Armed and dangerous

Today we were visited by Officer Steve from the Morristown Police Department who talked to us about terrorism. Specifically, terrorism and the Rabbinical College of America. Though we've had no threats, there's always the worry that we're on somebody's list. Everything I wrote here, unless otherwise noted, are his words. Yes, I was the dweeb in the back taking notes. I'll save the editorializing for the end.
What is the goal of a terrorist? To kill as many people as possible. And he or she are not worried about the dying. They expect it. As long as they go down in history, they'll be happy. So our goal is to make sure that no one ever gets the opportunity. The best way to do this is, in the words of the immortal Vince Lombardi, to make our defense a good offense. And this is exactly what President George W. Bush has done since 9/11. You think we haven't had a terrorist attack since then because we're lucky? Anything who thinks so is a moron.
So what can be done at RCA? The college has received a grant to get video and surveillance equipment, along with new locks and other safety devices.
In Israel there are armed guards in every school, bus, and public place. If G-d forbid there was an attack on a school here in the United States of America, we'd have to do the same thing. And we don't want to have to do that. Aside from the incredible coat involved, it would mean that students were living in fear. Such a situation is not conducive to learning.
But let's say there was an incident? We were introduced to the concept of "Lockdown". Everyone in the school is to get into a classroom or other safe place and lock the doors behind them. Stay out of sight, don't listen when someone bangs on the door, and make sure to stay away from anywhere that is visible to the outside. Let's say you're in a bathroom? Get inside a stall and crouch on top of the toilet. And don't use your cellphone either. Any noise will alert terrorists that someone's inside. Obviously, if you can report to the police then that's very good. But don't be calling people that don't need to be called.
The students at RCA are training to be leaders, and they often don't listen to other people. This is not a good thing in this instance. The students need to learn that when a police officer or member of the fire department tells them to do something, then they should do it and not ask questions. Later they can ask questions. In general, a school shooting takes less than ten minutes in general, so they're should be plenty of time for discussion afterwords. This, by the way, is a very important point. The enemy of the shooter is time. The more time it takes him to do something, the less time he has to go around shooting. Even if he blows up a door, if there's desks piled up awaiting him, it'll take time to get through them. He might just decide that it's not worthwhile. And if he does come through, then the sheep, the students, have to take to the offensive. Throw stuff at him, distract him, do everything possible to minimize loss of life. Obviously, do this in an intelligent manner.
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So that was about it. Of course we had the obligatory twenty minutes of asinine questions from bochurim asking about every "what-if" on the planet. I sincerely hope that the rest of the world is like this, and they also ask stupid questions. Because I've only been among bochurim, and they certainly seem to be very good at it.
The officer also mentioned that one of the goals of the strengthening of the yeshiva is to turn it into a hard target instead of a soft one. So if you see something suspicious, say so, because if a terrorist realizes that the school's a tough nut to crack then he won't bother trying. That's also one of the reasons I'm blogging this. Because if someone is reading about Morristown, then he should know that we have close to 150 crazed bochurim here who'll do anything to stop you and your nefarious plans. I'm not even joking.