Deadly School Shooting In Newtown Connecticut
Unfortunately we live at a time where people no longer find schools off limits for lashing out. Our children have become targets of sick and disturbed individuals with no remorse for life in general.
Schools now prepare for such situations by placing the facilities under lock-down and alerting law enforcement as soon as possible. However, we as parents must to our part in preparing our children on knowing what to do when they end up face-to-face with a shooter.
Just as we teach our children about the dangers of strangers and what actions to take in case someone tries to kidnap them, we must now teach them what to do in case someone with a gun comes into a classroom.
Although, no preparation can guarantee safety, it is always better to be prepared and have some knowledge or plan of escape than not have any at all.
Law enforcement officials recommend three basic survival responses when encountering a shooter on campus: run, hide and barricade and as a final resort, attack the aggressor.
If there is place to run, they should run and get away as soon as possible. If there is no place to run, then they should hide and set up a barricade.
If the shooter is in the classroom where there is no place to run and hide, they should exercise the, “throw and go” tactic where the first person to take notice of the gunman yells, “GUN!” everyone then throws anything they can find at the shooter’s face to disrupt aim. Then larger objects should be thrown at the shooter as hard as possible and swarm the shooter to take control of the gun. The shooter must be stripped of their weapons and restrained by putting body weight on top and tied up before police arrive.
Even though this means that some will be harmed, it provides some chance for the students to take control and fight back instead of feeling completely helpless. Clearly, outcomes in such situations are very tragic in nature but we can arm our children with skills that can possibly save their lives.
As parents we should also teach our younger children how to use all types of phones and to remember identifying information such as their address and phone numbers to their parents. The little ones should look for places to hide in classrooms early on so that they can run and hide when an armed gunman enters their school.
In addition to that, we must work closely with our children’s schools to make sure they are all prepared for the worst.
Let us get creative and figure out ways in which we can better protect our children without invading their privacy.
Today’s shooting Newtown Connecticut is the worst shooting we have seen In America as of yet. We must do everything possible to keep our children safe from mentally unstable people like Adam Lanza of New Jersey, who turned on his own mother and innocent children of his mother’s workplace. Our hearts go out to the families who have lost their children to this tragic event.
