Looking out the window of your classroom, you spot four young
males wearing black masks and carrying weapons. What
’s the drill?
Looking out the window of your classroom, you spot four young males wearing black masks and carrying weapons. What’s the drill?
You call 9-1-1 immediately, of course. Your job – and your basic instinct as a teacher – is to protect your students. Police respond speedily. Nobody wants a Columbine-like incident that could have been prevented to stain their community for time immemorial.
When the police arrive, their hearts begin pounding with anticipation as they attempt to assess the situation and make quick, capable judgments. They spot the suspects who are all carrying guns, both AK-47 look alike and handguns, and order them to drop the weapons and hit the ground. Two flee toward the school playground and two take cover in nearby brush.
In those few seconds, life-and-death judgments are made. And in this case on April 26 here in Morgan Hill, a tense and potentially deadly situation ended as well as possible. A boy finally dropped one of the weapons and an officer determined it was a replica gun and alerted everyone. No lives lost, just added doses of adrenaline and worry.
Today, you can head over to Hobby World in Gilroy and pick up one of those replica guns. Just the other day, Gilroy police responded to a man-with-a-gun call from a clerk at Jack-in-the-Box who spotted a man with a gun – a replica gun as it turned out – going through the drive-through.
It’s true – our society can’t wipe out stupidity with legislation, but it’s idiotic to allow such easy access to fake guns. Those “toys” can quickly turn a harmless situation into one of deadly consequence.
Following the incident, Morgan Hill effective Sept. 24 banned the public carrying of such replica weapons. Gilroy should do the same.
As GPD Sgt. Kurt Ashley said, officers don’t have much time to think in such scenarios.
“If someone points a gun at me, what looks like a real gun with an orange tip, what do I do? Do I wait?” Ashley said. “I’d shoot them, simple as that.”
The ensuing tragedy would be anything but simple.
