"Metal Detectors at Schools" seems to be the talking point du jour, even here on DU.

[Stinky The Clown]

What

The

Fuck

?

Where did this come from? And who are the (more than one) people peddling this crap here on DU? Did the NRA let this loose in the wild? No really, who are the ones peddling this? Are they on our side? It is among the dumbest motherfucking ideas I have ever heard.

[msongs]

1. must have missed those posts. nt

[Squinch]

2. Asinine. We have to make schools into armed camps because idiots won't accept

adjustments to their hobby.

[Angry Dragon]

3. Stupid idea

[BigmanPigman]

4. I thought it said "mental detectors".

That made me laugh. I need to luagh more.

[mcar]

5. Thank you!

Like a shooter couldn't stand outside the school and wait for dismissal.

[njhoneybadger]

6. It's not a bad idea, My wife is a teacher in an inner-city school, they have one

It keeps kids from bringing pistols to school. Of course it's not the answer for crazy gun laws

[procon]

7. That's the easy out, but its like treating symptoms while ignoring the disease. nt

[hlthe2b]

8. I only tried to point out how impractical for every school large and small...

though I agree that the premise is as ridiculous as clothing every child in bullet proof kevlar head to toe, arming every person in the school, and any number of similar ridiculous proposals that ignore the obviou--get rid of the damned guns.

[Phoenix61]

9. I'm not sure how that would prevent

someone with an assault rifle from getting on a school campus. They aren't trying to sneak those weapons in. They pretty much come in shooting. Short of bullet-proof glass and a system to buzz everyone in how is that going to help?

[Igel]

17. It wouldn't.

Most schools have a lot of outside doors.

Most students will open one of the doors for anybody about the same age who knocks.

But the students want "school safety" and seem to have something in mind. Hard to say what it is; I haven't been able to find an article that quotes them stating their wants.

As I pointed out today, school-shooting deaths are still like getting hit by lightning. And few of my kids cower when there's a thunderstorm and refuse to leave the building. Paranoid fear is its own support system.

However, one problem school I student taught at years ago has metal detectors. When they're up and running en masse for students to enter the building in the morning, there are armed cops behind bullet proof glass a bit ahead in the lobby. A gunman may get some kids, but then he's nailed. And when the mad rush in the morning is over, you go into a little entry way; you walk through a metal detector after putting your metal bits in a tray that a person in a bullet-proof kiosk examines; then you walk into a little bullet-proof-glass room. If you're clean, you're given your metal bits and buzzed through. If not, you have the option of standing there until a policeman shows up to make sure you go back through the metal detector.

In other words, I've seen, in a thought-out manner, exactly what you're trying to say won't work. I think it's a nightmare; but community trust is so low and ethnic tensions and gang tensions so high, that this is what the school's to. (And by "ethnic tensions" I mean African-American and Latino. The whites and Asians total maybe 10% of the student body, and sort of hide out on the sidelines.

[Xipe Totec]

10. And then we're gonna arm all the teachers

It's going to be great watching all those metal detectors go off constantly.

And we're going to have designated bag-guy spots where the baddies will stand menacingly with nobody around them so that the teachers can get a clear shot without injuring any children.

And we're going to count how long it will take before a teacher leaves an unlocked loaded weapon in a drawer and a kid grabs it and pulls the trigger.

We're going to put the fun back in funeral.

[Codeine]

16. Or the first time a substitute is driven too far

by the inevitable bullshit that middle-schoolers dish out and decides to drop a few of the ringleaders.

[Calista241]

11. I used to go through a metal detector at my high school in the fucking 90's.

A shitload of Americans have gone through metal detectors at high school for the past few decades.

[nini]

13. I'm surprised this surprises others

It's been pretty common around where I live.

[moriah]

20. Did they try to push see-thru backpacks too?

I remember both policies well, essentially we were searched every time we came on school campus, bag checks and wanding.

But the backpacks fell apart, parents started bitching. Not about searching and wanding violating rights, but they didn't have the money to buy 4 backpacks a year.

[nini]

12. The school I went to has one

When I was a senior there some guy pulled a gun out on the yard.. scared the shit out of me. A big football player tackled him from behind.

That wasn't the episode that led to the detectors but it's needed there.

Does it need to be in every school? Doubt it. The root of the problem needs to be addressed.

[RainCaster]

14. We need a BS detector on all social media

Get those Russian trolls outta here, even if Trump thinks they are "good people on all sides".

[Codeine]

15. No sane nation would ever countenance

such a notion. It’s disgusting. Treating symptoms because the sickness is too uncomfortable to consider.

[moriah]

18. We had them during the 90s.

Yes, and bookbag searches. They tried to make us do the "only mesh or see-through plastic" backpacks too but parents complained because they weren't robust.

So yeah. Junior high and high school, at all four I attended through those years, in the same district. Wanding and bag searches.

Edit to add: Little Rock School District, if that makes a difference given we had a crappy "documentary" done about gangs in our city then.

[Initech]

19. Sounds like a GOP thing.

I wonder who's getting paid to spread that bullshit?

[Stinky The Clown]

21. Thats what I'm wondering, too. I was smelling troll shit as I was reading the threads

[NutmegYankee]

22. Its dumbfuckery.

Our children should be able to walk in through an open doorway, not go through metal detectors. It’s the ultimate “welcome to a surveillance state”.

[appalachiablue]

23. Haven't seen anything like that and was on here a good part of the day.

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Look around. Do a site search on "metal detector"

Ask for Moose and Squirrel.