A Daily Mail editorial from the Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Occasionally, despite the odds, common sense prevails. That appears to be the case with a new training program in Kanawha County schools that prepares teachers and students to respond to gun violence in schools.
The old approach — and apparently the official policy of the U.S. Department of Education — was that students should either try to flee the situation or hide and protect themselves.
That’s obviously a good starting point, but it ignores a third option: If running and hiding don’t work, fight back.
“If all else fails,” reports the Gazette-Mail’s Ryan Quinn, students and teachers are being taught to take “actions like yelling, moving around and throwing books and other objects at the intruder to distract him or her from shooting accurately. They are also being told they can ‘swarm’ the attacker as a group to bring the gunman to the ground.”
Some disagree with teaching students these options. They cite liability concerns, and they worry that students will try to defend themselves in situations where that’s not the best course.
But teaching people that they can only flee or cower in fear in the face of violence is dishonest, and could be deadly…
