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Read the Letter Sent to Sandy Hook Elementary Parents About Security Earlier This Year

Dec. 14, 2012 5:00pm Liz Klimas

Sandy Hook Principal Sent Security Letter to Parents for 2012 2013 School Year

Police and ambulance at the scene from the aftermath of a school shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that brought police swarming into the leafy neighborhood, while other area schools were put under lock-down, police and local media said. (Photo: DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)

As the details about the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy continue to emerge, a question that is among the top is how the 20-something-year-old gunman carried between two to four guns into the school where he shot 26 people, 18 of whom were children.

A local Connecticut news station has published a letter sent from the school to parents earlier this year, detailing its security policy.

“Our district will be implementing a security system in all elementary schools as part of our ongoing efforts to ensure student safety,” the letter began, as included on WTNH’s website.

The procedure for the 2012-2013 school year included the exterior doors of the school lock each day at 9:30 a.m. and every visitor to the school rings a doorbell at the front where office staff would use a camera to verify the visitor’s identity and allow entry. Visitors sign in upon entrance and “if our staff does not recognize you,” photo ID is required.

Here’s more from the letter that was sent from Principal Dawn Hochsprung, who was allegedly killed in the shooting as well:

Our office staff is handling multiple tasks. Though they will work diligently to help you into the building as quickly as possible, there may be a short delay until someone can view you on the handset and allow you to come in electronically. There are times during the day when office personnel are on the telephone, addressing student concerns, or in the copy room; there are other times when only one person is in the front office. Please help our staff by identifying yourself and provide your child’s name. Keep in mind we will be following our district guidelines which may need revision once we test the system.

The letter expresses that with 700 students, the school hopes the parents will understand the policy that “continues to be critical to our school’s effectiveness and your child’s success.” Read the full letter here.

At a press conference, a state police official said at the time there is only one shooter, who was deceased at the scene. The police have not officially identified the deceased, which included 20 children, six adults and the shooter in the school and another deceased adult at a secondary crime scene.

Initial reports had an anonymous official stating that the shooter dead on the scene was 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, but later in the afternoon Fox News reported some indicated it was his younger brother, Adam Lanza, 20.

A law enforcement officer who spoke under the condition of anonymity said Lanza’s mother Nancy was a teacher at the school. Nancy Lanza was reported to have been found dead in a Newtown, Conn., home. The official also said Ryan Lanza’s girlfriend and another friend are missing in New Jersey. Fox News also reported that Lanza’s father in New Jersey was allegedly found dead as well.

Only hours after the Sandy Hook tragedy schools around the country have been taking their own security measures into consideration. According to NBC out of Los Angeles, security at areas schools has already been heightened. NBC reported that police were directed toward schools Friday to “provide a comfort level”:

“Although we’re 3,000 miles from there … there’s always the potential” for copycats or somebody to act out, Hiltner said. “In the event something were to happen, we’d be there to deal with an incident should it occur in our jurisdiction.”

Los Angeles schools police also added extra patrols to “reduce any fears or anxiety related to today’s incident,” officials said in a statement.

Schools in northeast Ohio heightened security today as well.

Some have already also begun talking about the importance of being regimented at following existing school security procedures but also what schools might do in the future to prevent such catastrophes.

As for how schools have increased security since Columbine’s shooting, NPR reported Paul Timm, president of RETA Security Inc, a school security company, saying that it has improved, even though tragedies have occurred since. As examples, Timm cited most schools now keep exterior doors locked and police response has been altered.

Before, Timm noted, police would set up a perimeter and wait for a SWAT team to arrive before entering. As the Connecticut state police official said to the press, police entered Sandy Hook immediately.

“Emergency planning has changed completely. Most schools are now required to have at least one lockdown drill per year to prepare for just the kind of active-shooter situation that seems to have occurred here,” Timm said to NPR.

In addition to measures like this though, NPR reported Case Western Reserve University professor at the Center for Adolescent Health, Stephen Sroka, saying its time to start teaching children how to respond to shooting situations, as they would for a fire emergency.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Comments (60)

LoveBringsTruth
Posted on December 15, 2012 at 12:02pm
no such thing as coincidence.

