meg Murphy | Globe Correspondent, November 09, 2012
For years, the standard instructions to teachers and students if a Columbine-style attacker launched a rampage at their school were the same: lock down and hide.
But now, in Canton and in a growing number of schools nationwide, police and school officials are training teachers, staff, and eventually even students that in some cases they should fight against armed attackers.
So they are going to receive guns and gun training, because that's about the only thing I see working here?
School officials in Canton quietly adopted a program this year called ALICE — alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate – and began training school personnel at Canton High School and Blue Hills Regional Technical School in Canton. They are trained to make active decisions, such as barricading classroom doors; coordinating on-the-spot evacuations; and, if all else fails, throwing objects and using body weight to topple a shooter....
Nah, you can be a hero.
Kenneth Trump — president of National School Safety and Security Services, a private, Cleveland-based school safety consulting corporation — criticized the program as an inappropriate quick fix to a complex problem.
He has read the gun-control bills before Congress?
“They’re soft-pedaling this program by using terms like ‘enhanced lockdown’ and ‘options,’ ” he said. “What they’re not telling parents is: We’re teaching your kids to stand up and throw things and attack an armed intruder. If parents were told candidly what is involved, they’d be flying off the hook in protest.
Looking back that is really is an eerie choice of words looking back, isn't it?
“Ultimately, the bottom line is: Which parent wants your kid in middle school to be the first to stand up and get shot?” Trump said, adding: “More districts might pick it up until the first kid stands up and gets killed, and then the parents are going to say, ‘Who taught my kid to do that?’ ”
And I'm seeing a lawsuit.
Like having a gun?
On Nov. 14, the group will host ALICE training with registrants, mainly police and school officials, from area districts, including Canton, Concord, Dedham, Framingham, Franklin, New Bedford, Wellesley, Westborough, Winchester, and even from New Hampshire and Connecticut, he said.
Approximately 300 US schools, or about 1.5 million students, have adopted the ALICE program, said its creator, Greg Crane, who flew in from Texas to speak at school security conferences in Norfolk and Worcester counties.
“We are not teaching people to fight gunmen,” he said. “We are teaching people to survive gun attacks. We know that in today’s world, students might need to help themselves. They need to know how to do more than sit in a corner or behind a locked door and wait for help.”
A few years ago, Crane introduced the program in Massachusetts after Wilmington police Lieutenant Scott Sencabaugh — a unit commander for the North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, which includes more than 50 police and sheriff departments in Middlesex and Essex counties — invited him to speak at an event. In a brief interview, Sencabaugh said he was a “huge supporter” of the program. Indeed, the program has steadily developed a following among law enforcement, Crane said. “Ten years ago, I was thrown out of places. Now I’m invited everywhere.”
Then POLICE PREVENT NOTHING and we NEED OUR GUNS!
Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said he is a firm believer in educating young people to make an informed decision. “Is it better to provide kids with no training and no discussion and no preparation?’’ Morrissey said. “This program might not be right for every school district, but with the increased violence across the country, I applaud schools for taking active steps to keep kids safe.”
Except violence is going down (or so I was told).
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Related: Schools should use caution in warning kids on shootings
And one month later, Newtown.
Also see: Local schools consider teaching to fight back
Hmmm.
One week before:
Methuen High student held without bail for allegedly threatening Columbine-style event
One day before:
"Colorado governor says time is right to discuss gun control" by Ivan Moreno and Kristen Wyatt | Associated Press, December 14, 2012
DENVER — Governor John Hickenlooper said ‘‘the time is right’’ for state lawmakers to consider gun control measures, offering his firmest stance in the aftermath of several high-profile shootings, including a movie theater rampage in suburban Denver, that have shocked the nation.
The Democratic governor upset some in his party for not taking a stronger position when he said last summer that stricter laws would not have prevented the mass shooting in Aurora.
Look at how upset people get when someone tells the truth. The government doesn't enforce the laws they already have. Why do we need more?
Related: Aurora Borebullshit
Yeah, it's the lies that upset me.
In an interview Wednesday, Hickenlooper said that the legislative session in January would be an appropriate time to take up a debate on gun control in his state.
And certainly after Sandy Hook, hmmm?
‘‘I wanted to have at least a couple of months off after the shooting in Aurora to let people process and grieve and get a little space, but it is, I think, now is the time is right,’’ Hickenlooper said.
The comments also come after a mass shooting at an Oregon mall and a murder-suicide involving a professional football player this month touched off a national debate over gun laws.
Hickenlooper said the issues that merit discussion include ‘‘things like, do we all need assault weapons?’’ which he said are ‘‘designed for warfare’’ and ‘‘designed to pierce bulletproof vests and body armor.’’
Former neuroscience graduate student James Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and wounding 70 others in the July movie shootings.
He has been in jail since the attack and has not entered a plea in the case.
Hickenlooper did not call for specific legislation, but did give a strong indication of what kind of debates and proposals he would like to see.
‘‘When you look at what happened in Aurora, a great deal of that damage was from the large magazine on the AR-15 [rifle]. I think we need to have that discussion and say, ‘Where is this appropriate?’ ’’
He said there is no immediate solution for stopping gun violence. But he quoted Tom Mauser, the father of one of the students killed more than a decade ago in the Columbine High School shootings, saying, ‘‘If you don’t start now, you’re not going to get anywhere.’’
One of the nation’s most popular governors, Hickenlooper also tried to put to rest talk about a potential presidential run in 2016.
Hickenlooper said he and his Cabinet decided a couple of weeks ago that they wanted to focus on improving health care and education in the state in the next three years.
Hickenlooper said he believes he is too moderate to survive a Democratic primary....
I thought we were talking gun violence here.
Hickenlooper has long prided himself on being a moderate who tries to forge compromises between Republicans and Democrats.
But the upcoming session could pose challenges to Hickenlooper with Democrats controlling both chambers of the Legislature, unlike the previous two years of split legislative control.
Now legislation that Republicans heavily oppose can actually get to Hickenlooper’s desk, forcing him to take difficult stances.
Gun control could be at the top of the list.
‘‘I don’t think it’s appropriate to try to capitalize on tragedies to further some political agenda,’’ said Representative Mark Waller, a Colorado Springs Republican who is the GOP’s incoming House leader.
9/11.
Waller said he agrees with what Hickenlooper said initially after the Aurora shootings that further restrictions on guns would not have prevented what happened.
Representative Claire Levy, a Boulder Democrat, said she doesn’t like to legislate in response to specific events, but she applauded Hickenlooper for his comments.
‘‘I applaud him for being willing to have a conversation that could be contentious and invokes a lot of strong emotions on people on both sides,’’ said Levy, who is considering legislation to prohibit public colleges from allowing the carrying of concealed weapons on campuses.
Va. Tech had that and you see what happened there!
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