There was not a single adult male on the school premises when the shooting occurred. In this school of 450 students, a sizeable number of whom were undoubtedly 11- and 12-year-old boys (it was a K–6 school), all the personnel — the teachers, the principal, the assistant principal, the school psychologist, the “reading specialist” — were female. There didn’t even seem to be a male janitor to heave his bucket at Adam Lanza’s knees... Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza.
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"Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza."
Like Indians charging on Gatlings : utter failure, and they had weapons.
When someone has an automatic weapon, human wawes by swarms of unarmed people against him is useless.
Of course you have no idea what training or skills these women may have had. I work in a large public high school and for several years our SRO was a woman... and a martial arts expert. One doesn't have to have a penis to be a top-notch karate master.
Equal, having a penis is no guarantee that your janitor will be anything but a milk-sop.
Just about the last thing one would want is a few 12 year-old students charging an armed nutter.
Thanks for the ideas, but patently they're all pulled out of the fail bucket.
@ Filin De Blanc, that does seem to be his point. What could possibly go wrong ?
*headdesk*
he also has never seen a mother protecting a kid.
"Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza."
I imagine it would have gone like "Reports coming in indicate that there were 30 people killed in Connecticut, including a pile of fat twelve year olds."
This is a demonstration of the completely unrealistic doublethink that goes on with conservatives regarding firearms. There's this unspoken belief that they firearm only works in the hands of the just.
Easy gun access would allow an elderly woman to fend off a gang of 200 pound, brown skinned muggers but a cold blooded killer with high capacity Bushmaster firing NATO 7.62 can be handled by a washed up jock.
The truth is that firearms confer the tactical advantage to the person who fires first and has the least concern about about collateral damage. This is why armed teachers are almost inconsequential to any school shooter with two braincells to rub together. If the shooter didn't drop the teacher before they even cleared their holster they could avoid return fire as long as they kept themself between the armed teacher and the students, forcing the teacher to fire at a moving target and risking hitting kids with stray shots or penetrating fire.
I do believe the school had male staff, actually.
Charlotte Allen? What's the feminist equivalent of 'coconut' (or 'Uncle Tom' to older folks)?
@RWA
Coconut? Thanks for that! That's right up there with "Radish Communist" for creativity.
The only thing I can come up with in this context is, "Aunt Bea."
> Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played
> high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza.
Ooh, ooh, I know the answer to this one, miss! The answer is "a bigger bloodbath".
We would have had a couple of dead 12 year old boys.
Forget television, the movies and right wing fantasies. The most likely result of taking on an armed assailent unarmed is ending up dead.
That doesn't mean there aren't times when you have to go for it if for no other reason than to be able to live with yourself, but the odds aren't good.
Congratulations, Charlotte. You are the supidest woman to have ever lived.
She's actually suggesting that husky 12 year old boys try to tackle an armed lunatic. That almost makes Wayne Lapierre sound smart.
I think you guys have missed another interesting part of the article where she quotes:
"Sec. 1. Be it enacted,...That no freedman, free negro or mulatto, not in the military service of the United States government, and not licensed so to do by the board of police of his or her county, shall keep or carry fire-arms of any kind, or any ammunition, dirk or bowie knife, and on conviction thereof in the county court shall be punished by fine, not exceeding ten dollars, and pay the costs of such proceedings, and all such arms or ammunition shall be forfeited to the informer; and it shall be the duty of every civil and military officer to arrest any freedman, free negro, or mulatto found with any such arms or ammunition, and cause him or her to be committed to trial in default of bail.” The Mississippi Black Code of 1865See the point?"
I find factual errors here. First, there is indeed a male head custodian, and that only speaks of head custodian, not others under him (he's the only one listed for contact on the website). There was also a male fourth grade teacher.
So that's two men they ignored, not to mention any staff that would not be listed on the school website such as aides and janitors under the head. There could easily have been male aides, kitchen staff, etc.
Second, the school is k-4 not k-6. Therefore no 12 year old boys would be available except perhaps in special ed.
I needed only 10 seconds to come up with this. That shows how easily conservative points are refuted.
It's a ridiculous issue anyway; women do protect themselves and children just fine in the vast majority of situations.
I'm shocked and disgusted to see the suggestion that pre-teen boys should have charged the man who was shooting at them.
How is such stupidity created?
It took me less than two seconds to get a mental image of the aftermath, and it is most certainly not the heroic takedown of Adam Lanza by a group of 12 year olds. This isn't a movie.
Merely being male is not enough. They needed firearms and training to use them properly. Women are just as adept at use of firearms as men.
Looking more deeply, the problem is that the state governments turned the patients out of the mental hospitals to save money. Patients were given bottles of pills and handshakes when they needed inpatient treatment, or, in some cases, permanent confinement.
Meanwhile, in a universe where women are imbeciles and men have skin made of titanium...
