Petition To Make Metal Detectors Mandatory in our Schools.

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justin4pack

Senior member
Jan 21, 2012
521
6
81
Despite your attempted emotional argument - nope. Not a chance. Some of us understand statistics.

If you care so much about the safety of kids where is your campaign against pools or stairs? A child is much more likely to die from those than from an incident at school.

So where is your petition against two+ story buildings? Huh?

Talk statistics to the parents of the kids dead. I'm sure they will listen your argument about money....
 

Jimzz

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2012
4,399
190
106
No I do not want this. You treat people like animals don't be surprised when they act like it.

Fix the problem, not the symptom.
 

PokerGuy

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
13,650
201
101
Its easy to argue and say "you know" how to fix it. That you know what should be done. And I bet none of you are acting to actually help anyone.

Neither are you. First, a petition is worthless. Second, even if someone were to think about taking action based on that petition, the idea itself is worthless and would just cost money and solve nothing.

On a scale of one to ten, this is pegged at worthless ;)

When you (or those like you) feel inclined to come up with some knee jerk reaction to some event based on emotional response, step back for a bit and take a rational look at the actual statistics and whether any proposed solutions survive a basic cost/benefit analysis.
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
22,402
6,526
136
Its easy to argue and say "you know" how to fix it. That you know what should be done. And I bet none of you are acting to actually help anyone.

I have acted. I taught my children to respect others, and the difference between right and wrong. I was also involved in the cub scouts where I imparted the same information to the boy's in my troop.

What have you done, other than clicking on link? Tell me about the hours you've spent as a volunteer actually taking direct action.
 

piasabird

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
17,168
60
91
3 ring binders and pencils and watches and keys, Belts, Zippers and the metal eyelets in shoes could set off metal detectors. It might be cheaper to give every family Internet service and a computer and shut all the schools down.
 

PokerGuy

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
13,650
201
101
Talk statistics to the parents of the kids dead. I'm sure they will listen your argument about money....

That's a pretty standard (and completely wrong) argument. Obviously the parents of those kids are going to have a more emotional response to this. As a society though, we have to go beyond an emotional response and use good reasoning to determine our actions (including legislation or regulation). If you're strictly going to go by the logic that anything that saves a life is a good idea, then all cars should be banned, as should pools, trampolines etc etc. In fact, you might just want to ban life, just to be safe ;)
 

justin4pack

Senior member
Jan 21, 2012
521
6
81
That's a pretty standard (and completely wrong) argument. Obviously the parents of those kids are going to have a more emotional response to this. As a society though, we have to go beyond an emotional response and use good reasoning to determine our actions (including legislation or regulation). If you're strictly going to go by the logic that anything that saves a life is a good idea, then all cars should be banned, as should pools, trampolines etc etc. In fact, you might just want to ban life, just to be safe ;)

How's the legislation and regulation coming? I agree in a perfect world that would be the way.
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,591
3,807
126
Talk statistics to the parents of the kids dead. I'm sure they will listen your argument about money....

Please point out where I said anything about money. Perhaps your terrible reasoning\reading skills are why you think mandatory metal detectors would be a good thing.

If this is really about saving lives - why are you not campaigning against stairs, pool, cars etc? These are all things far more dangerous than schools so wouldn't your efforts be better focused there? Those could be your kids that get hurt by stairs, pools, cars! Why don't you care about them?
 

dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
37,530
33,254
136
So what, do you own a company that makes metal detectors or do you just let fear rule your life?
 

OCGuy

Lifer
Jul 12, 2000
27,224
37
91
I think there should be a petition that calls for a complete freeze on any law/policy changes within 2 months of a tragedy.

Emotion is what allowed .gov to shove the Patriot Act down our throats, and now we are stuck with it forever.

OP is one of those simpletons that calls for the culling of every shark they can catch after a shark attack.
 

justin4pack

Senior member
Jan 21, 2012
521
6
81
So I ask all of you who are so whole hearted against this. What freedoms is adding an extra layer of protection in our schools taking away? Aside money what does this effect. And please don't post off the wall not on topic troll posts.
 

nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
42,808
83
91
So I ask all of you who are so whole hearted against this. What freedoms is adding an extra layer of protection in our schools taking away? Aside money what does this effect. And please don't post off the wall not on topic troll posts.

it's making kids feel less safe and more paranoid, when all statistics suggest that schools are safer than they've been in a generation.

schools were far more dangerous when I was in grammar school in the early 90's and we did just fine without metal detectors... why would I want to make my kids feel like they live in a police state when violence rates are already declining without such draconian measures?
 

justin4pack

Senior member
Jan 21, 2012
521
6
81
it's making kids feel less safe and more paranoid, when all statistics suggest that schools are safer than they've been in a generation.

schools were far more dangerous when I was in grammar school in the early 90's and we did just fine without metal detectors... why would I want to make my kids feel like they live in a police state when violence rates are already declining without such draconian measures?

