Are Locked Doors the Answer?

In a city in Connecticut, a board of education dismissed panic buttons for teachers in favor of doors that lock. Some classrooms in Stamford schools have them; others don't, according to a column by Angela Carella in The Advocate.  Some lock from the outside, so custodians can more easily unlock them to clean, while others can only be opened from the inside.

The superintendent wants to change all the doors to inside locks. And while that's certainly a laudable goal, is it really going to save anyone in the next school massacre?

Adam Lanza shot through the doors, though he missed, according to sources. But what's to prevent a biggger thug from breaking down the doors?

I admit, I don't know what's right anymore.  I never thought I would have to think about whether I'd ever see my son again when I sent him to school in the morning.  True, he's in middle school, but what about kids bringing guns to school, as happened in the Bronx last week, or fooling around with them on the bus, and yes, crazy people getting into schools and shooting them up?

I've been reading a lot about gun owners whining that owning a gun is a right guaranteed in the Constitution. But as some parents have also pointed out, so is the right to go to school -- or the movie theater -- or the grocery store -- or even the doctor's office (witness the killing this week of the doctor by a deranged patient) without being struck down by a bullet.  And it's not just kids doing it. The murderer of the doctor was 65 years old.

I'm kind of tired of writing about this, and you're probably tired of reading it. But I'm not sure things are moving in the right direction.  Yes, Newtown is fading in many peoples' minds.  That's what scares me most of all.


http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Angela-Carella-On-Dec-14-it-was-assault-rifle-4241315.php



http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Angela-Carella-On-Dec-14-it-was-assault-rifle-4241315.php


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