{"id":803,"date":"2018-03-24T13:08:11","date_gmt":"2018-03-24T20:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/loopcntr.net\/wordpress\/?p=803"},"modified":"2019-02-02T11:55:29","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T19:55:29","slug":"what-about-rocks-to-defend-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/what-about-rocks-to-defend-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"What about rocks to defend schools?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When we are attacked, with words, fits, automatic weapons or bombs, we need to defend ourselves. Ordinarily I&#8217;m a peacenik and my first response to an attack is to search for a resolution to the conflict or try to mediate. But one has to survive to engage with the attacker for that strategy to work. Sometimes a rigorous defense followed by a counter attack is necessary.\u00a0There has been much debate since the Feb. 14th Florida high school shooting concerning both prevention and immediate emergency response. Turning schools into barricaded, armed fortresses is a plan that marks one end of the spectrum. Establishing better mental health monitoring (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/la-oe-duwe-rocque-mass-shootings-mental-illness-20180223-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pro<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mental health screening for potential school shooters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">con<\/a>) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gc.ca\/eng\/rp-pr\/csj-sjc\/jsp-sjp\/rr00_16\/p1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">restorative justice systems<\/a> holds down the other end.<\/p>\n<p>This morning I came across this suggestion:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newswest9.com\/story\/37797716\/students-armed-with-rocks-pa-school-shooter-defense-plan-gets-creative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arming schools with buckets of rocks in each classroom.\u00a0<\/a>While this idea may seem ludicrous at first it deserves a second look before we abandon it. Here are some pros and cons that have occurred to me.<\/p>\n<p>Pros<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Being hit by rocks may actually work to deter a shooter. At the very least it will be distracting<\/li>\n<li>The defenders have a non-leathal action to take<\/li>\n<li>Keeping rocks around is less dangerous than keeping guns<\/li>\n<li>Confronting an attacker provides the threatened with a sense of effectiveness<\/li>\n<li>Every child can throw a rock, some may even hit a disarming or disabling target<\/li>\n<li>Rock throwers can surround the shooter increasing the likelihood of taking him\/her down.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cons<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To be in a position to throw a rock exposes the thrower to the shooter<\/li>\n<li>The thrower has to be relatively close to the shooter to be effective<\/li>\n<li>One bucket of rocks is probably not enough<\/li>\n<li>The rocks are still potential weapons that violent students could use against each other or school faculty or staff.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>My thoughts are certainly not the last word on this subject and I&#8217;d like to hear what you think about it. My purpose in writing this blog is to explore radical and unusual ideas so please have at it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When we are attacked, with words, fits, automatic weapons or bombs, we need to defend ourselves. Ordinarily I&#8217;m a peacenik and my first response to an attack is to search for a resolution to the conflict or try to mediate. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/what-about-rocks-to-defend-schools\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6grl3-cX","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":841,"href":"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions\/841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loopcntr.net\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}