Stressed to kill

Chicago has lost its marbles. The gun ban there doesn't seem to have kept guns out of the hands of scumbags, but maybe it can be said that it's prevented them from good marksmanship.

Not a cause for celebration

An ambulance breaks down in Detroit, and the EMTs record all the New Year's gunfire going on around them. They (EMTs) were unarmed, stopped cold in the middle of the road in the dark during all of this. Terrifying. While I'm sure it's already unlawful, EMTs should have a personal firearm with them at all times, especially in cities like Detroit.

They mostly come during the full moon. . .mostly

Well well well. The weirdos sure came out of the woodwork yesterday. The Virginia Tech shooting still leaves many unanswered questions, but there are people out there who will gladly answer them:

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The Virginia Tech shooting on Thursday brings up an interesting topic back in the Hoosier State. An Indiana lawmaker wants to allow guns on college campuses.

Sounds like a plan. I like it. Then along comes some yayhoo to poo-poo the idea without really thinking about what they're saying:

"Police of all types are trained for situations like the one that occurred at Virginia Tech. Students with gun permits are usually not."

Trained for what situation? The one yesterday? I don't think anyone has said that carrying a weapon for personal defense guarantees your survival, as can be seen with the slaying of the officer. Police officers are trained in policing, not getting ambushed. As for the 2007 VA Tech massacre, what is he suggesting? That police officers are trained to be shot in a classroom? Sure, cops have been trained to pool their resources together and hunt down an active shooter, but nobody is saying that students need a personal arm for that because finding and stopping a crazed gunman is not their job. It's has nothing to do with it. The concept of a student keeping a firearm for an active shooter scenario is that they won't be standing there with their dick in their hand if a shooter busts into the room shooting.

We see this time after time after time from ignorant cops, lawmakers and the media: blurring the lines between what a SWAT team uses firearms for -- offensive tactics -- and what everyone else (the general public) uses them for -- defensive tactics. The difference between the two is that cops on a SWAT team are generally not attacked without warning while peacefully receiving instruction in a classroom. If a student or teacher need their weapon, they won't need to go looking for the bad guy; the bad guy will be trying to systematically murder people several feet away. They won't be hard to spot.

"[For police] To come and find several people with guns drawn and to try and decide in a split second whether or not that person is acting appropriately or not would be almost impossible for a responding officer," Bill Mercier of the ISU Police Department said.

If an armed student gets in a shootout with a gunman, how long does Officer Mercier expect this to go on for before his merry men with guns get there? It's known to take a long time for the cops to respond, which is why law enforcement went from "wait for the SWAT team" like at Columbine, to "four man fire team of responding officers" like before the VA Tech massacre, to "first officer on scene goes after the shooter" -- time. The longer it takes for guys with guns to put holes in the psycho, the more lives the psycho will take. That highly trained law enforcement element that is equipped to handle an armed, murderous gunman arrive well after the shooter has had his way with his victims, which doesn't do much good for the poor folks trapped in the room with him. That goes for non-active shooter scenarios like forcible rape, aggrevated assault, robbery, savage mob beatings, and the like, too.

Take note that in yesterday's shooting at VA Tech, 15 minutes went by before anyone even called in that the cop had been shot in broad daylight in a parking lot. And whoopidee-doo that the responding law enforcement team had automatic weapons, body armor, radios, and wanted to find the bad guy and kick his ass; the gunman had finished the job and killed himself. The cavalry aren't there when the shooting starts -- the students are, hiding under a desk hoping to not get shot in the back of the head, because that's their only option. Of all the mass shootings in recent history that I recall, the Fort Hood shooting is the only one I know of where responding officers were there in time to exchange fire with the workplace violence guy crazed muslim extremist, and that attack was ironically in a place full of Soldiers who are trained to go after scumbags with firearms but were unarmed by shitty base policy.

Then we have the qualified experts weigh in:

Student Government President Nick Utterback says this isn't a law the SGA hopes to pass. "Just allowing more students to carry guns on campus with a permit that is easily obtained is just a dangerous situation for everyone," Utterback said.

And you qualify your claim with. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .cricket. . . . . . cricket. . . . . . cricket.

