GOP Candidate: Kids Can Use Textbooks as Protection From School Gunmen

[Bob Geiger]

A candidate for state superintendent of education in Oklahoma has proposed a plan to protect schoolchildren from gun-related violence by putting old, thick textbooks under every school desk in the state for students to use in self-defense if a crazed gunman storms their school.

In case you're waiting for the other shoe to drop, yes, the candidate is indeed a Republican.

The GOP's own Bill Crozier believes that old schoolbooks could be used as effective shields should a gun nut begin shooting up campus and even produced a video showing how it would work. You can view the YouTube version of that video here.

Crozier and some other gun-wielding Okies -- including some children! -- gathered in an open field to experiment shooting multiple weapons to see how far the bullets would penetrate various textbooks. He first tried an AK-47, only to see the bullet from that weapon go through two massive books. He then fired a Glock 9 mm pistol and the bullet did not even make it to the back cover.

"The bullet did not penetrate the book," intones the proud candidate.

Meanwhile, Crozier did not comment about how a symptom of the larger problem might actually be how a pack of backwoods Republicans were able to convene, on their own, with high-powered handguns and an assault rifle, to run their goofy little experiment.

Crozier's Democratic opponent, Sandy Garrett, had no comment on the plan.

But, under Crozier's silly proposal, the best defense might just be the hardcover edition of the book detailing all the brain-dead, NRA-endorsed Republicans running for public office.

You can read more from Bob at BobGeiger.com.

[goddess40]

1. They told the kids at my son's school to try and hide

Wow, like they wouldn't think of that themselves. How about doing something real like dealing with the bullying problem or having national health care for the adult sickos to seek out some help?

[comradebillyboy]

2. Glock 19 (9mm) has no stopping power

every gun nut knows the 9mm is a wimpy round. The former pope took two rounds in the chest from a 9mm and lived to forgive his assailant the next day. AK's however are cheap and easy to find, a much bettter choice for mayhem. A .44 magnum would turn the books to confetti. The next time I go shooting I will take a couple of textbooks from my math classes and see how well they stand up to the AR-15's .223 rem projectile and the .45 acp, an extremely popular caliber. My students will be intrested in the results.

not all gun guys are repukes, I like all of my civil rights.

[whistle]

3. Who says republicans don't make education a top priority, use text

...books not to learn and read but as body armor:wtf:

[tanyev]

4. Now all they have to do is train their reflexes to be really quick

so they can see where the bullet is heading and move the book to protect the appropriate body part. Or start making books much larger.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

5. They should do the same for our troops!

Bulletproof vests are just so expensive. But send over a few thousand copies of Tom Sawyer and Fahrenheit 451, and not only will our troops be protected, but we'll get those awful books away from our children! It makes so much sense! Two birds with one stone and all that!

[FSogol]

6. Maybe that candidate would recommend sending some textbooks

to the troops for body armor. :shrug:

[leesa]

7. Well, they'll have to with everyone and their dog packing guns these days

But sales are good in the armaments industry!

[comradebillyboy]

8. very true

I was talking to the owner of a gun shop recently and he was commenting on the fact that he had never seen guns sales so good. he could not keep the more popular handguns in stock.

[eppur_se_muova]

9. What a stupid remark! Textbooks are heavy and have sharp corners ...

obviously meant to be OFFENSIVE weapons.

And when students are desperately bored, as a last resort, they could actually READ the things.

[historian]

10. typical idiotic remark

almost as stupid as hiding under a table when an A bomb is dropped on your head!!

[benEzra]

11. Some gun-owning DU'ers have tested that theory, and it doesn't work.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2440290#2440539

From the other thread:

(ThomWV)

I Just Tried It With A 9mm On A Thick Hardcover Book

I just took my Beretta Cougar 8000F (INOX), loaded with CCI "Blazer Brass" 115 grain full metal jacket bullits and shot a copy of John Gunther's "Inside South America"; 1967, Harper & Roe, 608 pages, hardcover.

The bullet passed completely through the book with enough residual energy to penetrate the endgrain of a chunk of white oak firewood. It is burried so deep in the wood that I can not see it, only its entry wound to the wood.

(rkc3)

Did the same thing to a paperback copy of Anna Karenina with a 30.06 from about 50 yards. The book, about 700 pages, was basically blown in half.

For non-gunnies, 9x19mm is a pistol cartridge of moderate power (0.4 to 0.6 kJ), and .30-06 is a deer rifle (~4.0 kJ), twice as powerful as an AK round. I'm not surprised that a book won't stop .30-06 which will penetrate a half inch thick steel plate and go through Kevlar body armor like Saran Wrap--but if a 608-page book won't even stop a 9mm round, then single books are fairly useless as cover, even if you had Matrix-like reflexes and could wield your textbook in "bullet time." :eyes:

Meanwhile, Crozier did not comment about how a symptom of the larger problem might actually be how a pack of backwoods Republicans were able to convene, on their own, with high-powered handguns and an assault rifle, to run their goofy little experiment.

There's no way they used an actual assault rifle; it was probably just a non-automatic AK-47 lookalike, assuming they were testing 7.62x39 and not 5.45x39.

I agree with you on the goofy part. That "plan" makes absolutely no sense. As someone in the other thread pointed out, next thing you know, they'll be issuing thick textbooks in Iraq...

[gratuitous]

12. Okay, so thick outdated textbooks won't work

How about an armory in every school? I think we all agree that arming every kid every day is not a good idea (we do agree on that, right?), but how about five or six armories in strategic locations around every school?

I mean, otherwise, the solution might involve some actual, you know, common fucking sense.

[dorktv]

13. What about papercuts? Those can be just as deadly!