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obxned
Posted on December 15, 2012 at 10:31am
Had even a small number of the staff and teachers been trained and armed, this nut-job would probaby have gone elsewhere. At the very worst, his evil would have quickly ended and the lives of many children saved.

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oldincarolina
Posted on December 15, 2012 at 10:26am
Security is no better than its weakest part. The shooter knew where that part was.

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sinner-saint
Posted on December 15, 2012 at 4:54am
it’s not the guns that are the problem……..it’s unstable people that are the problem. Obviously the school wasn’t very secure….he got in.

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- kaydeebeau
  Posted on December 15, 2012 at 5:04am
  So true – the subject that should be discussed is SELF CONTROL not gun control
  
  Report this comment
sinner-saint
Posted on December 15, 2012 at 4:50am
Stupidity rules these days……obviously the school wasn’t very secure if he got in. If someone would have been armed in the school, they could have protected the children- maybe even prevented this from happening in the first place. But instead, nobody was armed – they were led to the slaughterhouse were fed to the big bad wolf. And the big bad wolf ate them. Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. I’ve never seen a gun get up and kill someone. Someone has to pick the gun up, aim it and pull the trigger. Screwed up people kill other people. We let all the screwed up people out of the mental institutions back in the 60′s and released them into the general public. They bred, and now we have what we have today – a lot of screwed up people in our country that kill people. They were originally removed from society for a reason – because they were a danger to themselves/others. But we let them out and let them breed. now we have tons of them in our society today. Folk’s it not the guns that are the problem – it’s unstable people that are the problem.

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lassiegirldawn
Posted on December 15, 2012 at 3:09am
We kicked God out of the schools and guess what folks, he left.

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meeester
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 11:30pm
The answer could be “More Guns”.
If a neighborhood in a bad section of town or otherwise let it be known that everybody in that town was armed and taking classes on a regular basis in using their guns do you think that neighborhood would get preyed on or avoided? Similarly would you rather go on a plane knwing that people with concealed carry permits were allto keep their guns? What about the school , would you feel better knowing that people at the school were armed? The idea of a school being armed might make that the less attractive target. However I guess the answer will be to perpetuate the no gun zone approach. Considering how these reactionary liberals carry on is a reminder of why we need to keep our guns. These people certainly need to be kept at arms length and watched.

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- ICRedifURBlue
  Posted on December 15, 2012 at 12:38am
  I will NEVER be “Gun Free”…………
  
  Report this comment
Rashomon
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 10:55pm
The school locked the door. He simply broke the glass and entered. That the school didn’t think of this is mind blowing. Wheres the common sense in this country.

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- noslave
  Posted on December 15, 2012 at 9:30am
  i thought the same thing,why not security glass??cut corners??most schools discontinue programs/deprive children,or make cuts elsewhere,in order to pay teachers on stike,for their higher pay demands??it would be interesting to find that out?? bottom line what he did was awful&my condolences to the families,but we need to look beyond gun control, for a understanding of why /what causes all the shootings??
  
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singray
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 9:44pm
Who knows what can make someone do this. The common culprites will be mentioned. Of course the gun made him do it. Then all those violent movies and video games. Aren’t the ones making most of the aforementioned Liberal. Just wait till all the hate spewed by the left cathches up. You know that if you don’t agree with them you are Racist, Anti-women, and so on.
The reason this sad individual killed, we’ll never know. Whats truly sad, and this may be harsh, but that most likely half the parents voted for a Party thats whole agenda seems to be get even with and destroy those that wrong us. And seems to me this individual was getting even with those that he thought wronged him. Maybe they thought they were exempt from this evil thing. Maybe they thought this evil get even thing would only effect someone else. Some may even learn that evil doesn’t care.

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The Giver
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:57pm
Gun free zones are a tragedy waiting to happen. Sitting ducks all of them. If people can’t protect themselves and others, you better have a good security system in place.

