Gun and crime control: instant location alarms

[empther]

The recent tragedy at Virginia Tech gave me the idea of “instant location alarms” for stopping such crazed gunner rampages quickly. While I was thinking of college campuses, the idea also applies to convenience stores etc.

Why not have alarm boxes that instantly alert police to the exact location of a shooting?

They would look like fire alarms, but, when the lever is pulled, a radio signal is sent out to the police station with the exact room, floor, and building of the alarm’s location. A computer at the police station displays the exact location. The police can respond immediately.

You can see how this would work on a college campus. If there’s a shooting, several people is adjacent rooms would trigger their alarms at the same time. The police station would display all these alarms, and the police would know there was really something bad going on.

It would work in convenience stores too. There may be several alarms in the store so that the cashier could get at one.

After a few robbers had been caught by police on the way out of the store, crime would decrease.

Notice the the person triggering the alarm can do so immediately. He doesn’t have to dial 911 and explain what the emergency is. The police already know something is wrong and will have the nearst cruiser go there.
Maybe the store clerk has a foreign accent, or doesn’t know the address, or is too excited to speak clearly for the 911 operator. Not a problem with the “instant location alarm”.

Bank tellers would each have an alarm under their counters. Bet you the police will get there quickly!

 

[melensdad]

Why not have alarm boxes that instantly alert police to the exact location of a shooting?

Not just limited to shootings, but aimed to prevent or reduce crime and increase safety at the University of Chicago are special “knock boxes” that are location specific. They are scattered around campus and if someone is chasing you down the street the idea is that you can hit these knock boxes with your hand and the campus security can ‘follow your path’ based on the sequence of the hits on the boxes.

With regards to convenience stores/gas stations/liquor stores/etc, many have hidden panic buttons at the counter, in the register, etc. Again it is not gun specific, but it allows the cashier to instantly send a panic alert to their security company or local police.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Of course at Virginia Tech, the police already knew there was a killer on campus – because he had killed a couple of people more than an hour before he started his final rampage.

In the end, the only way those people could have been saved was to save themselves – but they were not allowed to have the means to defend themselves.

 

[Maxply]

Of COURSE guns kill people: that’s where the bullets come from.

Much tougher to kill them one by one, tearing out their hearts from their bodies by hand.

Technology sure helped the Nazis heap’em up!

 

[vern_humphrey]

Of COURSE guns kill people: that’s where the bullets come from.

Much tougher to kill them one by one, tearing out their hearts from their bodies by hand.

Technology sure helped the Nazis heap’em up!

Of course lack of the same technology in the hands of their victims made it horribly easy.

The lesson of the Holocaust was there was no one to defend the Jews, and they were not prepated (with a few heroic exceptions) to defend themselves.

 

[melensdad]

Of course at Virginia Tech, the police already knew there was a killer on campus – because he had killed a couple of people more than an hour before he started his final rampage.

ALSO, in the Virginia Tech shootings, there were 2 individual events a couple hours apart. The school and the police totally screwed up because they did not LOCK DOWN the campus, which is pretty much standard procedure in most places. Had they done this, they may have completely prevented the second set of shootings that occurred on the campus when Cho returned to the campus after leaving to go to the post office.

People seem to forget there were actually 2 rampages on that campus, they were a couple HOURS apart and they were in 2 different parts of campus. It is very possible the entire second set of killings would have been prevented if the campus was locked down and the students notified.

 

[vern_humphrey]

ALSO, in the Virginia Tech shootings, there were 2 individual events a couple hours apart. The school and the police totally screwed up because they did not LOCK DOWN the campus, which is pretty much standard procedure in most places. Had they done this, they may have completely prevented the second set of shootings that occurred on the campus when Cho returned to the campus after leaving to go to the post office.

People seem to forget there were actually 2 rampages on that campus, they were a couple HOURS apart and they were in 2 different parts of campus. It is very possible the entire second set of killings would have been prevented if the campus was locked down and the students notified.

Or if one or two of the many victims had been armed

 

[melensdad]

Or if one or two of the many victims had been armed

The victims, presuming them to be law abiding, would have been forbidden from carrying a gun on campus even if they had licenses to do carry guns . . . the campus is a gun free zone. It guarantees that only criminals will carry guns on campus.

But staying on topic, if there were knock boxes at Virginia Tech like they have at U of Chicago, then at least alarms would have gone off and perhaps some more people would have been saved.

 

[vern_humphrey]

The victims, presuming them to be law abiding, would have been forbidden from carrying a gun on campus even if they had licenses to do carry guns . . . the campus is a gun free zone. It guarantees that only criminals will carry guns on campus.

You are right.

