John Farnam on the Possibility of Terrorist Attacks on American Schools
January 3rd, 2007 by Syd
4 Jan 07
At a just-concluded terrorism seminar in NJ, colleagues Dave Grossman and Chuck Remsberg warned of the high likelihood of terrorist attacks on American schools and school children. Terrorists’ predicable goal is to inflict maximum mayhem and death as a way of bursting onto our national headlines, just as was the case at Beslan. However, what struck me most was the terrorists’ thinking process in selecting targets. They may be crazy, but they’re not stupid:
Unlikely targets include schools in states that have “Shall-Issue” CCW laws, where parents dropping off and picking up children, or attending school activities may well be armed (contemptuously ignoring stupid “no-guns-on-school-property” rules) and likely to enthusiastically engage, with lethal force, those attempting to harm their children. Terrorists find that eventuality most inconvenient!
Unlikely targets also include schools where emergency planning has a high priority in the community, is well publicized, and visibly-armed police officers are continuously present and maintain high profile.
Likely targets include isolated schools in rural areas, where law enforcement and EMS resources are stretched thin and are easily overwhelmed and where bad, winter weather makes travel difficult, slowing and complicating response.
Likely targets include affluent school districts in big, metro areas or posh suburbs, where “emergency planning” is a subject so unpleasant that the community just doesn’t want it discussed, even among police. These are the same places where police beat cars contain neither rifles nor shotguns, and even uniformed police are supposed to be unarmed on school property. Letâ??s just call it Lemming City!
Likely targets include school districts close to the Mexican or Canadian border, where entire teams of terrorists can easily slip into the USA, achieve their goals, and then slip back across the border where they’ll likely escape capture indefinitely.
I wonder if it will take a Beslan-like incident to persuade Americans that children need to be continuously protected by armed adults. It is time for Americans parents, teachers, and school administrators to get tough or die!
The meek may inherit the Earth, but they do it in small plots!
/John
Its Beslan, not Belsen.
But your other points are very well taken.