Show me these statistics? I'm asking honestly. If I told my son his school was having these put in to reduce the chance of some crazy person harming him or his or his sister or there teachers/friends, he would say why not. And I have asked him what he thought. The real world is dangerous, in the real world these attacks are happening more and more.
 

nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
42,808
83
91
Show me these statistics? I'm asking honestly. If I told my son his school was having these put in to reduce the chance of some crazy person harming him or his or his sister or there teachers/friends, he would say why not. And I have asked him what he thought. The real world is dangerous, in the real world these attacks are happening more and more.

already posted, but --

http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/stats_at-a_glance/index.html

violence rates peaked in the early 90's and have been steadily declining ever since.

across the board, violence rates have been in decline for a generation... what we're seeing today isn't so much more violence as more awareness. 20 years ago, when I was in grammar school, a story like the stabbings out in PA may have never been reported on outside of local news. today, everyone around the world is instantly informed over the internet any time there's any violence anywhere.

compare these two charts...

#1: people's perception of crime rates:

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#2: actual crime rates:

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JeepinEd

Senior member
Dec 12, 2005
869
63
91
Emerging from semi-lurker status to say: As a parent of a kid in High School, my response to your petition is Hell No!
All the reasons have already been stated.
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,591
3,807
126
So I ask all of you who are so whole hearted against this. What freedoms is adding an extra layer of protection in our schools taking away? Aside money what does this effect. And please don't post off the wall not on topic troll posts.

Why only limit this to freedoms? You are missing an important component: Effectiveness. Have you ever worked at a school that had metal detectors? My wife and I have and they saw no decline in school violence after installing them. They did see an increase in tardiness and confrontations with school security guards though.

There are plenty of cases where metal detectors did not prevent a school shooting\attack. Besides - did significantly more invasive security scanning stop the TSA shooting in LAX?
 

nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
42,808
83
91
Why only limit this to freedoms? You are missing an important component: Effectiveness. Have you ever worked at a school that had metal detectors? My wife and I have and they saw no decline in school violence after installing them. They did see an increase in tardiness and confrontations with school security guards though.

There are plenty of cases where metal detectors did not prevent a school shooting\attack. Besides - did significantly more invasive security scanning stop the TSA shooting in LAX?

speaking of the TSA... much like the long security lines could make an attractive terrorist target (seriously, it boggles my mind that we haven't seen a suicide bombing while we've got the TSA herding thousands of people into a confined area), I'd imagine forcing all the students to congregate in one long line could magnify the damage a determined student could do in a Columbine-esque scenario.

metal detectors won't do much good if their only aim is to open fire on the long line of kids waiting to pass through security.
 

PokerGuy

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
13,650
201
101
OP is a perfect example of the kind of folks who want to do something just do "do something" after some big media event, without even considering whether the measures would be effective or make sense.

Schools today are safer than they've been in generations, but don't let facts get in the way of a good knee jerk emotional response to a single event ;)
 

MrPickins

Diamond Member
May 24, 2003
9,125
792
126
Talk statistics to the parents of the kids dead. I'm sure they will listen your argument about money....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_emotion :colbert:


speaking of the TSA... much like the long security lines could make an attractive terrorist target (seriously, it boggles my mind that we haven't seen a suicide bombing while we've got the TSA herding thousands of people into a confined area), I'd imagine forcing all the students to congregate in one long line could magnify the damage a determined student could do in a Columbine-esque scenario.

metal detectors won't do much good if their only aim is to open fire on the long line of kids waiting to pass through security.

This.

It wastes time and adds expense, all while making the students less safe.

If you want to kill a large number of people with a gun, you couldn't ask for a better formation than a bunched up queue.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
You guys are far too cynical. I for one am certainly going to sign his petition.

I mean, how else are our kids supposed to find buried treasure?