That's right, nothing. If you make the personal choice to not have the means to prevent your untimely death via spree shooter, then good on you. You're right. Seriously. There's no wrong answer there, because it's your life; and to be quite honest there's a super small chance you will ever need that weapon and it's a huge pain in the ass to carry it. It's also a major responsibility, which is why very few students would likely chose to carry a firearm anyways, which is why this whole fiasco of allowing them amounts to nothing. Conversely, the few students that find it's worth the inconvenience to carry a weapon to protect their gift of life, and embrace the responsibility that comes with it. . . .well, those are the very people you would want sitting next to you when Jijadi Jim Jr. decides he's had enough of the infidel's poisonous teaching and starts shooting up the joint, and to be brutally honest, you don't possess the right to tell them that they can't.

What this boils down to is cops like officer Mercier can only see things from their own point of view, and haven't taken the time to consider what it's like for those who's job is not law enforcement. Or playing music:

"I can't stand up and dictate to the world: 'it's over -- no more guns'.

Yeah, because that would turn the world back to the peace and love that it used to be:

Look at all those joyfull people who blessedly haven't been exposed to firearms. What a wonderful time it was for all.

Gesturing to the statue, he said: "It was a bad day. But it was a bad day because someone took one of these and shot John."

Yes, Ringo, before those evil guns were created the world was a swell place because mankind hadn't figured yet how to hand out bad days.

For Ringo so loved the world that he gave his only begotten opinion. I'm not impressed.

Seven years. . . .

It doesn't seem like it's been seven years since the murder of one of the world's most talented guitarists. I realize that he played in a musical niche that most people don't care for, or even appreciate, but I didn't take it too well when he was killed.

"Dimebag" Darrel Abbott was killed on stage this day in 2004 in Columbus, Ohio by a scumbag with a handgun. Here is a video that offers a view of a mass shooting that may change your perspective a bit on what happens.


First thing I noticed was that the audience didn't go anywhere, or seem to panic at all; they kind of just stood there for several minutes like a bunch of goons and watched a gunman murder five people. Next, one of the band's technicians repeatedly attacked the gunman, and was shot multiple times all over his body, including his chest, and yet he still persisted in trying to stop the gunman from killing his friends. The whole time he was getting shot fighting the gunman, he was pleading for somebody to help him. Nobody did. Hundreds of men stood there quite calmly and watched him fight a madman alone.

A cop finally walks in with a shotgun and, when the gunman took a hostage and pointed his pistol at his head, the cop shot the gunman and killed him. The most profound part was the look on the officer's face when he walked away after killing the psycho; to me it looks like a man that did the hard thing that day, even though he didn't want to. The last thing was I noticed was what another band tech said while he was watching his friends get murdered: "I kept screaming NO! Ya' know, but. . . there was nothing I could do."

"There was nothing I could do" is not an excuse that I ever want the option of being able to make. I willingly inconvenience my life by a substantial margin just so I don't ever have to face that regret; so there's something I can do in a moment where someone may need me. I'm not knocking the guy; shit happens in life and we chose day to day how we will be postured to prepare for it.

To end on a better note, here's Dimebag at his finest (embeds are disabled, probably because of today).

***ETA: Here's one:

Fictitious guns save lives

I am in contact with the LGBT unit of the police department to file a report. But I’ve thought a lot about the turning point of the situation — the fact that one of them thought that I might have a gun. None of them said, “There’s a law against antigay hate crimes!” That wasn’t the deterrent. It was the possibility that I might have had a gun that saved my life Friday night.

I admit that I chuckled a bit at that line. Good for him that he didn't get his head kicked in; he was fortunate. Scumbags know that laws can be broken without too much of a problem; but that part about getting a hole punched through their head by their victim -- that is a deterent, now isn't it!

H/T to The Agitator

Is firefighting not dangerous enough?

I have to hand it to them, DC politicritters have a super active imagination! Their latest bright idea is to post firefighters in high crime areas and have them just stand there, unarmed, with the belief that thugs will stop robbing and assaulting people because of the flashing red lights.

What happens when the thugs decide that taking lunch money isn't exciting enough, and that the chance to drive a firetruck is as easy as taking out unarmed firemen? Funny how it's "everyone's job to make sure that our city is safe," as long as "everyone" is on the government payroll.

The police officer interviewed in the video is spot on, and I can appreciate his angst. I'd be pissed, too!

***Here's a short article on it, naming DC Police Union spokesman Kris Baumann as the vocal person grilling the idea.

Mob of teens brutally beats mom holding 4 year old

The attack happened Thursday afternoon inside Folwell Park on Minneapolis’ north side.

Shawnee Twiet says she was in and out of consciousness when the attack happened.

