Underprepared Colleges Legally Liable For Shooter Killings

WASHINGTON - Dec. 21, 2023 - PRLog -- Michigan State University [MSU] has been forced to pay $15 million to the families of three students killed by a crazed shooter on campus because it failed to take some simple and inexpensive precautions about this now all-too-foreseeable danger on college campuses.

There are simple, inexpensive, and proven precautions which universities can and should takeare described in an international study which is now more a year old:
How Can Universities Tackle the Threat of Active Shooters? (https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20221011124140599)

Banzhaf notes that MSU could have protected its students with classroom door-locking mechanisms capable of being activated from the inside simply by installing the same common horizontal latches, now found in even the least expensive motels, for less that $20 each.

Most universities, especially large ones, now arm some or all of their campus police force.

Here is what the international shooter-safety report (https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=202210...) very strongly suggests every school should do or have:
■ Classroom doors which can be locked from the inside
■ Signs in windows displaying room numbers to assist first responders outside
■ A system of master keys so all doors can be unlocked without an unreasonable delay (as occurred in Uvalde)
■ Every police vehicle and campus building should have a forced entry tool to use promptly if doors are locked or jammed
■ Outer doors intended to be locked should have simple magnetic sensors which alert via WiFi if a supposedly locked door is left (or propped) open
■ Students hiding and afraid of being overheard by a shooter should be able to silently text information to school authorities
■ Tourniquets or other measures to stop the rapid loss of blood and exsanguination from especially fast-bleeding AR-15 wounds before medical help can arrive
■ One-way peepholes (like all motels have) in offices and other doors, especially for those working during uncrowded times such as at night and on weekends
■ School apps on all student cell phones explaining what to do in the event of emergencies, and able to transmit text messages to the school if the student must remain silent
■ Guns for campus police, and possibly for others; if necessary safely stored unless and until an active shooter appears
■ Non-lethal weapons such a bear spray, paint-ball guns, etc. if lethal weapons cannot be utilized

JOHN F. BANZHAF III, B.S.E.E., J.D., Sc.D.
Professor of Public Interest Law Emeritus
George Washington University Law School
"The Man Behind the Ban on Cigarette Commercials"
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor
Fellow, World Technology Network
Founder, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
Inventor of the "Banzhaf Index"
(202) 994-7229 // (703) 527-8418
http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com   @profbanzhaf