School Says Students Need to Hear What Madman’s Gunfire Sounds Like

This
local news announcement about a Champion, Ohio, school’s upcoming
shooting drill makes an insane idea—shooting blanks in the
hallways of a middle and high school—sound almost festive:

The sounds of gunfire will ring through the halls of
two Champion school buildings this afternoon.

Ah, the ringing sound of gunfire! Sort of like caroling
except… chillingly fatalistic and completely at odds with the
fact that school shootings, though horrific, remain exceedingly
rare. Kids are safer than ever before, and schools are just about
the safest environments for them.

Even so, many schools remain fascinated with the idea of holding
practice shooting drills, as if learning to deal with an armed
intruder is some essential rite of passage for kids.

But do these events really need a soundtrack to seem more real?
From WFMJ:

According to a letter sent home to parents of students, police
will be firing blanks from a gun at the high school and middle
school so students can hear what gunshots sound like.

The exercise is part of A.L.I.C.E. training. A.L.I.C.E. stands
for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate.

(Side note: Does anyone, especially in a panic, remember what an
obscure acronym stands for?)

The blanks will be fired in hallways or the office. The letter
says that they will not be fired in spaces containing
students. Elementary school students will also take part in the
drill, but gunshots will not be fired, according to school
superintendent Pamela Hood.

Champion School personnel have already received A.L.I.C.E.
training from Training Consultants Inc., of Hubbard.

An A.L.I.C.E. drill will be conducted twice every school year to
practice methods to deal with a dangerous intruder in a school
building.

Ah, but how to deal with a dangerous idea intruding
into a school building—the idea that students are in constant
danger from madmen, but twice-a-year training with live, loud, fake
ammo will keep them safe?