“As soon as I hit the ground, I just started feeling just everything coming from everywhere,” Twiet said. “I mean blows coming from the back of my head. I felt somebody grabbing the back of my hair.”

She suffered a black eye, bruises all over her body and imprints on her back.

This animal-like behaviour is why politicritters push so hard to control everyone's lives; we may think that the majority of Americans are responsible people who do what's right, but I'm thinking that America's majority are made up of a bunch of violent, self-serving, primitive people who pass on their dishonor to their violent, self-serving, primitive spawn.

When the cops and government have to respond to these shenanigans, then they're going to push for more laws and tools to get the job done. If honorable Americans can keep this behaviour from happening, perhaps by simple parenting, I would think that there would be no reason for local government to invent things to keep the savages at bay. At some point a large group of teens are going to make a big mistake during the victim selection process and wind up being "introduce[d]. . . to the fine craftsmanship of Springfield Armory." As unfortunate as that will be, hopefully it will end this trend for teenagers to clump together and kick good people in the head.

The Mob is dangerous

At this point, I pass over several mob attack stories every week. There are many of them. Today, Captain Curt links to a story from Milwaukee where a mob of "youths" attacked as many as twenty people, beating them savagely:

Minutes later Bublitz saw a male friend hit in the temple and fall down. Her fiancé told her to run to safety. James Zajackowski, 28, said things suddenly turned chaotic.

"Within 30 seconds to a minute, bottles were flying and people started getting punched. I was in shock. I thought, 'Really? Is this really happening?' I was on the ground, people were trying to get into my pockets, I could feel their hands but I held on to my cellphone and my wallet," said Zajackowski, a census worker.

Emily Mowrer, 27, was not hurt but saw her friends beaten and punched and full beer bottles thrown at them. Her boyfriend was punched. She saw Perry lying with blood on her face, not moving. She called 911 on her cellphone.

"I saw some of my friends on the ground getting beat pretty severely. They got away with one of my friends' bikes. Some people had their wallets stolen," said Mowrer, who owns a house with her boyfriend in Riverwest. "It didn't seem like it was a mugging - it seemed like an attack. Like they weren't after anything - just violence."

Read that article. There's several accounts of people hit with bottles and beaten while on the ground. Wallets and property can be replaced, but when you have a large group of people hitting someone with hard objects -- in the head, no less -- and punching, kicking, and stomping while they are helpless on the ground, my logic says that that is attempted manslaughter. Tell me that if you smashed a full beer bottle over the forehead of a police officer that you wouldn't be charged with that very crime, and rightly so.

These attacks have gained traction in the news, and all the savage youths are thinking that they can do the same thing. I don't see the Milwaukee police doing a whole lot as far as finding the little scumbags and locking them up. Let's hope Wisconsin folk take advantage of their new law when it gets signed and look out for themselves.

No fighting chance

In the hallways of police headquarters, some police officials were struggling to understand the incident, saying it didn’t sound right.

Even Mayor Francis Slay reacted to the news with skepticism, wondering how three Marines, one of whom was carrying a knife, would lose their knife and a wallet to two un-armed men.

There is this idea perpetuated that Marines are always armed and itching for a fight. While this may be true in combat, and sometimes not even then (ask me how I know), the reality of the situation is closer to what the Marine Corps Spokeswoman said, that Marines are encouraged not to get into an altercation over anything other than a fight for your life. To neck that down to something less official to give to a media weeny, Marines are flatly told that getting into a fight out in public will lead to an end in your career, or a severe demotion, oftentimes being the exact same thing.

You think that the Marine Corps would trust their Marines, but there is no trust. They are not allowed to resist the criminal element, and are denied the means to do so, even on a base.

This was noted during the Fort Hood shooting, where the media was scratching their head in disbelief that a single man armed with a handgun could kill so many Soldiers armed with M16s, when they didn't know that military bases are very strictly kept Gun Free Zones. Paul Helmke even pointed out how the shooting went down at a "heavily fortified Army base", when it isn't very fortified at all, and is filled to the brim with unarmed Soldiers.

Back to the article, here you have two men who swore an oath to protect this nation and are willing to bet their life to uphold that oath, and they are barred from preventing their own robbery on their own soil by a threat of being kicked out of their Service with dishonor. Those Marines did exactly what they were instructed to do, and now the nation will read this article over a cup of coffee this morning and wonder why two highly trained warriors are such pussies. I guess that's better than a lawsuit. Frickin' blood sucking lawyers.

