School district arms 500 teachers with 16 tiny baseball bats to protect against shooters

Following the Parkland, Florida shooting on February 14 there have been a lot of suggestions on how to prevent gun violence in America.

When he wasn't blaming video games or movies for the violence, President Trump suggested that maybe arming teachers with guns in the classroom may be one way to solve the problem.

As you may be aware, Trump's idea didn't go down too well but another equally illogical suggestion has emerged thanks to a school district in Pennsylvania.

Millcreek School District is planning to arm its 500 teachers with miniature baseball bats after the staff received training on how to deal with a school shooting.

The bats, which are 16 inches long, will cost the district $1,800 (£1,264) and are intended to be used as a last resort should a shooting arise. Superintendent William Hall told Erie News Now:

It is the last resort but it is an option and something we want people to be aware of. 

We pass them out, with the goal being we wanted every room to have one of these.

Unfortunately, we're in a day and age where one might need to use them to protect ourselves and our kids. 

The initiative has been backed by the Millcreek Education Association president Jon Cacchione who wants teachers to be able to fight back if they have nothing else to use.

He told also Erie News Now:

This is a tool to have in the event we have nothing else.

Part of the formula now is to fight back, and so I think the bats that were provided for the staff were symbolic of that.

Although the bats are meant to be "symbolic" and only used in a "hard lockdown situation" but we fail to see how a small bat would help anyone against a person with an assault rifle, similar to the one that killed 17 people in Parkland.

It didn't take long for Twitter to realise how strange this idea was either.

Some of the strongest protests against the move have come from the NRA, a group that many people have blamed the gun violence in the US.

This isn't the first time that a school district in Pennsylvania has provided an unusual suggestion to combat gun violence.

Last month the Blue Mountain School District in the state gave five-gallon buckets containing rocks to students, should a shooting breakout, as they believed they would be "more effective than throwing books or book bags or staplers."

HT Mashable

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