"Clearly, we need whiteboards in cars!"

Don't draw and drive!

You see nitwittery, I see people developing a niche. Capitalism at it's best.

You see nitwittery, I see people developing a niche. Capitalism at it's best.

Hey. I am all for innovation and capitalism. But let's not kid ourselves. It's not a real solution. It's just another tactic to make money from peoples fear and an answer to the "do something" mentality. All this does is cost tax payers money and caters to the "do-something" warm fuzzy safety theatre mentality. It prevents nothing and saves no one but the teacher... temporarily.

...said George Tunis, CEO and chairman of Pocomoke City-based Hardwire. "I was like -- all right, let's take everything we got, see what we can throw at this problem, figure out an innovative solution."

Anyone who thinks a bullet-proof whiteboard "sheild" is a "solution" is a fucktard. There are so many problems with this line of thinking I don't even know where to start.

Is the teacher supossed to carry this around all day? This board merely serves as a short-term level of protection against a point blank attack but unless the teacher happens to have the board in thier hands at the moment the shooting begins, this is completely useless.

And, it's only protecting the teacher... what about the chhhhiiiilldren?!

And, what happens if the teacher does manage to get this in thier arm and the shooter does hit the board? Does the bullet richochet? If so, where does it go? In the wall? In one of the students? Does the board catch the bullet?

Is the teacher also going to use the board to stop the shooter? How? Beating the shooter with it? Writing the shooters name on it? At best, it's just going to sheild the teacher from getting shot in the head, first. Just take them out at the knees, teacher falls, shooter gets them in the head and that whiteboard suddenly seems like a pretty good sheild for the attacker now doesn't it?

I've got a more practical, less expensive, solution. Get rid of all these ridiculous "gun-free" zones (or "sitting-duck" zones as I refer to them) , allow licensed teachers and adminstrators to arm themselves, and staff well-trained armed gaurds on campus. Level the playing field a little, ya know? NO amount of innovation or legislation is ever going to be able to PREVENT a shooting, but making it possible for people to defend themselves sure will minimize the victim count, if it doesn't deter a shooter all together.

Is there no limit to US paranoia?

"You see nitwittery, I see people developing a niche. Capitalism at it's best. "

The sellers aren't the nitwits.

Is it just me, or did anyone else have the mental image of two dozen second-graders walking around the school playground wearing these things, like little sandwich boards? Might be handy, in a way. The teacher could write down individual instructions, rules violations, and the like on each pupil's board, though he or she would have to learn to write upside down so the kids could read them.

Eh, maybe it was just me...

When I do my Civil War show & tell for the 8th graders, firing blanks with my musket, does it count as a "school shooting"?
We fire a cannon, too!

"Clearly, we need whiteboards in cars!"

obviously the answer is to BAN CARS. They are clearly too dangerous for civilians to posses.

Really this is one of those goofy things like having the kids have flack jacket backpacks...

This is a LOW RISK event, just like an airline hijak is a low risk event. 50 MILLION PLUS children go to school everyday K-12, roughly 200 days a year. Is it worth hardening classrooms a bit? Perhaps. Many older schools are probably sturdy enough to be good, anyway. Control access during the schoolday, and you've prolly increased your odds to lightening strike territory.

Back to cars... what do you as a parent do, to up your survivability odds? Good car, kid car seats... your best driving skills?

But do you STOP driving the kids in the car, just because there is some non-zero likelihood of being in an accident?

Ya know? There is a chance you are going to slip in the bathtub, hit your head, and drown.

Or that a hoarde of hottentots will show up at your picnic, and ruin your day.

If it saves even one innocent child's life, it's worth every penny.

If we're going to have bullet-proof white boards, we need to weaponize the markers.

Capitalism, yes, but at its worst - taking advantage of hysterical fear to suck taxpayer money out of the schools.

This offers zero protection. Zero. This is about as useful as issuing bulletproof Wonder Woman bracelets so the teachers can deflect gunfire.

*Pow! Zing! You cannot harm my itty-bitty doe-eyed innocent students, evildoer!*

"Oh noes! She has the Bracelets of Courage! I must flee to my underground lair!"

Capitalism At Its Best: Corrupt Congresscritters insist Army buy stuff it doesn't want or need.

http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/blog/morning_call/2013/04/army-says-doesnt-need-upgraded-abrams.html

Good mock, Dee!

--Does the bullet richochet?--

That was the first thing I thought of. Ka-pwing!
Back to the old drawing whiteboard, guys.

Another thought:

You know what that white board looks like to a determined shooter?

Target practice.

Don't judge me...

If you have time to grab a white board and hold it up to you, you have time to dodge the bullet, which mathematically you don't have time to do. IE you are screwed!

When I was a teacher we were trained, in an emergency, to turn off the lights, lock the door, and sit in a line against the wall, so the shooter would think our class was empty. Of course if the shooter came in anyways, we were conveniently lined up.

I would have made a run for it if the bullets sounded like they were on the other side of the school. There was a copse of trees not far from the door, that's where I'd send the kids.

Well, I'm going to wear my Old & Grumpy hat and just say that I wouldn't put want to put my faith in a CEO and Chairman who speaks thusly: "I was like..."

I mean I read that and I went "Dude! Way to talk all professional!" and then to myself I was all well CEO's are only like maybe twenty-two years old anyway, you old bitch, get over it, but then I got all judgmental but that's like, just the way I am. Deal.

I heard about these the other week. From what I can guess, this will hold up against pistol and shotgun rounds, but someone using an evil, black rifle is going to go through it like a hot knife through butter.

My daughter is starting junior kindergarten in the fall. We attended an open house at her school. During the part where parents were given the opportunity to ask questions, security, of course, came up. I guess I can give that father some slack, as it wasn't that soon after Newtown, but....

Sometimes I feel as if we parents who DON'T have school shooting at the top of our list of concerns are a quickly-shrinking minority. I'm a lot more worried that some typical Hawaiian driver will maim or kill us on the way there.

The ballistic clipboard has been used by police for decades. I remember seeing pictures of them in Gun Digest in the Eighties. The Vector Ballistic Clipboard was, I think, simply a Lexan plate with a clip on it, and it's been around since 1983.

This makes a lot of sense for cops--traffic stops can be be unexpectedly dangerous--but it's a stupid idea for teachers.

next up: laser pointers that shoot actual laser beams.

If it saves even one innocent child's life, it's worth every penny.

I am guessing by your screen name, Dee Nile, that your being ironic. At least, I certainly hope so.

The board MIGHT save the TEACHER. If they have it in their hand at the moment the shooting begins and they aren't the first target.

Why doesn't anyone ever worry about the guilty children?

Um, laser pointers already do shoot real lasers

It's well know that if I can't see you, you can't see me. Brilliant!