This is a tangent, but I say it again - behind every problem in this country is a battalion of scumbag lawyers. Every stupid "zero tolerance" policy ever imagined can ultimately be traced to its genesis, which is some team of attorneys who only know how to attorn. I complain about that, but I guess every ecosystem has to have maggots to pick the flesh from the bones.

St Louis is a beautiful city, and it's a blast to be there as a Marine. I highly recommend donning a toga during a weekend bar hopping tour while downtown. Not that I've ever done that. That said, there are some very very dangerous parts there, and combine that with a Marine's penchant for strong drink, and some bad policy making it a shameful crime to prevent some scumbags from taking your stuff, and you have yourself a clown show. It's a disgusting shame that the Marine Corps doesn't trust its own to carry a modern self defense tool, but they should at least give them a fighting chance by not barring them from breaking a few noses if threatened by criminals. Marines do know the difference between right and wrong, or they wouldn't be sent into another country with a terrifying arsenal designed to allow them to kill every bad guy in sight while not killing any innocent civilians. Have a little trust.

To catch a predator

Two and four legged predators have become a serious threat to the people of DC. No doubt the black bear was innocently looking for a quick snack, like a jogger or unattended stroller or something, while the scumbag is looking for self gratification at the expense of his victims. Both nuisances could be remedied swiftly by a responsible individual using a modern self defense tool, but such things are not permitted to the citizens. Until they are, it looks like personal safety of DCians is in the super capable hands of the uniformed division.

I wouldn't get my hopes up.

Where was the security?

Prosecutors say Alkebular attacked the 14-year-old boy twice on April 25 inside and outside the zoo. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the victim recognized the group Alkebular was with and tried to avoid it. Several people attacked the victim inside the zoo led by Akebular, who stabbed him twice in the arm before his group fled.

He then went on to catch up with the victim later and stab him in the guts repeatedly.

Uuuummmmm, the Smithsonian Zoo is a Gun Free Zone that is protected by a full time staff of security personnel. A quick check confirms the stipulation right there on their webpage that they "ensure your safety," and that carrying knives there is against the rules. I'm thinking the victim's parents have grounds for a claim against the Smithsonian, as getting stabbed multiple times by a group of youths runs counter to the idea of ensured safety. Notice the specific mention of knives and weapons:

Do not bring any sharp items into the museums such as knives (including pocket or "Swiss Army"-style knives), screwdrivers, scissors, nail files, corkscrews, etc. Firearms, pepper spray, and Mace are also prohibited.

Officer friendly at the top of the page, who appears to be gleefully handing out a parking ticket, looks to have a firearm on his duty belt. Lots of good it did the victim. If kids can wander into an allegedly secure area and stab people with impunity, than it's not really secure, and all you're doing with a policy like that is disarming everyone else. This sort of attack can happen to anyone at that zoo, and is the reason why I have/will never take my family there. I have actual knowledge that the Virginia Beach Zoo and the Virginia Beach Aquarium does not disarm its visitors, so I'll stick with going there.

Robbery/Murder in a NYC pharmacy

I'm not trying to dance in the blood of the dead, but I thought I would again point out that you can never place your faith in the hands of a scumbag. The mantra of "just give them what they want" and the "don't resist or you'll only get hurt" policies wore through here, and a great tragedy happened:

The man was armed with a handgun, stole prescription drugs and killed everyone in the shop before fleeing with a black backpack.

The shootings happened at about 10:20 a.m. inside a family-owned pharmacy in a small cluster of medical offices in Medford, a middle-class hamlet on Long Island about 60 miles east of New York City.

Sometimes it's just not about the robbery. Why on earth did that man decide to kill those four people? Maybe to get rid of the witnesses? Who knows. I hope they catch the scumbag soon.

The murder happened in a decent part of town according to the statements from those who live there. My guess is that's why the scumbag sought out that particular store.

Details on the Chicago robbery spree

I did a quick post a few days ago that mentioned the mob robberies in Chicago. Details emerge now on several of the attacks, and I thought one of them warrented some commentary:

In another incident last Saturday evening, Krzysztof Wilkowski, after shopping on Michigan Avenue, was sitting on his scooter a couple of blocks away checking his phone for a restaurant when he got whacked in the face with a baseball.

