Florida wants to drone school shooters

Every August at my home blog I update a series of articles attempting to convince school officials there is only one way to deter and stop school shooters, potentially before innocents are injured or killed. Technology isn’t the answer, not that Florida school districts, where the infamous Parkland attack occurred, have figured that out.

Newsweek reports that several school districts in Florida are taking an technology-based approach to combat the threat of school shootings. The districts are set to trial a drone response system that aims to confront and subdue an assailant, buying time for law enforcement to arrive at the scene.

The system, developed by Texas-based manufacturer Campus Guardian Angel, can be activated within five seconds of a silent alarm being triggered. The company claims that the drones can confront the shooter within fifteen seconds. When not in use, the drones are stored on charging pads across the campus and are remotely piloted by a team of employees at the company’s headquarters in Austin.

How does that work, exactly?

The quick response time of the system is largely due to the presence of a significant number of drones on each campus. In an interview with CBS News, Marston revealed that the company places between 30 to 90 drones in every school. The drones are agile, capable of reaching indoor speeds of up to 50 miles per hour and equipped with a glass breaker to help navigate through potential obstacles.

Each drone carries pepper spray pellets designed to blind or slow down an attacker. In the event that these measures fail, the drones themselves can be used as a weapon. Marston told CBS, “If somebody persists in wanting to murder children, then our answer is we’ll just continue to hit them with drones until law enforcement is on scene.”

I’ve recently addressed the limitations of “less lethal” weapons like pepper balls here at AT.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. An attacker could defeat them with little more than a visored helmet. Does the company in Austin have a large enough “team” to simultaneously operate multiple drones to “hit them with drones?” How will drone operators navigate utterly unfamiliar school grounds and maze-like hallways? They can respond within five seconds? How will the operators know which drone is closest to the shooter or shooters? And what happens when the Internet is out or intermittent? What if the attack happens at a school bus line or on a playground on a windy day?

How much are all those drones and operators going to cost?

As I earlier mentioned, there is only one way of stopping a school shooter, potentially before innocents are shot. The same method is also the only way to limit injuries or deaths. Schools must allow willing teachers to carry concealed handguns. It’s a low cost means of ensuring when an attack occurs there are armed, capable people able to quickly stop it, not with pepper balls or ramming drones, but with aimed, effective gunfire.

The police would love to stop school shooters, but they can’t. Time and distance are the limiting factors. At Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, it took the first officer only about three minutes to arrive in the parking lot. Unfortunately, it took more than six minutes after the first shot for officers to be notified of the attack, and none entered the school until nearly 15 minutes after the attack began. The killer had been dead by suicide for about five minutes.

That’s the usual pattern. The police virtually never have a role in stopping a shooter. The same is true of school resource officers.

Schools rely on lock down drills and “gun free school zone” signs. Some advocate children and teachers throwing things at an attacker, including canned goods, rocks from buckets issued to teachers, hockey pucks and one school district gave teachers tiny little bats.

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Graphic: Twitter Post

When an attack happens, what matters is stopping the attacker as quickly and finally as possible. But that’s not teacher’s job! When an attack happens, teaching stops in favor of survival. Armed teachers and other staff know the building and don’t make mistakes about who attackers are. Using less-lethal means against someone using lethal force is a recipe for disaster. Even if pepper balls or swooping drones are partially effective, an attacker is still going to be able to fire down hallways and through classroom walls, windows and doors. That’s how many were injured and killed at Parkland.

It appears Florida is buying into an expensive and ineffective non-solution to a problem for which the solution is known, proven and effective. As always, kids and teachers will be the losers.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.