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- Yorzaxt
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 10:04pm
  I can protect my children at home from psychopaths like this. Who protects them at school? When they go into that “free slaughter zone” of the school, I feel like i am sending them out naked in the winter.
  
  In Israel all teachers are required to be armed and this doesn’t happen. If there had been armed teachers and administrators in the school, he would not have made it past the front office. I know as a CCW holder, Id have gladly given up my life to stop a wacko like this.
  
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TheReaper123
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:55pm
These shooter prey on the innocent and unarmed. We put our kids safety in the hands
of the Teachers and the School to keep them safe.
All school districts should encourage Teachers and Administrators to be armed. This
would deter any violence and mitigate any attack.
Staying proactive instead of reacting after the
fact is the only way to protect our kids.

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- Ditto Head
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 8:05pm
  “We” don’t all depend on unionized lib-coms to protect our children 30-40 hours a week. Some of us have decided to homeschool our children whereby we know they will receive the best and safest education they can possibly get.
  
  Report this comment
- vkscott
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 8:32pm
  @dittohead. I agree, because nobody as ever committed a home invasion.
  
  Report this comment
Eastinfection
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:05pm
This is my home town.
I lived there from ages 10- 28.
I played LittleLeague on that baseball field.
I played park & rec basketball in Sandy Hook Elementary’s gymnasium.
Many of my friends went to this school.
I am intimately familiar with every single background & landmark you have seen on TV about this.
Many of my friends have kids that go to this school.
Some of my childhood friends are teachers at this school.
Some of my other childhood friends now work in law enforcement in this town.

Please.
Please.
Pray for all of them.
Please.

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- SkiboSR71
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:19pm
  Amen Brother!!! I’ve been doing just that, and feeling awlful for all who lost a child, parent etc. today. This is the direct result of the moral decay that’s been taking place in our country since prayer was taken out of school in the early sixtys…..
  
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- rickc34
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:22pm
  My family is keeping them in our prayers. And East I will keep you in my prayers also.
  
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- The-Monk
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:35pm
  Hi East,
  
  You got it friend !!!
  
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- The Giver
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:54pm
  We’re praying East.
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 8:03pm
  Thanks Monk (& rest of you)
  
  BTW- BSOD all last night :(
  Working OK today though (?)
  Maybe continue with our Lapper mission in a couple of days?
  Right now trying to get news from friends & family…
  difficult.
  
  Report this comment
Diane TX
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:54pm
The office staff recognized him as the son of one of their teachers. Now they need to add – is that teacher present that day.

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- rickc34
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:27pm
  Yes this is something that no one thought would happen, a teachers son, she did not show up for work , no phone call because she was already dead. They knew him and felt safe, this is just tears at my soul.
  
  Report this comment
- Walkabout
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:37pm
  I thought he might have forced his way in. Someone, a parent or a delivery person, is buzzed in. Someone could reach the door before it snapped shut after someone buzzed in. They show that in movies all the time & it doesn’t take a genius to figure out. It explains the casualty count. First the admin staff, who buzz people in, & then the classroom.
  
  Report this comment
- The Giver
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:40pm
  That’s right, recognizing someone doesn’t mean you ignore the bulges in their clothes and common sense. But Diane, reality is that we can’t prepare for every single situation. Locking the doors at 9:30, someone could come in before. Homeschooling is the only real answer. The family connection and the God connection are vital.
  
  Report this comment
- Elena2010
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:42pm
  He could have told them that he was there to pick something up for her. That would have gotten him in the door even if she was not at school.
  
  You cannot out-think these kinds of situations. First they defy logic. Second they have the weight of hell behind them. When it comes to thinking up terrible things, Lucifer has a decided edge of mere mortals.
  
  The better course of action you can do is prepare and execute your best plan, improvising as needed.
  
  The best course of action you can do is to invite God back into the public square and bring back some sense of public morality. Guns existed when I was a kid in the 1950s. Public morality held a lot of this in check.
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 8:06pm
  All he had to do is say “My Mom isn’t coming in today. She wanted me to deliver this note.”
  
  Report this comment
- vkscott
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 8:55pm
  @the giver. Homeschooling is not the only answer. The following site reports that 1 in 5 homes will experience a home invasion. That is a very high number. While I totally agree that today’s events are tragic, lets not start blamn the schools. Training and preparations go a long way.
  
  http://www.homeinvasionnews.com/if-you-see-these-home-invasion-statistics-dont-look/
  
  Report this comment
- Ditto Head
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 9:57pm
  @DIMBULB SCOTT
  Nobody is blaming the school, tard-boy. The individual that committed this act was directly at fault. Your home invasion straw-man is a big fat red herring and irrelevant to this discussion. So far as I have ever heard, there has never been a homeschool shooting.
  
  Report this comment
LeadNotFollow
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:52pm
There should be armed guards at all schools.

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- GuruMeditation
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:35pm
  and teachers should be allowed to carry.
  
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- Ditto Head
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 8:01pm
  Or how about this: Every teacher be required to obtain a Conceal/Carry permit, and be packing his or her personal firearm, loaded, at all times while on public school grounds. If a teacher is unable or unwilling to fulfill said requirement, they don’t teach.
  
  Report this comment
- Ohio Guy
  Posted on December 15, 2012 at 3:10pm
  Armed guards provided by whom? The Federal Gov’t? The teachers union? Be careful what you ask for you might just get it!
  
  Report this comment
krixie61
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:46pm
The doors weren’t on lockdown until 9:30 and he probably knew that with his mom working there…regardless it is a senseless, selfish, EVIL act of a piece of flesh. Regardless what the truth turns out to be this is just EVIL!! If someone had been able to conceal and carry he might not have been able to kill as many as he did but even 1 is way too many….Thoughts and prayers go out to all the families affected by this horrific tragedy.

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- ChiefGeorge
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:10pm
  It is an insider that did this! Someone they knew and felt they could let in.
  
  Maybe the shooter played this angle as he knew also thru the Mom that the school was trying to be safe in this area. Maybe he let a seed be planted on how to get around their security measures, then got angry with mom over something stupid and went back to his fantasy about how easy it would be to get in there and do some real harm. This was not a spur of the moment thing!
  
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- Big Media Bias
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:11pm
  I went to college with a friend who is now an illegal conceal-carry teacher. He brings his Glock 19 to his school and classroom every day. Only he and I know. I convinced him to get his conceal carry permit a month after I got mine. The school is ultra liberal. There are many times when school officials walk around student vehicles, looked inside with flashlights, just so they could find anything to suspend or expel students. One kid was expelled for a knife he left in the back of his pickup after dressing (gutting) a deer he and his dad got that morning. One girl was expelled for a pill seen on her passenger side vehicle. It was Pamprin (menstrual pain).
  
  Connecticut’s draconian anti-gun laws are so strict, it was obvious something like this was going to happen.
  
  Report this comment
KentuckyVet
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:33pm
Never seems to happen in Private Schools!

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toomuchgovt
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:28pm
The left is going crazy, they have turned this into a demand for Obummer to order yet another executive order to finally put an end to the gun laws in our country. Say goodbye to any right you once had. Instead of being the president this president once again is being the nanny.

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- SkiboSR71
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 7:03pm
  So your just gonna go down to the local police station and turn in your guns when he attempts to take away your guns on grounds of X, Y, Z and executive order TOOMUCHGOVT???
  
  Report this comment
Maxim Crux
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:01pm
These are the list off the top of my head of mass shootings since Obama. Far more than any other president. I am sure I missed a few.

Connecticut shooting
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9746051/Connecticut-school-shooting-massacre-at-Sandy-Hook-leaves-20-children-dead.html

Aurora Dark Night shooting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Aurora_shooting

Fort Hood Shooting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hood_shooting

Norway Shooting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks

2011 Tuscan Shooting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tucson_shooting

Gurudwara Firing, Milwaukee
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/firing-at-a-gurudwara-in-us/1/211930.html

Oregon Mall Shooting
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/12/justice/oregon-mall-shooting-victims/index.html

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- toomuchgovt
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:23pm
  It does seem weird that so many in such a sort time. I had no idea there was this many.
  
