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US School Installs 'Shooter Detection' System
An anonymous reader writes: A school in Methuen, Massachusetts has demonstrated the first installation of an automated detection system for active gunmen. Sensors placed throughout the building are activated by the sounds of gunfire. The sensors relay data on the shooter's real-time location directly to police, who can then track and subdue their target. The system was developed for the military to detect the location of enemy fire. It will cost school districts between $20,000 and $100,000 to equip each school with the gunfire-detecting sensors. Methuen's police chief said, "It's amazing, the short, split-second amount of time from identification of the shot to transmission of the message. It changes the whole game. Without that shot detection system, we wouldn't know what was going on in the school ... Valuable, valuable time can be lost. Unfortunately, with school crisis situations, it's about mitigating loss."
Of course, the REAL issue isn't even guns, it is mental health. We have kids who are unstable, unbalanced, and unloved, and the system does nothing for them. There is no way to identify problem or challenged kids and get them some help before they go off the deep end.
This isn't limited to kids, we have the same problem with adults. The mental health care system in this county is sad, we don't offer help early enough to those who need it and as a result, we have people who go crazy and do stupid stuff.
Because indeed we are dealing with a mental health issue. In particular we are dealing with two mental health issues that are widespread in our country:
Until we address those issues we will still have these problems. It doesn't matter where you put guns, detectors, or anything else. All you can do is move the problem around. To make matters worse the 2010 health care bill was more about rewarding terrible insurance companies than it was actually about helping people get access to care that they need.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
You are so right - it is LACK OF WEAPONS that is causing all these shootings. So, instead of installing security systems, let's install automatic rocket launchers in all schools, and while we're at it, why not put something like VX gas or anthrax in the little perfume dispensers in the toilets?
And kids totally won't abuse the system to get out of taking their finals. Why pull the fire alarm when you can make a really great prank!
I'm not American, so maybe you do things differently, but here in the UK, if there's some disastrous event that means you have to evacuate a school/college during exam time, then we just reschedule the exams for another day.
I expect it's socialism.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Or, even better, we could just take all the damned SSRIs off the market; because, if you look at the history, these "school shootings" were virtually unknown until SSRIs came on the scene, then there has been a steady drip, drip, drip of these incidents, and particularly in the U.S.A., where SSRIs are hideously over-prescribed.
I am so tired of hearing this.
As a doctor I once had said; "Co-relation is not causation, I'm pretty sure all those shooters also regularly drank milk yet I don't see people blaming milk for suicides or homicides."
A part of the problem is some people are just prone to violence and they're given these drugs without any real support because their councilor/parent/doctor expects the drug to do all the work but in reality it doesn't work that way; taking mood stabilizing drugs without support and encouragement is like taking diet pills and expecting to lose weight without changing your lifestyle to accommodate healthy food and exercise.
I was once on an SSRI; Sertraline Hydrochloride, for a couple years and it really helped me get stable, and at the time the county provided a not-for-profit support network, complete with doctors and councilors, for those suffering from mental anguish and with their help I learned how to deal with negative feelings and life's problems, had people to talk to, I made friends and they helped me reach the goal of being stable enough to get off my medicine. Fast forward a few years I'm happy guy no longer on SSRIs contributing to society with a well paying job and good friends. Ultimately the medicine did it's job to help my mind to heal like a splint helps a limb to heal, and I'll be ever grateful to those who supported me in my time of need.
Something else to take into consideration is that a drug that works 100% of the time in all cases is a fantasy because everyone's body chemistry is different so any drug can have adverse effects including but not limited to behavior, so healthcare workers and the patient alike need to work together to find a drug that works.
Long story short; SSRIs are the product of half a century of careful research and not the evil scapegoat you and your preferred cable news channel ignorantly make them out to be.