A Bullet, a Teacher, and a Student
Ms. Sanders sits at her desk grading papers while her students quietly take their exams. It’s a quiet afternoon, the sun warming Ms. Sanders’ desk by the window. The students are concentrating as she gets up to pace the room. She spots one of them falling asleep and taps the side of his seat, he bounces awake and his face goes red in embarrassment. He had barely written a few answers on the exam. Ms. Sanders clears her throat and the boy picks up his pen and continues his test.
Approaching the window by her desk, Ms. Sanders reaches to pull the blinds down only to be stopped by a familiar but terrifying sound. Speeding down the road, two cars have their windows rolled down, and multiple gang-members are pointing guns at each other and firing. A shooting at this time of day on a busy road? Her eyes grow wide, turning to look at her students just starting to hear the noise. She barely gets a chance to blink before the glass in front of her shatters, a shrill piercing sound radiating in the room. Screaming, she recoils in fear, but realizes the bullet didn’t hit her. Her heart stops as she quickly turns to her students.
Blood covers a half written exam.
The sound of gunshots has now passed and whether they meant to or not, the aftermath of their deadly rivalry had spilled innocent blood. Nobody entered the property, nobody gave a warning about a shooter, nobody had the chance to respond and protect.
In the blink of an eye, a student is dead.
Even though this story is fictional, incidents like this are too realistic to ignore.
School shootings are becoming more prominent across the country and we have every right to be terrified. In 2022, a six-year-old student was shot at an Iowa school; in 2011, an angry student killed the principal and vice principal in Nebraska; in 2016, a student pulled a gun in a classroom in Utah. For 2024, Utah has hit an average of 20 incidents. Even though Utah sits at a lower risk, states like California are as high as 150 incidents in 2024. Whether it’s at 20 instances a year or 150, it is still cause for circumspection. It’s not uncommon, in fact these are just a few examples of more incidents than we care to count.
One stray bullet can kill a student or teacher. One active shooter can kill many more. Glass is the weakest entry point for nearly any threat to a school’s safety and security. Even though protecting our windows and doors is just one of a few ways we can protect our students from shootings, it’s a great start.
Security film helps with break-ins and while it does not stop a bullet, it can keep an active shooter or intruder from entering the school until they give up or help arrives. For this instance, however, the film didn’t stand a chance at stopping the bullet.
Let’s go back to Ms. Sanders fictional classroom but with a different outlook. Ms. Sanders barely blinks before she realizes a bullet hit the glass. A terrible thunk echoes in the room, the students scream in horror. Several start crying, the overtired boy jolts awake again. The two cars speed past the school, police cars chase behind them. Ms. Sanders, realizing the gravity of the situation, quickly turns to see where the bullet landed while expecting the worst. Her heart beats in her ears, eyes frantically looking at each student who trembles at their desk.
To her relief, the students are untouched. Yet she still can’t find where the bullet went. She returns to the window to realize the bullet never even entered the classroom. She stares with her mouth gaped open to see that the bullet was stopped by the glass in the window. While she can’t see the other side of the glass to understand how the bullet was stopped, she can see the inside of the glass without even a bulge. How is this possible? Exams are dropped as the students closely observe what they feel is a complete miracle. Armitek’s incredibly thin ballistic glass had been installed just the week before and saved their lives.
You can learn more about protecting your classrooms today by visiting our page https://armitek.com/ballistic-glass-for-schools/.
U.S News: School Shootings by State, Christopher Wolf, January 2024, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/states-with-the-most-school-shootings
World Population View: School Shootings by State 2024. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/school-shootings-by-state
CHDS.us. Shooting Incidents at K-12 (Jan 1970-Jun 2022). https://www.chds.us/sssc/data-map/