The very onset of the robbery was initiated with violence, so there was no decision making needed on what the aggressors intentions were. I think hitting someone in the face with a baseball constitutes "serious bodily harm or death," so there can be a solid presumption that things are only going to escalate from there. Then there's this:

At first, he said, he thought it was a prank, but then he looked up and saw 15 to 20 young men approaching. "My first reaction was, 'I'm about to get robbed, what do I do?' " Mr. Wilkowski recalled in an interview.

That would be a hell of a prank. Whenever I've been hit in the face, there's an instinctual reaction in that I'm immediately pissed, even when the hit is from a can of beans falling from a shelf or whatnot. I think it's a natural human reaction, and my primitive ass can't be any different than the next guy. Now, 15 to 20 guys is a major disparity of force, and they are approaching after they have already initiated violence that can cause serious bodily harm -- I think that if I had been the victim here, I would have been able to immediately identify this as a deadly threat. No question. He doesn't mention whether the attackers had weapons, but in this case I don't think it matters:

The 34-year-old insurance company employee from a Chicago suburb grabbed the keys from his ignition and held tight to his phone. A few of the attackers dragged him off his scooter and pulled him onto Chicago Avenue where they punched him, hit him with his helmet and tried to grab his phone.

A group of people taking you to the ground where one stomp on your head or neck can end your life -- that is without question a deadly threat. Add in there that they beat him with a motorcycle helmet. Soldiers and Marines are trained to use their helmet as a deadly weapon, whether it's on their head and being used to head-butt, or if one is picked up off the battlefield and used as a bludgeoning tool, so this is clearly an attack that the victim is fortunate to have survived.

I can't answer the victim's question of "I'm about to get robbed, what do I do?" in this particular attack. I don't ever want to be in a situation where that is the thought that I am having, and I'm sure he feels the same way. Being in Chicago, the victim was no doubt unarmed, which having a firearm would have given him a more advantageous course of action than holding tight to the very object the violent group of men were trying to take when they beat the snot out of him. It also doesn't mean that the victim would have chosen carrying a firearm as an option even if it were legal, but at least it would have been his choice. Lawful armed defense is an option in Virginia, and still there have been attacks on unarmed victims. I'm sure at the time they would have found a handgun to be handy item.

You would be hard pressed to catch me in a Gun Free Zone, as I make it a habit to avoid such places as best as I can. Attacks like this are still relatively rare, but as you can see they still happen. I think avoidance and deterrence are the standard which we should all live by, but if pressed with an attack that can be easily counted as serious harm or death, I won't be the one trying to hold off the crowd with car keys instead of a full-up Glock if I can help it.

Magazine capacity is not just for zombies

Police say the victim parked his scooter on the north side of Chicago Avenue across from Wieboldt Hall when between 15 and 20 men and boys approached him around 8:30 p.m.

One of them threw a baseball at the victim's face and knocked him to the ground, an alert from the university said. Several others from the group punched and hit him several times. The victim tried to protect himself and fought back.

Tried being the key word here, there are effective tools on today's market that would have made the victim's resistance much more suitable to a mob attack. Too bad that such tools are not an option for Chicagoans who wish to avoid the legal system.

Empty handed defense against superior numbers only works in the movies, not really real life, which is why the arguement to "be a man and fight with your hands" instead of carrying a modern defensive tool is a baseless possition to hold.

Guns off campus

DC can't seem to keep their scumbags in order. With armed home intruders robbing Georgetown students at will, it's a wonder that students aren't offered shortcuts through the red tape to own a firearm for home protection. Students have quite enough on their plate already without having to worry about reading the Study Guide on how to properly jump through all the legislative hoops needed to own a gun. I think fear qualifies as a significant distraction to study these days, so maybe it's time something is done about it.

Someone's touching the student body

"The Georgetown student body is being warned of intruders in the dorms touching female students while they are sleeping."

Judging by the descriptions, there appears to be at least two scumbags involved. And why on earth even bother releasing descriptions like that in the first place? "Six foot white guy with freckles," and a "six foot Asian guy?" Way to narrow it down. Now the five hundred white freckled guys who are between 5' 10" and 6' 2" are going to be looked at with suspicion. And to be honest, who doesn't look at tall Asian guys with suspicion? (I kid, I kid)

Now, bear in mind that Georgetown University has police officers on campus, but that it is not enough to stop weirdos from getting into dorms and fondling sleeping women. It goes without saying that on campus or off, pretty much any type of modern means of defense is strictly prohibited. The excuse for this is that there are cops who will do that for you, although the article doesn't mention where they were at the time of the touching/assault. Considering that this has been an ongoing problem for years, I assume that students would be better off hiring Scooby Doo to find the heathens instead of leaving the campus cops to do it, if there is to be any expectation of success.

