PROFOUND REVELATIONS

This is a special serious commentary……… My usual absurd satire, will return on Wednesday.

School Board Will Ask Custodial Staff To Stop Deranged Killers

First of all, If you are a public school janitor, find another job, right now, without delay. I am absolutely serious, You are about to be made cannon fodder. Get out while you can. So, an idiotic School Board, in Ohio, voted unanimously (5-0) to arm the custodial, staff in their school district. Oh, don’t worry, they intend on providing some “minimal” training before arming them against potential mass murders, equipped with high caliber, high capacity, military grade, assault weapons, in the hands of a mad man, hell bent on killing everyone.

These school custodians are going to be the first, and last, line of defense, against a deranged mass murderer. Did you notice that the fairly highly paid, School Board members, did not volunteer themselves. They volunteered the school janitors. Hmmm. This is absolutely, the stupidest, f–king idea, I have ever heard, ever!

The worst part is because this idea is so f–king stupid, you can bet that it will catch on all over the place. We need to put a stop to this madness right now, before it spreads any further.School custodians did not sign up for this, they are not Police Officers, FBI Agents, or Soldiers, who are highly trained, highly skilled, professionals who actually sign up for this. They know the risks, and they accept them.

Here’s some sobering statistics. There were 163 law enforcement officers killed in 2011, and there have been 58,261 assaults against law enforcement each year, resulting in 15,658 injuries. Keep in mind that these are highly trained, highly skilled individuals. 95% of all Police Officers never, ever, have to fire their weapon in the line of duty during their entire career.

Even the most highly trained civilian law enforcement agents in the United States, FBI Special Agents, have been killed in the line of duty. 36 FBI Special Agents have been killed in the line of duty since the FBI was founded in 1908. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but as of September, 2012, there were only 13,913 Special Agents total. This is a very small number, compared to the total number of Police Officers, Sheriff’s Deputy’s, etc. which number in the tens of thousands.

You have to keep in mind, FBI Special Agents do not rush into a crime scene like Police Officers do. The FBI meticulously plans every action, down to the smallest detail, before ever approaching a hostile situation. Still, even with all this extensive planning, things can, and do, go wrong.

I was privileged to be asked to participate in the FBI Citizens Academy, at the Tampa FBI Field Office, in 2011. This is a program that selects various people, from diverse segments of the community, to learn how the FBI operates, and develop partnerships between the FBI, and local citizens, so we can all learn how to make our communities safer. Let me tell you I learned a lot.

Some of the many things I learned, by participating in The FBI Citizens Academy, only reinforces my belief, that arming school custodians, is an amazingly stupid, and ill conceived idea. First of all, let me tell you, the FBI agents I met are honest, hard working, highly skilled, and dedicated, to what they do. Trust me when I say they are not very much like they are commonly portrayed on TV. These individuals are smart, funny, and very, very, skilled. You could be living right next door, or down the street, form one right now, and you may not even realize it.

Did you know that an FBI Special Agent has to retire at 57? That’s right, it is determined that you can no longer pass the fitness, and mental requirements, to effectively continue, in this line of work. That says something about how highly trained and skilled these men and women actually are. Like I said, what I learned, absolutely reinforces my belief, that arming school custodians, is an incredibly stupid idea.

I can’t speak for the FBI, but I am pretty sure that they would agree with me on this one. One of the things I learned was, that even with minimal training, you are in no way prepared for how things actually go down. All these pro assault military weapons nut-jobs you see, spouting off about arming everyone, which will ultimately prevent all these horrendous tragedies, we have experienced in the last several years, are dead wrong.

One of the things we got to do, was use the firing simulator, where you experienced real life scenarios, e.g.- bank robbery, and hostage situations, and you had to react quickly, to decide to shoot, or not shoot, I don’t care how prepared you think you are, or how minimally trained you may be, you can never be prepared for this. 

No matter how much, bulls–t, macho bravado, you may spout, when the s–t hits the fan, all bets are off. If you are in a situation with an active shooter present, you can in no way be prepared for what you will encounter in a real life situation. There could be innocent bystanders in your line of fire, sometimes innocent bystanders may look suspicious or make sudden unexpected moves.

From what I observed, you either killed, one or more, innocent bystanders, you missed and were killed, or you froze for a fraction of a second too long, and were killed yourself. This exercise only demonstrated that some peoples misguided belief systems, that include placing more guns into the mix, will somehow prevent these type tragedies. Just the opposite is actually true, It will ultimately contribute to more deaths, and more bloodshed. There are many, many, studies, done by people who know what they are talking about, that supports my position.

Another thing I learned was, a lot of the things we believe to be true are not. Here’s an example, if a person has a gun, Law Enforcement has to identify themselves. We have all heard, and seen, on TV, how the FBI, or any Law Enforcement agent, will yell something like “FBI, DROP THE WEAPON!, if the perpetrator doe’s not drop the gun, in like one second, they will shoot you. I have seen many times, where someone will try to make the case that Law Enforcement, did not give the perpetrator enough time to surrender, and they killed them in cold blood.

Let me tell you that this is absolutely, f–king bulls–t. I witnessed first hand, how a person with a gun could swing it towards you, and fire, before you could even register that they had moved. This was true, even when you had your gun pointed right at the bad guy. This scenario gives anyone, including highly trained, FBI Special Agents about a 65-70% chance of getting killed. Keep in mind that these are highly trained, and skilled, individuals, who practice exactly this type of scenario, all the time.

We also got to go to the firing range, and see a demonstration, of the FBI SWAT Team, and we also got to fire several of The FBI’s weapons, including their standard, 40 caliber service weapons, as well as firing the FBI’s, M-4 Assault rifles. Let me tell you, at only 15 yards, these men, and women, of the FBI, can out shoot you, and precision hit a target, all while maintaining a cool, calm, and collected demeanor.

My point is, no matter how much you think you may be prepared, or how smart you think you are, You are far less prepared, then you might convince yourself, that you think you are. It is insane to believe that a bunch of half-cocked. half wits, with guns, are going to make us safer, just the opposite is actually true.

Lets just take a look at the type of people who have carried out these type of horrendous mass shootings in recent times, starting with the Columbine High School shootings in 1999, through the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in 2012. What is the common denominator? These deranged individuals carried out these horrendous attacks very methodically, and had no intention of coming out alive. This was not only a mass murder plot, but a suicide pact as well. These deranged individuals showed no emotion, no fear, no remorse, and no revulsion, regarding the carnage, loss of life, and pain, they were inflicting upon other innocent human beings.

Let’s not forget that Columbine High School had, not one but two, armed guards on campus at the time and were unable to stop the carnage. These mass murderers are not normal people like the kind who may attempt to rob a liquor store, or other easy target. These mass murderers carried out these attacks in a very short period of time, and caused lot’s of casualties. These deranged individuals had no regard for their own life, or anyone else around them. These attacks on innocent children, using high caliber, high powered, military style weapons lasted only 2-5 minutes. These deranged assailants were able to fire dozens of rounds, before they took their own lives.

So, the very idea of arming school custodians as a first line of defense against a deranged killer, and active shooter, is totally absurd. The entire event would most likely be over before these newly armed custodians could even arrive upon the scene.

Just imagine the chaos, people running around, people screaming, with an active shooter in their midst. You have a very scared school janitor armed with a handgun trying to figure out what to do, who to shoot at, or not shoot at, all while trying to find out where the shooter may be. This also presents other problems when Law Enforcement arrives on the scene. There is a very good chance that the school janitor may be mistaken for the active shooter, and very likely be killed by mistake.

Another issue that these idiotic School Board members overlooked when making this ludicrous decision, is in recent times the killers were wearing tactical body armor. The very idea that this poor scared, and frightened, school custodian is going to go up against a mad man with a high powered, high capacity, assault weapon, and manage to hit a small unprotected part of the shooter before the shooter kills him, is f–king insane. How many times have we read where some Police Officers, fired dozens of rounds, before they managed to kill the suspect? Now just imagine this happening inside of a school, with children present, in full chaos.

Arming school janitors is not the answer to protect our children from school violence. Arming the teachers or principals is not the answer either. Keeping these weapons out of the mentally unstable is the right way to prevent violence against children in our schools.

Here’s a good one for you. I actually read a while back where someone actually advocated that children be taught to rush the shooter. Seriously? Are you f–king kidding me? Rush the shooter? How about running away, or hiding? This is obviously a better opportunity for survival then running towards the shooter.

Don’t get me wrong, I support the second amendment. However, I don’t support the notion that civilians have the right to possess high powered, high capacity, military grade assault weapons. I have a question for all those out there who tout their right to own these military type weapons, under the second amendment. The founding fathers granted the right to keep and bear arms, that’s a given. However, the only type of advanced weapons available during the founding of this nation, were muskets. So essentially, you were given the right to keep and bear muskets.

So where is it written that you have the right to possess modern high powered, high capacity, military assault rifles? Here’s a thought, what if the only weapon you could legally own is a musket, you couldn’t have a mass shooting. If you are really, really, skilled with a musket, you could reload one, in about 10-15 seconds. Essentially, you could fire a shot only once every 15 seconds. To carry out a massacre, you would need like 50 people.

In reality, I believe that civilians do not need high capacity ammo magazines, we do not need high powered military assault rifles, and we do not need tactical body armor. Due to contrary belief the NRA doe’s not represent gun owners, the NRA represent the 12.5 billion dollar a year, gun manufacturers. Think about it.

All guns should be registered like a car, so we can insure that mentally unstable individuals, or felons cannot possess them. This doe’s not infringe upon our rights, it actually enforces them. Anyone who spouts off, how we need these high capacity, high power military assault weapons so we can protect ourselves from the Government is insane. Since when does this type thinking ever end well? If you are so afraid of the Government, then maybe, you should consider moving somewhere else. However, you are going to find very few options, where you can find a country with more liberal gun laws then the United States.

If we really want to keep our children safe in schools, how about placing an armed guard (law enforcement) outside the entrance to the school, as a deterrent? How about replacing the classroom doors with solid oak fire doors, with deadbolts? How about placing wireless cameras in the hallways, and common areas, that could be accessed by law enforcement at will? How about regularly practicing locking down the school?

There is a lot of technology that could be brought to bear. We need to have a sensible discussion, as a nation, as to the best available options, to keep our children safe.Arming school janitors, principals, teachers, etc. is not the answer to keep our children safe, on the contrary, it will only increase the dangers we already face. Stop being a political pawn, stop being a half-wit, believing everything you see, or hear, from some of the talking heads with obvious political agendas.

Start thinking like an American with common goals, start thinking like a parent, start thinking like a caring human being, start thinking like you are part of humanity, only then will the answers start to become clear. Now is the time to have an honest discussion, as a nation, and deal with this issue decisively, once and for all.

If I have to sacrifice something to prevent another tragedy where twenty, 5  and 6 year old children, and six of their teachers, and administrators, were killed, in a public school, then I am willing to make that sacrifice, and so should you. This madness has to stop, and it has to stop, right now!

As always, 

I am…

Tom Dye, The Safety Guy

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