A school system in southern Virginia, near the North Carolina border, announced last week that it has received a $200,000 award to set up “gunshot detection” systems in all of its buildings. This is in addition to $100,000 it got last year for the system. The children of Martinsville, which has about 73,000 citizens, will be protected by equipment that recognizes the sound of a gunshot and the weapon that produced it, and sends automatic notification to 911 and law enforcement cell phones. School officials said, “It’s mass notification, and takes out the human element.”
How many school shootings does it have each year? The old gag of dropping books simultaneously in class could have new consequences.