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- Keatonc33
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:31pm
  Its far too many! It is time to talk gun control! this can not keep happening!
  
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- freedom4ever
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:31pm
  Everyone forgets Chardon Ohio school shooting that left 3 dead how sad for all involved.
  http://www.cleveland.com/chardon-shooting/
  
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- isobamamadd
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:39pm
  They did this stuff to get Europe’s Guns …
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio
  
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- GuruMeditation
  Posted on December 15, 2012 at 7:07am
  I doubt it’s by chance.
  
  Report this comment
FaithfulFriend
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:00pm
Our school district sent out an email today after this horrific massacre reminding everyone they have procedures and digital resources in place with direct communication with police and officials.

Sounds great for any point in time a few minutes from now.

There’s only a few simple ways to provide a sensible defense in the now, and I’m all for it.

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RAN58
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 5:59pm
Yep. Breakdown in procedures. Although there is another step that could have potentially prevented so many deaths. Allowing teachers to carry concealed. If as a parent you are willing to trust your child’s safety to a teacher for 6-8 hours a day, wouldn’t you be willing to allow that teacher to carry concealed? If not, why is your child in that school? It’s reported that the principle of the school did the right thing and ran to the sound of the gunfire but unfortunately ended up getting shot. How much better would it have been had she and her fellow teachers been armed?

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noslave
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 5:52pm
the money for security was probably eaten up in the last teacher strike for higher pay less hours??

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Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 5:45pm
If THAT was the procedure, then it either failed at some point, OR he had help. I hate to say it, but this may have been a planned false flag operation to get the topic of gun control discussion started again.
I HATE that I have to say something like this in the face of tragedy and sadness. I truly hope it wasn’t something as nefarious as that, but this Administration has not lent itself to be trusted anymore.
These kids did not deserved to be killed. Unless he left some writings behind, we will never know the shooter’s motive.
Lord, be with the families that lost a loved one, today.

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- Mutiny
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:00pm
  I dont doubt it. Most of these people running around killing people are on prescription drugs. It would be easy to manipulate a person with mental issues. Last I heard the guy from the Aurora shootings was being treated by a military psychiatrist before he had his rampage.
  
  Just remember to get more gun control laws on the books it will take Republicans. Be sure to call your reps and tell them a vote for gun control is a vote for them to be out of office.
  
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- justasurvivor
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:11pm
  He would have been identified as family of a teacher and let in.
  
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- justasurvivor
  Posted on December 14, 2012 at 6:12pm
  Illegal drug control would do more to stop shootings than preventing law abiding citizens from owning guns.
  Remember – criminals by definition don’t follow gun control laws of any kind.
  
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Jenny Lind
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 5:40pm
When I heard what happened it took my breath away, and my heart ached with pain for the parents and families of those innocent children. I cannot conceive of the pain that community will suffer, but I know one thing for sure. If someone is a sicko or evil they will find a way to accomplish their desires, no matter what. Killing you parents and children and innocent bystanders is as bad as it gets and I do not believe security measures would have stopped this person. The only bright spot is he killed himself-no one will have to go through a trial, and that may help the pain they are suffering.

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DougHuffman
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 5:34pm
MBSE, you must read the letter to parents for all the security protocols that were apparently violated – locked doors & ID required – and ask why and why the lamestream media hasn’t asked the tough questions.

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TRILO
Posted on December 14, 2012 at 5:32pm
There is not enough security measures to prevent this from happening short of turning schools into prisons. They could have had an armed guard at every door and the evil man who did this horrendous act easily could have taken out the guard and done as much damage.

We could turn our schools into a prison with surveillance cameras in every corner, bullet proof glass and security controlled doors, windows, etc. But is this what we want?

What I have never understood is the idea of lock downs. Gunfire is heard in the building and the doors get locked, the children hide under their desks all the while a deadly intruder is locked in with them. I can understand this line of thinking if there is a shooter on the outside of a facility.

I am at a loss for words.

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