But since the right to keep and bear arms is a civil right, and depriving someone of a civil right under color of authority is a serious crime, why haven’t members of the school administration been charged? Especially since so many died as a result of their action?

 

[Maxply]

Here’s a recent archival find from 1939:

"Dear Mr. Krupps:

We have enclosed funds for the following items. Please ship them to us ASAP. For items you do not supply, please refer us to an appropriate vendor. We would like to purchase:

50,000 small sidearms: handguns of .32-.45 caliber, wtih holsters
500,000 rounds of sidearm ammunition
75,000 army issue rifles
500,000 rounds of rifle ammunition
4,000 armored tanks
500,000 shells for the tanks
2,500 figher planes
2,000 0.77 mm cannon
500,000 cannon rounds
50 miles of barbed wire
wiretapping equipment sufficient for 24 mid-sized cities
50,000 pairs of army boots
50,000 helmets
50,000 knives
500,000 handgrenades

We are purchasing these items for self-defensive purposes only. We understand that the current government has instituted a wide-ranging policy of antiSemitism.

Please send this materiel to:

Jewish Ghetto
Warsaw, Poland
c/o Jewish Self-Defense Committee

 

[vern_humphrey]

Here’s a recent archival find from 1939:

"Dear Mr. Krupps:

We have enclosed funds for the following items. Please ship them to us ASAP. For items you do not supply, please refer us to an appropriate vendor. We would like to purchase:

50,000 small sidearms: handguns of .32-.45 caliber, wtih holsters
500,000 rounds of sidearm ammunition
75,000 army issue rifles
500,000 rounds of rifle ammunition
4,000 armored tanks
500,000 shells for the tanks
2,500 figher planes
2,000 0.77 mm cannon
500,000 cannon rounds
50 miles of barbed wire
wiretapping equipment sufficient for 24 mid-sized cities
50,000 pairs of army boots
50,000 helmets
50,000 knives
500,000 handgrenades

We are purchasing these items for self-defensive purposes only. We understand that the current government has instituted a wide-ranging policy of antiSemitism.

Please send this materiel to:

Jewish Ghetto
Warsaw, Poland
c/o Jewish Self-Defense Committee

Too bad it was back-ordered.

 

[DaveBj]

Birmingham is supposedly in the process of installing sensors that will detect and p(name removed by moderator)oint (thru the taking of multiple bearings) gunshots, allowing the police to go check things out quickly.

 

[Maxply]

I’m through and through a gun control advocate. It’s just too self-evident for me; the big problem is that people really are NOT always 100% rational in what they do. Emotions are important motivators, especially in tense, stressful situations.

This said, the real reason we’re scurrying for various kinds of protections is because the Grand Old Social Protectors–Manners and Morals—are not being taught to children, are not respected by adults. So we are forced to look for technical solutions.

 

[vern_humphrey]

I’m through and through a gun control advocate. It’s just too self-evident for me; the big problem is that people really are NOT always 100% rational in what they do. Emotions are important motivators, especially in tense, stressful situations.

But you have no evidence to back that up. The facts are that when states adopt “shall issue” laws, allowing any citizen without a criminal record to carry a gun, crime goes down, not up.

This said, the real reason we’re scurrying for various kinds of protections is because the Grand Old Social Protectors–Manners and Morals—are not being taught to children, are not respected by adults. So we are forced to look for technical solutions.

Ergo, we need weapons to protect ourselves.

 

[thechrismyster]

In the end, the only way those people could have been saved was to save themselves – but they were not allowed to have the means to defend themselves.

this is reposted simply so that more people will read it. vern hit the nail squarely on the head with his post.

however, the band-aid nanny society would rather have police run to their rescue rather than taking care of the problem themselves.
the real issue isn’t a reduction of manners or poorly taught children… every society has it’s bad seeds.

whats lacking in 2007 is personal responsibility. i am responsible for the safety and welfare of ME AND MY family.
Men are no longer men, they’ve been nuetered long ago by the PETA generation of sensitive PC attitudes.

let others take care of us is the mantra for 2007…

howzabout we all learn to take care and defend what’s ours by our own hands. crazy thought?

 

[melensdad]

however, the band-aid nanny society would rather have police run to their rescue . . .

Funny thing is that 98% of the time the police show up AFTER the crime is committed and there is nothing left to do but write up the reports.

People mistakenly believe that the police will protect them. That is totally false. The police have the task of keeping the community generally safe, but are not responsible for the individual safety of citizens.

The church clearly states we are able to defend ourselves, and if fact it is our duty. Some folks prefer to use guns, some do not. The church does not indicate that guns are, or are not, the preferred choice, it leaves the individual choice of defense up to each of us.