Dear Dr. Bob,
What is going on? Now the Arizona Attorney General says he wants an armed principal in every school and the Maricopa Co. Sheriff wants his “posse’ guarding our schools. Is everyone going crazy?
Losing Sanity
Dear Losing,
In a nutshell, “yes,” everyone is going crazy.
More to the point folks like the attorney general and sheriff are either going nuts or simply trying to score political points for their “we’ll protect the children” stand.
The trouble, of course, is that their plans (or press statements) are fundamentally flawed.
“Why” you ask?
Well, the ‘ole Doc here is going to tell you why.
Remember a week or two ago when the NRA said we need more ‘good guys with guns than bad guys with guns,’ or something like that.
The point was to arm teachers, pretty much what AG Horne is saying.
But the problem, my friend, isn’t what happens when a teacher fires and hits a crazed killer; it’s what happens when they miss.
And they’re going to miss…a lot.
One of law enforcements premier studies refers to “SOP9”. It is a report on the use of firearms by the New York City police department.
The data is overwhelming and, should Mr. Horne read it, sobering.
Highly trained and experienced NYCPD officers hit their targets (read that as “crazed killer”) less than 30% of the time they shoot. Got that? They only hit 30% of the time or less. That means they are missing about 70% of the time.
Got that: They are firing off bullets but missing about 70% of the time.
Now, if that makes you wonder what things would be like with a teacher or principal who received a bit of training during a crisis situation, you are not yet crazy.
Because it means that, in all likelihood, at least 70% of their bullets are going to be flying around and eventually hitting someone and several people.
And it means, by the way, that even the Sheriff’s “posse” is pretty much worthless in school crisis situations as well. They are less trained than NYPD officiers.
So you see, my friend, the problem isn’t that these two politicians are trying toi curry favor with a scared public, its that they could wind up putting many more children in harm’s way because they simply don’t know what they’re talking about.
