Schools Need Metal Detectors To Prevent Classroom Shootings

Broad & Liberty ran my piece on school metal detectors.

You can read the piece via the below link or the below text:

Paul Davis: Schools need metal detectors to prevent classroom shootings

I was a student at South Philadelphia High School in the late 1960s. Southern, as the school was called locally, was a rough school back then. Race relations in Philadelphia were at an historical low and there were fights in the school nearly every day between black and white students. There were stabbings and even murders in the school and in the surrounding area of Broad and Snyder Avenue. 

The school was so tough that we joked that Southern’s student newspaper had an obituary column. We joked that student photos were front and side mugshots. We also joked that Southern prepared students for later life. True. Many former Southern students, like me, were shipped off to Vietnam. 

I recall the day after Martin Luther King was murdered in 1968. There were huge gangs that invaded the school and there were large-scale fights in the school, on the street, and in the stores and eateries around the school. Only the presence of the Philadelphia Police arriving in force quelled the fighting.    

I believe it was soon after the riots that the school installed a metal detector, and students were only able to enter the school through the main entrance and through the metal detector. The metal detector stopped students from bringing in guns, knives and other metal weapons. 

Sometime after the installation of the metal detector, I was cutting class and walking in the hallway when a black student intentionally bumped into me. I shoved him back and went into my boxer’s stance. As an amateur middleweight boxer, I had a mean right cross. The black student reached behind his back, and I thought he was going to pull a knife. He didn’t. He pulled out a sword. A three-foot-long sword. 

I raised two fingers and gave him the international peace symbol and said, “Peace, brother.” He laughed and I laughed, and we went our separate ways.

I’m not sure how my hallway opponent was able to bring in a sword, but the metal detector did in fact work to reduce serious violence in the school.

Which brings me to the shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin on December 16 of last year. I’ve been following the story and I’ve not seen or read anything yet on the school’s security, if they indeed had any at all. I wonder if they had an armed security officer or a metal detector.  

The Madison Police issued a report on the shooting on December 18^. The report stated that two people died and six others were injured during the shooting. The police stated evidence suggests the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The shooter was identified as 15-year-old Natalie L. Rupnow, who went by the name Samantha. She was a freshman at the Abundant Life Christian School, and she was from Madison. The shooting happened inside a study hall classroom full of students from mixed grades. This classroom was located on the second floor of the school. One person outside the classroom was also injured after a bullet entered an adjacent room. 

The police reported that a teenage student and a substitute teacher, who was employed part time by the school, were shot and killed. Two students were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. A teacher and three other students were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Rupnow used a handgun. Two firearms were recovered at the school, but only one was used during the shooting. (Of course, President Biden’s knee-jerk reaction was to call once again for a ban on “assault” rifles, even though Rupnow used a handgun). 

“Detectives are still working to identify a motive in this shooting. They are looking into Rupnow’s social media activity, her relationships with students at the school and her family and working to learn about her behavior prior to Monday’s shooting,” the Madison Police stated. “At this time, there is nothing to suggest this played a role in motive. Defining the motive remains a top priority. There appears to be a combination of many factors right now. 

“We’ll share this information at a later time when it will not jeopardize the investigation. As in any investigation, detectives are looking at the suspect’s online and social media activity. We are aware of a document and possible images of the shooter being floated around online. We currently cannot verify their authenticity. Nor can we confirm any social media accounts potentially belonging to the student due to the ongoing investigation. We ask the public not to share any images or spread false information regarding this investigation. Detectives are working hard to determine the motive for the attack. If they are able to discover this, it may provide insight into whether there were specific targets. Everyone was targeted; everyone was put in equal danger.”

All schools should have armed security officers, in my view, but an armed security officer could not have prevented the troubled young girl from bringing in two handguns. But a metal detector could have.

State and federal grants should be provided to all schools so they can hire armed security officers and have metal detectors installed. One can’t put a price on a teacher or a student’s life. 

Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes the “On Crime” column for the Washington Times. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com.