If the gun did indeed discharge when the suspect "slammed" his backpack onto his desk, that begs the question: WHY did he have a gun at all? And if it wasn't the first time he'd brought a gun with him onto the campus, WHY did nobody tell school authorities??
OK just seems weird to put money into a police force and not spend a few extra bucks on metal detectors. Could this be why the schools always seem to need more money?
Having worked in a facility where metal detectors were used both upon arrival and on exit from the facility, I can tell you that in order for the metal detectors to be cost efficient and useful at all, there are many factors that must be in place. We could not wear clothing with metal studs. We could not wear jewelry. We could not carry cell phones, we could not carry our purses into the building, etc. No belts with metal buckles! If a metal detector is in use, and every student has to be searched because they've got a metal belt buckle or a metal ruler, it just isn't efficient anymore. If a campus has 1200 students and all 1200 have to be searched daily----do you see where I'm headed? There are officers on most of the school campuses in my area. They are off duty officers who are paid by the school board to be on campus and to be available when needed......I don't know how cost efficient paying off duty officers is, but I do know they have come in quite handy when there have been "incidents" at the local schools.
Or even if they didn't have metal detectors but had the school police searching purses and backpacks. But if they did that, probably someone would complain that their rights were being violated.
I would be the one complaining....LOL! The constitution prohibits the law/government from searching indiscriminately. There MUST be probable cause! I really, really, really treasure my constitutional rights and I am very uneasy when we, as citizens of USA, freely give up our rights.....because they will quickly cease to be rights.
Students in my area must have mesh backpacks which allow the contents to be seen---if someone thinks they see something fishy, well, there is your probable cause!
Mesh backpacks aren't a 100% guarantee that a student will never smuggle a weapon onto campus, but it is an honest attempt to control what comes onto campus without infringing upon the rights of students.