{"id":1561042,"date":"2022-07-19T11:49:04","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T15:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1561042"},"modified":"2022-07-19T11:49:16","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T15:49:16","slug":"clear-backpacks-cant-protect-kids-from-shooters-but-hardening-schools-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/clear-backpacks-cant-protect-kids-from-shooters-but-hardening-schools-can\/","title":{"rendered":"Clear Backpacks Can\u2019t Protect Kids From Shooters, But Hardening Schools Can"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fclear-backpacks-cant-protect-kids-from-shooters-but-hardening-schools-can%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1561042&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Screen-Shot-2022-07-19-at-8.59.20-AM-e1658239284172.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Dallas Independent School District (DISD)\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thehub.dallasisd.org\/2022\/07\/18\/clear-or-mesh-backpacks-required-for-all-secondary-students\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a>\u00a0this week that, beginning this Fall 2022 semester, all 6th-12th grade students must use clear or mesh backpacks designed to deter students from bringing illegal items such as guns to class.<\/p>\n<p>Corporate media coverage of DISD\u2019s new policy claims the change was recommended by DISD\u2019s Safety Task Force and Internal Task Force following the Uvalde school shooting in May when 19 students and two teachers lost their lives.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to imagine that DISD\u2019s backpack policy will solve any problems or even gain popularity throughout the Lone Star State. While several Texas school districts have implemented similar changes, the clear-backpack policies have\u00a0become targets\u00a0for teenage taunting and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2018\/04\/01\/us\/parkland-florida-students-return-school\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">concerns about privacy<\/a>. That\u2019s why Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which suffered a fatal shooting in 2018,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2018\/04\/01\/us\/parkland-florida-students-return-school\/index.html\">dropped its clear-bag policy<\/a> just a few months after introducing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This new backpack policy might deter current students from smuggling illicit materials into school, but it won\u2019t solve any of the problems present in the Uvalde tragedy. First of all, the Uvalde shooter was not a student at the school he targeted. Second, the DISD backpack policy applies only to middle- and high-school students, not younger students like the kids at Robb Elementary.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/static.texastribune.org\/media\/files\/d005cf551ad52eea13d8753ede93320c\/Uvalde%20Robb%20Shooting%20Report%20-%20Texas%20House%20Committee.pdf?_ga=2.2933812.584187437.1658234895-103020716.1650485732\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">new report<\/a>\u00a0from the Texas House of Representatives found that \u201csystemic failures and egregiously poor decision making\u201d by both law enforcement and school officials are to blame for the shooting in Uvalde. Neither of those problems \u2014 \u201csystemic failures\u201d and \u201cegregiously poor decision making\u201d \u2014 will be fixed by the security theater of clear backpacks.<\/p>\n<p>To some degree, DISD acknowledges that. But the district\u2019s assurances that it knows \u201cbackpacks alone will not eliminate safety concerns\u201d are not enough.<\/p>\n<p>The district claims backpacks are \u201cmerely one of several steps in the district\u2019s comprehensive plan to better ensure student and staff safety,\u201d but unless that comprehensive plan includes hardening schools, DISD\u2019s efforts to protect students and teachers are futile.<\/p>\n<p>As Federalist Senior Editor David Harsanyi\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/18\/why-anti-gun-zealots-cant-admit-concealed-carry-saves-lives\/\">noted<\/a> in a column earlier this week: \u201cMost planned mass shootings target gun-free zones where there is no one to stop them until the police arrive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is impossible, unless one is a mind-reader, to quantify how often the presence of good guys with guns dissuades murders. It is likely that shooters, suicidal or not, prefer soft targets that allow them to make the most gruesome impact, which is one reason I simply can\u2019t understand why we wouldn\u2019t want to train (willing) teachers to use firearms,\u201d Harsanyi continued.<\/p>\n<p>Shooters target the vulnerable. And what is more vulnerable than a classroom filled with teachers and students who have no means to defend themselves against someone with bad intentions? Especially if the police wait more than an hour to act.<\/p>\n<p>Good guys with guns and strict security measures do deter and stop bad guys. It\u2019s happened\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/18\/the-real-hero-good-guy-with-gun-ends-mass-shooting-in-indiana-mall\/\">over<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.sltrib.com\/article.php?id=55742445&#038;itype=CMSID\">over<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/10\/a-would-be-school-invader-in-alabama-failed-when-the-doors-were-locked-and-police-werent-cowards\/\">over<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcdfw.com\/news\/local\/man-who-took-out-church-gunman-to-receive-states-highest-civilian-honor\/2290236\/\">over<\/a>. Yet, anti-gun activists are strongly opposed to letting anyone,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.everytown.org\/solutions\/arming-teachers\/\">especially teachers<\/a>, carry in the classroom. Democrats have also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/schumer-blocks-senate-gop-school-safety-bill-angering-republicans\">repeatedly<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruz.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/sens-cruz-jones-introduce-bipartisan-school-security-enhancement-act\">rejected legislation<\/a>\u00a0designed to fund and codify security overhauls in U.S. public schools that would keep students from being sitting ducks.<\/p>\n<p>Even the media like to complain about hardening schools. One Texas Tribune\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2022\/05\/26\/texas-uvalde-shooting-harden-schools\/\">article<\/a>\u00a0published in May dared to claim that Texas state initiatives designed\u00a0to beef up security in\u00a0schools \u201cdidn\u2019t save Uvalde.\u201d The problem with that? Uvalde was not a hardened school, nor town, as seen by the countless failures of law enforcement officers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A school building with adequate security infrastructure wouldn\u2019t fail to lock doors. It would have a heavily monitored single point of entry. A school building that does not have armed teachers nor a competent, armed security guard capable of taking out the shooter before he even enters a building is severely underprepared to handle any threats.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even though Texas has taken some steps to encourage schools to enact more security measures, most districts like DISD\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/education\/2013\/07\/12\/dallas-isd-police-chief-says-district-wont-participate-in-texas-new-marshal-law\/\">strongly dissuade and sometimes even explicitly prohibit school officials<\/a>\u00a0from carrying guns on school property for self-defense.\u00a0That needs to change.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If Uvalde taught us anything, it\u2019s that schools can\u2019t risk waiting around for law enforcement to neutralize a fatal threat. School districts like DISD must stop focusing on security theater such as backpacks and start investing the time and resources they used to buy every student in the district a clear bag into ramping up security for worst-case scenarios.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire and Fox News. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dallas Independent School District (DISD)\u00a0announced\u00a0this week that, beginning this Fall 2022 semester, all 6th-12th grade students must use clear or mesh backpacks designed to deter students from bringing illegal items<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":490,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1561042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/490"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1561042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1561042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1561042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1561042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}