Featured Image Credit: ABC 33/40
Topics: Crime, Education, Social Media, True crime, US News, Gun Crime
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Crime, Education, Social Media, True crime, US News, Gun Crime
The introduction of Rapid-Deploy Safe Room Systems in a school has intensified cries for stricter gun regulation.
Cullman City Schools' West Elementary in Alabama has installed Rapid-Deploy Safe Room Systems in two of its classrooms.
The Rapid-Deploy Safe Room Systems have been made to better protect students and teachers in the case of an active shooter emergency.
While no one's arguing about children and teachers being kept safe, many have interrogated what else should be being done instead of creating and using safe rooms.
Advert
KT Security Solutions came up with the design in response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas which occurred on 24 May, 2022.
This is after they created ballistic shelters for the military last year.
The design incorporates a fold-out room that extends from a whiteboard featuring 'bulletproof' walls, and one door which is locked from the inside and only unlocked with a key.
The safe room can reportedly be pulled out and assembled within 10 seconds.
As well as protecting children and teachers against a shooter, it can also be used to offer protection against severe weather conditions.
After coming up with the design, founder and CEO of KT Security Solutions Kevin Thomas proposed the system to Kyle Kallhoff - superintendent of Cullman City Schools.
Kallhoff told WBRC: "In the unimaginable thought or action of a shooter, this is a safe place for the students or the teacher to get in."
Thomas notes: "Our goal here is to give every kid an opportunity to go home in the evening."
The CEO then told ABC 3340 News: "What we have is a way to save kids. I don't want to be here, it's crazy, but somebody's gotta do it. They asked, I heard the parents on that board over here, those 19 from Uvalde and the spouses of the teachers, said don't let this go nowhere, make it count and that's what we are doing.
"I can't control policies, I don't control gun control, I don't control mental illness, I don't control any of that. I'm not a policymaker, I'm just a contractor who lives out in the woods in Jones Chapel, but what we do have control over is the ability to make things that are innovative in the meantime, while we fix the bigger issues, we are going to do the here and now, now."
WBRC News reporter Gillian Brooks posted a demonstration video to Twitter showing how the safe room is set up.
However, responses to the Rapid-Deploy Safe Room Systems - which according to ABC3340 News cost just under $60,000 (£50,000) each - have been divided.
One user said: "What moves faster, opening the room or a bullet?"
"Just imagine if our classrooms alone were the safe rooms," another added.
While a third commented: "I just despair. How on Earth this is the best option America has... Poor kids growing up with this being 'normal'. The greatest country in the world."
"How about a yearly gun tax to pay for this so the parents of endangered children aren’t paying to support under-regulation," a fourth said.
A final resolved: "Just. Ban. The. F**king. Guns."
If you’ve been affected by the contents of this article you can contact the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Hotline on 800-985-5990 or 800-846-8517 if you’re hearing impaired. Or you can text ‘TalkWithUs’ to 66746. The hotline provides 24/7 access to trained crisis counselors for people experiencing emotional distress related to natural or human-caused disasters. The helpline Is toll-free, multilingual and confidential and available to all residents in the US and its territories.