Photo: Michael Burrell (Getty Images)
You ever been to a baseball game where they are handing out free novelty baseball bats? The mini-baseball bats that a bunch of kids will use to hit their parents with, thus resulting in being grounded? Well, that’s exactly the type of bat that one school district in Pennsylvania has decided to give their teachers.
According to Mashable, while the national gun debate continues (with some people wanting to give guns to teachers), the Millcreek School District recently announced that they will instead be arming 500 teachers with 16-inch bats in the hopes that it will help them fend off school shooters.
That’s right, kids. Look at these bats:
“According to Hall, the 16-inch bats were distributed to each teacher, following an in-service training day on how to respond to school shootings.”
Dafuq are they supposed to do with a 16″ baseball bat? https://t.co/FeJ3SrkrFE— Leqsee (@Leqsee) April 11, 2018
Mashable
Superintendent William Hall told Erie News Now that the bats, which are only 16 inches long, are supposed to be a “last resort” and that they’re an “option and something we want people to be aware of.” The teachers received the bats after a training day about responding to school shootings.
According to Hall, “we’re in a day and age where one might need to use them to protect ourselves and our kids.” Hall told the New York Times that since the bats are mostly “symbolic,” they’ll only be used during a “hard lockdown situation.” The bats will be locked in classrooms for the majority of the school day, to prevent them from getting into the hands of an unruly student.
These bats cost $1,800 in total. And let’s just say Twitter wasn’t having any of it:
Seems like y’all wanna arm teachers with everything except a liveable wage… https://t.co/1FX47bILHa
— AJ (@Spurr_AJ) April 12, 2018
Instead of trying to come up with useful solutions, these ppl out here practicing SNL comedy skits Doomed I tell you Society is fucking doomed
— Paris Williams (@vlpastel) April 11, 2018
I think a tiny baseball helmet full of ice cream might distract a shooter long enough for the police to get there.
— Herschel (@herschel180) April 12, 2018
What the hell are they supposed to do with them, throw them at the shooter? Who is the brainchild that thought of this WTF
— UpsideDownyJunior (@msamson56) April 11, 2018
Hall added this:
It’s more than just ‘silly.’ It’s just plain stupid. As many people have already commented, what the hell are you supposed to do? Throw the bat at someone with an automatic rifle? It just keeps getting more and more absurd.