On February 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Miami suburban town of Parkland, Florida, United States, killing 17 people[note 2] and injuring 17 others.[2][3][4] Cruz, a former student at the school, fled the scene on foot by blending in with other students and was arrested without incident approximately one hour and twenty minutes later in nearby Coral Springs.[5] Police and prosecutors investigated “a pattern of disciplinary issues and unnerving behavior”.[6]
The incident is the deadliest mass shooting at a high school in U.S. history. The shooting came at a period of heightened public support for gun control that followed mass shootings in Paradise, Nevada, and in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in October and November 2017.
Yesterday we saw yet another school shooting, this time in Iowa. The causes and reasons seem to escape us as a country. Whether it be politics or the notion that it will never happen in my town or school, defies logic and reasonable thought.
The best security approach would be to replace every classroom door, Expensive but effective. An affordable approach is to keep the danger out of the school by placing bullet resistant doors and glass on every exterior door leading into the school.
That coupled with security forces checking everyone who enters, using technology such as metal detectors and x-ray equipment and allowing only one point of entry, can the facility be safely guarded. Then, as budget money becomes available to proceed with replacing all classroom and rooms where students congregate, the installation can be accomplished in affordable phases.
The girl who shot her way into the elementary school in Tennessee; the boy who walked into his old school in Texas and massacred a classroom of 3rd graders without being stopped, the weapons being confiscated are mostly AR-15 rifles or 9mm handguns.
Finally, I am happy to say that we have recently installed doors into elementary schools in Queens, NY as well as a Jewish Chabad, and major international commercial financial firms offices to name a few. Their families are secure in knowing that their loved ones will come home tonight!