Seriously, I don't know what upsets me about this more. The blatant misogyny, or the thought that ANYONE would run TOWARD a shooter, instead of AWAY. You know, like a sane human being who doesn't want to die?
Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza.
Sure thing.
It would have meant two more dead people. A higher body count. Because they would have been charging an armed and homicidal man with a semi-automatic weapon. Most likely they'd have died long before they reached him.
Because empty hands and bare fists are more than a match for automatic weapons, right?
The suggestion that a male janitor heaving his bucket at the gunman's knees could have produced anything other than a dead janitor is so absurd I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry.
The fact that I have to share this planet with someone as stupid as Charlotte Allen, however, certainly does not make me laugh.
Some of the toughest and biggest men will cower in a ball at the sound of gunfire while some woman will put their lives on the line to save others.
For instance, the principle. Unfortunately she wasn't successful but she was extraordinarily brave to go at the shooter the way she did.
We appear to have a visitor from the middle ages.
Guns don't lose much effectiveness when wielded against physically stronger people, and can be used by anyone almost regardless of strength. That's practically why they were invented. If swords or quarterstaves were still the state of the art of personal weaponry, this guy might have a point, but even edged and pointed weapons were invented, at least in part, because their lethality was less a function of the fighter's strength than it would be for blunt instruments.
Wait, the janitor, the guy who opened the guy and was his first victim, WAS A MAN, and he opened him because he was a former student. Try not to be so stupid and sexist next time.
"Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza."
I think there would be a couple of more dead bodies.
I have first hand experience in people out of a crowd "converging on" some violent person.
There were three drunken guys who were picking on an elderly couple and shoving them around, right in front of a crowd, who just stood there and looked.
I thought "Ok, everybody is waiting for someone to make a move, but it would just take a few people to step forward and these three will run away."
I don't remember exactly what I shouted, it wasn't important since it was just to draw the others' attention anyway, but it apparently wasn't very convincing because one moment later I was standing between one of the guys and the old couple, and NOBODY ELSE HAD MOVED.
I got out of it with nothing worse than a sprained wrist, and the knowledge that if you want to play hero, make sure you can do it alone, because crowds can't be trusted.
So if some stronger than average 12 years old had attempted to run at the shooter, he'd have only made himself a target, there's no guarantee at all he'd have any backing.
Because ONLY men are capable of physical confrontation. Just put a few men in any building, and they will be able to stop bullets from an assault rifle, especially if they played high school football.
It would have had a couple of additional bodies in the halls. See, here's the thing: I know you don't know this, but despite what you think of your body after a few beers, muscle mass cannot stop bullets.
Thinking about it... Seeing more dead people.
Dead ex-football jocks, and dead fat boys.
Like the human wave tactics used at Rzhev, a recipie for casualties
Now what if one of the teachers had been a robot?
Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza.
Then we'd have a couple of dead male teachers who had played high-school football and some dead huskier 12-year-old boys.
What's the point? Are you stupid?
Kitty:
I don't think it was a crowd of assholes, I think it was bystander effect, with everybody thinking that out of the number, someone else would certainly fix matters.
But yeah, after I got the drunkards' attention they left the old ones alone - someone who fights back is probably more fun to beat up - which was probably for the best after all, since where I just hurt my wrist a little they could have had broken bones.
"Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza."
He would have shot them. Because he had second amendment rights.
Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza.
The body count would have been a lot higher?
We imagine. They probably would be DEAD because, unlike the idioticy that reigns in the NRA nuts´realm, guns are too lethal for any human being, specially if they´re used by the ARMY. Sexism apart, those teachers who were female were human shields and saved many kids. Think before spouting nonsense.
"Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza."
They would have been dead just like the rest of them, you moron. You think being a former high school football player makes you faster than a bullet? I also love the gun nut geniuses who think that everyone in the school should have been packing heat. Yes, nothing will keep kids safer than more bullets flying around. Fucking idiots.
Males Past Twelve Years of Age -- We're big, we're tough, and we'll mow you down before you can fire your gun! Also we're bulletproof. Our muscles are kevlar, our balls are steel, and our eyes are lasers, so don't mess with us!
"This is a demonstration of the completely unrealistic doublethink that goes on with conservatives regarding firearms. There's this unspoken belief that they firearm only works in the hands of the just.
Easy gun access would allow an elderly woman to fend off a gang of 200 pound, brown skinned muggers but a cold blooded killer with high capacity Bushmaster firing NATO 7.62 can be handled by a washed up jock. "
This is brilliantly put. This should be spread around.
You would have piles of fat 12 year old corpses, Charlotte. Fat & muscle is not bullet-proof.
Also, this school didn't go as far as 6th Grade.
Most 12 year old boys are still little squeaky-voiced kiddos. Remember, boys mature slower than girls.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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