New Safer Way to Stop School Shooters

WASHINGTON - July 28, 2025 - PRLog -- The author of a major study which recommended that schools should have on hand and use guns as necessary to stop an armed intruder has now recommended a new tactic. The study can be found at:
How Can Universities Tackle the Threat of Active Shooters (https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20221011124140599)

Although the study noted that, if firearms could not be used, there are several better alternatives to simply hiding or trying to barricade the doors to a classroom,.  Although less effective than a firearm, the study suggested considering several non-lethal weapons such as bear repellent spray, a pistol shooting conventional paintballs, and a pistol which shoots pellets filled with disabling pepper spray.

Professor John Banzhaf, a former security officer and security consultant who is the author of the study, now suggests that schools where firearms cannot be used should consider a new technology: remote controlled drones which fire powder pellets which are capable of disabling any intruder.

He says these newly-available drones offer the advantage of being non-lethal, so there is no chance of an innocent bystander, such as a student or teacher, being injured.  Since they are operated remotely using video cameras mounted on the drone, no one at the school need confront or go anywhere neat the armed intruder.

Best of all, the drones can disable a gunman long before first responders can possibly arrive.  This is vital, says Professor Banzhaf, because most deaths from school shootings occur with 120 seconds, and first responders usually take at least 300 seconds to get to the school, and more time to be briefed and take action.

In non-urban areas, it can take first responders much longer to arrive at the school, and even in urban areas first responders can be delayed by rush hour traffic, an accident or other traffic jams, etc.

Also, although most universities arm at least some of their campus police officers, it typically takes them longer than 120 second to get to a shooter, and even then they may hesitate to shoot if there is any chance that a bullet could wound a student or teacher.

The drone company claims that its drones, which remain stored indoors in a box on campus, can be launched within a few seconds and take out a shooter within 60 seconds.

The law requires that schools (including universities) must take all steps which are "reasonable" (not prohibitively expensive or intrusive) to protect students from risks which are reasonably foreseeable, and refusal to do so can lead to huge damages.

So, all schools - and especially schools which do not have armed police on campus at all times - should at the very least investigate this new technology, warns Banzhaf.

http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail