The Latest Installment of "THIS IS NOT THE ONION!!" (Textbooks as SHIELDS)

[Beetwasher]

Candidate seeks textbooks as shields

OKLAHOMA CITY --A candidate for state superintendent of schools said Thursday he wants thick used textbooks placed under every student's desk so they can use them for self-defense during school shootings.

"People might think it's kind of weird, crazy," said Republican Bill Crozier of Union City, a teacher and former Air Force security officer. "It is a practical thing; it's something you can do. It might be a way to deflect those bullets until police go there."

Crozier and a group of aides produced a 10-minute video Tuesday in which they shoot math, language and telephone books with a variety of weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9mm pistol. The rifle bullet penetrated two books, including a calculus textbook, but the pistol bullet was stopped by a single book.

Crozier said the demonstration shows that a student could effectively use a textbook as protection in a school shooting.

--snip--

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/10/19/candidate_seeks_textbooks_as_shields/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News

Link to video:

http://www.koco.com/news/10105982/detail.html

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. well, at least kids will get some use out of algebra books

cause I never did in school.

[ThomWV]

2. I Think Burning Books is Faster Than Shooting Them

If its simply education you want to kill burning books seems to work better than shooting them.

[radfringe]

3. great new product idea

Kevlar book covers...

[Hav]

4. .

Oklahoma definitely belongs to those states with the most insane Repubs.

[Crankie Avalon]

5. Indeed! The principal purpose of textbooks ought to be as protection...

...from unregulated firearms rather than anything that children might actually be able to learn from.

Hell, make our troops in Iraq wear textbooks in place of the body armor our government isn't issuing them.

Another excellent Republican idea. Heck of a job.

[benEzra]

6. I'm surprised that they got a textbook to stop even a pistol bullet...

this doesn't strike me as a very practical idea, and would seem to be a bit counterproductive.

[rkc3]

11. By that you mean the bullet will be expanding as it travels through

the book - therefore making a larger entry hole into the students. This will also cause the bullet to fragment causing further internal damage to the victim.

Makes me wonder what these guys are thinking.

[benEzra]

14. I was more thinking about students taking time to grab heavy textbooks

and lug them around instead of following the teacher's directions regarding evacuation/taking cover and such. Trying to lug a huge textbook while running for real cover would seem to be counterproductive, and sitting still holding a textbook certainly makes you a better target.

Most hollowpoints won't expand in dry paper, which tends to just plug the nose cavity and effectively turn the bullet into an FMJ. So if somebody says "stand still while I shoot you in the chest," and you have the opportunity to reply "OK, but please shoot me through the calculus book instead," and the shooter does so, then the book could be a benefit.

But my thinking is, the benefit is so farfetched, and the tactical drawbacks so likely, that it's counterproductive. Sort of like requiring police officers to carry NIJ Level IV bulletproof briefcases on the street, to hide behind if somebody starts shooting at them--yeah, could provide some benefit in some imaginary circumstances, but in the real world, lugging the briefcase around will actually be a hindrance in an emergency.

[valerief]

7. Better idea. Keep people with friggin' guns away from schools! nt

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. I wish I'd been part of that demonstration.

I'd never pass up the chance to shoot a calculus textbook.

[Aviation Pro]

9. "People might think it's kind of weird, crazy"

Thinking people think you're weird and crazy.

[ThomWV]

10. 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 bullit 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]

12. 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.

[annabanana]

13. lol. . . .THIS is why I love DU

Thanks for the rapid, in depth investigation ThomWV!!

[Beetwasher]

15. LOL!

That may be the first time a post of mine has been so inspirational! Thanks for the "report"! :thumbsup:

[obreaslan]

16. I guess it would have been hypocritical to suggest body-armor for the kids

Seeing that they won't even give it to the troops. :eyes: