Make a threat and they run like rabbits
I saw a short news bit on our local news last night about Universities and grade schools that have essentially become ghost towns due to threats written in stalls in bathrooms at St. Xaviers University in Chicago, reading something along the lines of “Be prepared to die on 4/14.” In response to the veiled threat, St. Xavier’s and area grade schools have closed indefinitely until the severity of the threat can be measured and dealt with. Similar threats were found in bathroom stalls at Oakland University and they too have evacuated campus and suspended classes until further notice.
Notice to all thugs and students! Want to clear a campus and possibly get out of classes? Write a nasty note on a wall in a bathroom…
Seriously though, someone threatens you and the appropriate response is “RUN FOR THE HILLS!”?
CBS news was interviewing victims of recent school shootings like those at Virginia Tech asking how they would deal with situations like this, and naturally for agencies like CBS the “armed students” topic was the one the pressed the most. I noticed that of the people who advocated allowing students the right to protect themselves, were family or friends of those wounded or injured. Several of those who had survived had no real solutions, they were just “afraid of people running amok with handguns” (typical how self protection is turned into wild west shoot-em up behavior).
Look, if someone poses a VALID threat to you they’re typically going to act out that threat even if they know you pose a significant threat to them as they’re dead set on acting out. That’s a fact, they’re not a rational person to begin with. The argument that self protection is of NO consequence is bull squeeze. Yes the individual will be acting out as planned but if someone willing and able and trained is in their way and can stop them, the concern doesn’t fall on if they were a deterrent or not, it’s how many people DIDN’T die because of the force being applied early.
The illogical fear of some mass hoard of armed hoodlums being allowed in school with your precious babies is just that… illogical. The bad ones will get guns no matter WHAT you put in their way, it’s the nature of the beast. To me, it only seems illogical to not allow people to protect themselves. To assume that an anomalous entity known as a school board has my child’s best interests at heart is ridiculous.
I would be transferring my student to a university with better security measures that running for cover if they had been enrolled in these schools.
