Oh, yeah. Pistols are not half as dangerous as the TV tells you they are. They're hard to aim properly, especially if your target is moving, and they don't do nearly as much damage as you'd think from popular culture (especially the calibers the VT gunman was carrying.) One or two determined people could take out someone carrying a pistol, with nothing more serious than a textbook or a ballpoint. They might get hit, but they'll probably live.
That's assuming that the gunman is in the room with you. Otherwise, I'd lock/barricade the door and have the students line up along the hallway side of the room. A pistol round can't go through the cinderblock construction of most school buildings, and the gunman wouldn't have line of sight on any of the students.
Hunting/assault rifles are worse. Their rounds have a chance of going through walls, will definitely go through doors, and they are much more accurate because of the longer barrel. Additionally, assault weapons have a burst setting, and can be modified for full automatic.
If the gunman was outside and hadn't gotten to the room yet, I would kill the lights and have the students collect their belongings and hide against the hall side of the room, so that they couldn't be seen from the door (if that were possible in the room), hoping the gunman would pass by.
I would position the students so that they were somewhat protected by the swing of the door, and myself (or a beefy student volunteer, if there were someone with more emergency response experience than I have) on the open side up against the wall, so that I would have one good swing at the gunman with the nastiest thing in the room before he saw me. If that didn't take him out, the students could swarm him after he swung around to attack me. In that instance, I would have to accept the fact that it was very likely I'd die.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-04-17 02:41 pm (UTC)That's assuming that the gunman is in the room with you. Otherwise, I'd lock/barricade the door and have the students line up along the hallway side of the room. A pistol round can't go through the cinderblock construction of most school buildings, and the gunman wouldn't have line of sight on any of the students.
Hunting/assault rifles are worse. Their rounds have a chance of going through walls, will definitely go through doors, and they are much more accurate because of the longer barrel. Additionally, assault weapons have a burst setting, and can be modified for full automatic.
If the gunman was outside and hadn't gotten to the room yet, I would kill the lights and have the students collect their belongings and hide against the hall side of the room, so that they couldn't be seen from the door (if that were possible in the room), hoping the gunman would pass by.
I would position the students so that they were somewhat protected by the swing of the door, and myself (or a beefy student volunteer, if there were someone with more emergency response experience than I have) on the open side up against the wall, so that I would have one good swing at the gunman with the nastiest thing in the room before he saw me. If that didn't take him out, the students could swarm him after he swung around to attack me. In that instance, I would have to accept the fact that it was very likely I'd die.