Are Drones the Answer to School Shootings?

Um…no.

But before we get started, I want to apologize for being away. My brain decided to take an executive dysfunction vacation for most of July. At least this is one of my shorter mental health breaks. Now, on to the story.

A Texas startup calling itself Campus Guardian Angel has spent the past month or so flying its new drone technology around school campuses, claiming it could stop the next mass shooting. From Colorado to Florida, and now at police conferences across Texas, the company has been putting on flashy demonstrations, complete with drones knocking down dummies and spraying pepper powder, all in the name of safety. But let’s be clear, I think this is a dumb idea.

You can run as many simulations as you want. You can 3D scan a school, line the halls with little robot boxes, and brag that your drone can take down a target in 60 seconds. But as Mike Tyson once said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. And when it comes to real-life school shootings, there is no perfect plan. No matter how fast a drone flies or how loud its siren screams, there is still a student or teacher standing in the line of fire before that drone even powers on.

In my opinion, this company is not in the business of saving lives. It’s chasing those sweet state contracts and public safety budgets that should be going toward actual education. Florida is already preparing a pilot program funded by taxpayers, with more than half a million dollars earmarked to deploy drones in three school districts. In Texas, some school parents are reportedly organizing to pay for the drones themselves. That alone shows how broken the system is. Instead of pushing for laws that would actually prevent school shootings, we’re handing over public money to a company whose name might as well be “Thoughts and Prayers, Inc.”

This is just another chapter in the ongoing saga of tech bros trying to cash in on tragedy. Drones were supposed to change everything a decade ago. Now the buzzword is AI. Campus Guardian Angel must’ve missed the memo, even though school-focused AI programs are proving just as overpriced and just as ineffective.

Let’s not lose the plot. A paintball gun, even one loaded with pepper rounds, is not going to outmatch a student with an AR-15. A test dummy doesn’t fire back. You can hit a punching bag at 60 miles per hour all day, but that’s not a live shooter in a crowded hallway. And even if a drone lands a perfect hit, what then? How many people have already been shot by the time it gets there?

All of this completely sidesteps the real issue, keeping guns out of the hands of students in the first place. Every major analysis shows that most school shooters are current or former students who obtain their firearms legally or through unsecured access at home. Until lawmakers are willing to address gun access head-on, these high-tech distractions are just that—expensive toys meant to pacify the public and enrich the few, not to protect the many.

(Sources)