Two mass shootings exemplify how metal detectors can be insufficient at stopping such attacks¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q1
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? At Red Lake High School in 2005, a student shot the guard operating the metal detector and brought three weapons through the device. → Schildkraut 2019

Evidence¶

Schildkraut 2019¶

Schildkraut, J., & Grogan, K. (2019). Are metal detectors effective at making schools safer? San Francisco, CA: WestEd. https://www.wested.org/resources/are-metal-detectors-effective-at-making-schools-safer

q1 · i? · review · r2

Case evidence cited in the brief: despite a standing metal detector at Red Lake High School, the perpetrator killed the guard operating it and brought three weapons into the school. Seven people were killed and five injured.

"the school had a standing metal detector present on March 21, 2005, but a student arrived at the school and shot and killed the unarmed security guard who was operating the metal detector"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Crisis-response training such as lockdown and Run-Hide-Fight can save lives but does not prevent school shootings — related
• Metal detectors impose substantial equipment, personnel, training and time costs on schools — related
• Metal detector effectiveness depends heavily on the human element: training, correct operation and functioning equipment — related
• Available data suggest schools with metal detectors identify more weapons through searches without scanning devices than through scanning — related
• Common physical and exclusionary safety measures can cause harm to the very students schools are trying to protect — related
• Students report feeling less safe and more likely to perceive violence and disorder in schools with metal detectors — related
• School shooters do not fit a single consistent profile; perpetrators, motivations, and attacks vary widely — related
• Metal detector use in US schools has held steady or slightly decreased since the 1990s despite renewed calls after the Parkland shooting — related
• There is no evidence that arming school staff improves school safety, and one study found an armed guard present was associated with more deaths in school shootings — related
• Hardening strategies such as police in schools and metal detectors intervene too late in the pathway to violence to prevent attacks — related
• Security cameras show no evidence of improving school safety, and evidence does not support expanding metal detector use — related