While brainstorming at a faculty meeting, professors at Oakland University in Michigan came up with the idea of handing out hockey pucks to students for protection against an active school shooter. This is not a joke, nor a satire. It is an idea being funded and utilized right here in the good old U.S. of A. But this Michigan college is not alone: In March, a rural school in Pennsylvania equipped all 200 of its classrooms with buckets of rocks. This may sound harsh, but these two actions are so absurd that it makes one wonder when we became a nation of idiots.
Ammoland.com was nice enough to give the professors an A+ for creativity. Sadly, here at Liberty Nation – where we often write about the importance of the Second Amendment – we can’t see our way clear to give these teachers anything higher than an F for fail.
Dumb and Dumber
When did we become so ignorant and fearful of firearms? Why don’t we spend time teaching our children how to handle a gun properly and to respect its power? Avoiding these crucial steps in child-rearing has us handing out hockey pucks as a legitimate means of defense.
This is a real head-shaker.
Hockey puck for defense and fundraising
Perhaps the physics professor missed the faculty meeting at Oakland University that day. He could have told his esteemed colleagues that the speed of an average bullet is 1,700mph or about 2,500 feet per second. During a game of hockey– and we are talking professionals from the NHL who use a stick – the fastest slapshot ever was clocked at 108.8 mph. Thus, a student brave enough to toss a hockey puck at an active gunman is akin to shooting with blanks and an excellent way to become one of the casualties.
But this is only one part of the school’s overall protection plan, which includes the “run, hide, fight” method. Run and hide we get, as for the “fight” part of the protocol, schools are now suggesting that students throw fire extinguishers or chairs at the shooter.
The adage of not bringing a knife to a gunfight becomes rather depressing when you come to realize that educators in America are sincerely suggesting we protect our children with items one can throw. Oakland student Adam Kalajian opined, “I find it, at first, absurd. If there’s an armed person coming in, why would you chuck a puck at them.” Another student, Jacob Gora said:
“If I was to give you a puck, and I had a gun, would I be able to take you out? Easily, yeah. I mean, a puck is not going to distract me or stop me from shooting someone."
Thank heavens some of our children have the good sense to know when they are being conned.
One Solution Only
Teachers, professors, politicians one and all have been avoiding the obvious answer to this tragic situation for a while now. The solution cannot be found in a hockey puck, nor a stone or chair. The remedy lies in a well-educated and armed citizenry. We must stop being fearful of what we are uncomfortable with and ignorant of and institute a nationwide education program of firearm use and safety.
Perhaps we could start with a pilot program in one school and make the gun course mandatory. If the students and teachers pass with flying colors, they can become part of the school Citizen Safety and Security Militia. Then equip each classroom with a handgun locked in a Biometric quick open safe for rapid deployment. But only those who have taken and passed the firearm safety class or series of classes and are willing to be part of the Safety and Security team will be coded into the gun safe.
If you were going to shoot up a school, would you choose the one defending itself with hockey pucks or the one that had a locked up – but easily accessible -- firearm? Logic and reason tell us it would be the former. Let’s stop playing silly games with our children’s safety and equip them properly to defend themselves for the world in which they now live.
Arming them with a hockey puck is nothing short of criminal.
