[M T]

When I was in elementary school, an emotionally disturbed man blew himself, his son, a teacher, a custodian, and two other students up at an elementary school just 4 miles away.  Many more would have died had the teacher not recognized the situation and sent away a number of students whom the man had told to gather around him.  There were no prior threats. 

After the blast, there was no trace of the perpetrator.  The police had to presume he got away and might attack other schools.  (Indeed, he had notes that indicated he had two more bombs.)  We were one of the closest schools and were put on what would now be called lockdown (probably with the rest of the city, but I don't know for sure), but of course the children weren't told what happened.  It was only after our parents came to take us home that we found out what happened.

While it is obvious that virtually all threats like this are baseless, and intended to cause the disruption that officials must do, the one chance in hell that someone is crazy enough to carry out the threat is why we put up with the disruption.  No person and no organization wants to make the call that a threat is baseless, and pay for that misjudgement in lives.

In this time where we see so many instances of people killing and maiming innocent people, I think we will and must err on the side of caution, no matter how frustrating that may be.

[M T]

When I was in elementary school, an emotionally disturbed man blew himself, his son, a teacher, a custodian, and two other students up at an elementary school just 4 miles away.  Many more would have died had the teacher not recognized the situation and sent away a number of students whom the man had told to gather around him.  There were no prior threats. 

After the blast, there was no trace of the perpetrator.  The police had to presume he got away and might attack other schools.  (Indeed, he had notes that indicated he had two more bombs.)  We were one of the closest schools and were put on what would now be called lockdown (probably with the rest of the city, but I don't know for sure), but of course the children weren't told what happened.  It was only after our parents came to take us home that we found out what happened.

While it is obvious that virtually all threats like this are baseless, and intended to cause the disruption that officials must do, the one chance in hell that someone is crazy enough to carry out the threat is why we put up with the disruption.  No person and no organization wants to make the call that a threat is baseless, and pay for that misjudgement in lives.

In this time where we see so many instances of people killing and maiming innocent people, I think we will and must err on the side of caution, no matter how frustrating that may be.