If the pervs can infiltrate your little princess' room for several years without capture, consider that someone with deadlier intent may decide to give it a try since it seems so easy. What is your kid to do for their defense in such a situation? "Get off me for a sec while I call the campus cops?"

Utah and Arizona are looking mighty nice these days.

Bounty hunting for bigtime felonious Good Ol' Boys

Aparently the US media aren't the only ones who like to make the news fantastic. I'm not a hater; I wish the best for Mr. Matlock, and hear from those I trust that he's getting the finest training that is offered in Virginia. Even Dog the Bounty Hunter likes the guy, so I hope he has a safe career catching bad guys. But please don't be so hard on that "bail jumper."

He's a really great guy, I promise. If you mess with him, he may be inclined to give you the shirt off his back, let you sleep on his couch, or even loan you his AR rifle and let you point it at him. Besides, if you lock him up, I won't be able to borrow his canoe to go fishing in a couple of weeks.

LET MY PEOPLE GO!!!

Folks with a pair who care

The DC Guardian Angels are stepping up to the challenge on protecting DC citizens in their day to day journey on the metro; and despite the fact that DC laws prevent them from being adequately armed, something tells me that when they see some thuggish creatures beating someone down they won't be the ones standing there recording the matter with their cell phone.

I've noted the Guardian Angels bravery before, and also noted that it's shameful that they do not have the proper means of protecting themselves and others due to political decree. Honestly though, good people never cease to amaze me.

**Edit to add, from comments:

Anon - " Have we completely lost the balls to help people in the need?"

It seems that most folks in DC have, but then again this post is about a group of people who have determined to protect others from this sort of violence, and they have to do it with bare hands.

Now picture you and a buddy standing guard on the Metro one night with nothing more than your hands as protection. Do you think you could stop fifteen criminals from beating one of your fellow citizens to death? There are small portable tools these days that can be readily carried that would certainly turn the tables on these criminals.

Starter pistol violence

The hostages included McNulty, Chris Wood and a security guard. Police said 43-year-old Lee had been armed with starter pistols and homemade pipe bombs.

I did not know that crazy Baltimore gunman guy had starter pistols. The bombs I did know about though.

Maybe someone should pass a law making gunman paint starter pistol barrels orange or something.

Also:

Then, McNulty said, a calm came over him and "I started thinking, 'OK, I'm a hostage, what do I need to do?'"

Where's your Kel-Tec? Glock? Oh, yeah that's right, it's Baltimore. It's gun free.

Theater safety

So, typically, you feel safer when you know security guards will detect weapons on people entering a building they’re assigned to protect, right?

Aaaah, no, jackass. It usually pisses me off to no end because it typically means a trip back to the glove box. One case in point is the Marine Corps museum, but that's another story.

It’s hard to have that kind of peace of mind with District schools and offices.

Peace of mind? Isn't that what an ostrich does when it sticks its head in the sand? I do agree with him to a point though; I don't have any peace of mind with any area in the District as long as it continues to prevent the community at large from using modern means of scumbag prevention. The community is mostly responsible for that, which is a shame, and it appears that things are not going to get any better:

Last year, the District fired security contractor Hawk One, which had a four-year record of poor supervision, inadequate training, ineffectiveness, and “fraternizing with students.” To replace Hawk One’s 200 guards, D.C. hired two firms on one-year contracts totaling $22.1 million.

So they hired a company to put uniformed human beings with guns in buildings for the sole purpose of disarming everybody, and the end result was that determined people were still able to gain entry with weapons while the guards were aggressively tutoring the youth? Who could have seen that coming, and why do they think hiring armed human beings in different uniforms will have a different outcome? And holy smokes - $22 Mil? Seems like it would be more effective and less costly to have the parents of students holster up and provide security in shifts; if there's a liability question, there are ways around that. Human beings are human beings, and the security folks would be much more inclined to do a good job if their interest in the matter consisted of their flesh-and-blood, and not Federal Reserve Notes.

With security contractors like these, who needs criminals?

Thinking that you'll have a better outcome if the human factor is clad in new duds is going to lead to more disappointment. You'll probably have more failed "penetration tests" too, in more ways than one.