Perhaps it's high time to bring back archery/target/trap shooting as school sports?
I am serious.
Active shooter drill will go like:
- Archery/shooting coaches and team members "voluntarily" report to the "armory"
- Everyone don bulletproof vests, and grab "weapons" along with bulletproof shields and radio
- Once teams take position behind cover/shields, members commence fire on active shooter
Much better than ducking and hiding behind backpack full of books.
Not really a case of bringing back anything in our School District.
Archery is taught in Gym class at our High School(Mission, just down the road, donates the bows). Every kid that takes gym class learns how to shoot a bow. Bows are kept in locked storage when not in use.
Our School Sporting Clays team has taken second in the state two years running. As per state statute, their trap guns, like any others besides those on LEOs are prohibited from being in the school.
Your drill does not take into consideration, the location of the armory. Which of course any student from that school would know where it is and would probably plan around it. Again, High Schools comprise of huge buildings, many times, they are the size of a shopping mall, with many separate wings, large shop areas and many times outside learning areas like Greenhouses. Many times kids are outside on athletic areas for gym class. Hard for the coach/teacher to get back to the armory in time to stop the shooter before he starts. Especially when the shooter many times desires to be killed after he has made his carnage.
Kids are not taught to hide behind their backpacks. Those old Active Shooter drills are now being replaced by Hostile/Violent Intruder drills that teach kids how to run, fight or hide, depending on the scenario. Systems are in place at many schools now to monitor exactly where the intruder may be at, and what parts of the building are safe for kids to run for the doors and exit the building. The kids and their teachers are taught what items they have in their rooms that can be used to fight against, distract and maybe even disarm the intruder. They are given items which are legal to have in their rooms to maybe help. We have come a long way since Columbine, but we still have a long way to go. While arming responsible and willing staff members, IMHO, can and will help, it's not the magic key. We still need proper security measures to prevent the intruder from entering the building during school hours in the first place and we really need to train staff how to deal with traumatic injuries like gunshot wounds. I took a voluntary "Stop the Bleed" course this summer which was very much like the First Aid training I was given in Boy Scouts. I have gone to administration in an attempt to make it mandatory or at minimum, offered at our in-service and/or security meetings. I've gotten mixed feedback, but the positive responses have me encouraged. There are some progressive schools in the area that offer to pay for staff members to go to para-medic/First Responder training so that they have in house para-medics on hand in case of a situation where traumatic injuries might occur(not just shooptings, but tornadoes, severe storms, fires and explosions). These folks have to maker a three year commitment to stay within the district or pay back any cost to the district. I like that idea.
The other thing needed to teach/train is awareness. How to recognize a threat. How to separate the abnormal behavior from the normal. Having a gun on you does nuttin' if you let the shooter walk up behind you. How and where to report suspicious behavior and what constitutes suspicious behavior. Otherwise all the rest of the precautions are moot.
My biggest fear is those times when, after the school day is done and schools become "public buildings". Basketball games draw as many folks as the schools student population at a time when entrance doors are unlocked and anyone can walk in. How about the Homecoming football game, when the bleachers are packed, and a shooter with multiple high capacity weapons could injure countless victims, along with creating a stampede that would probably hurt even more. How about the School Musical when the dark Auditorium is packed and most all the exits are on one end. Since the doors must open outward due to fire codes, they can be blocked shut so folks cant get out.
Just sayin'.......