In the public sector increasing the budget is often the real goal. Effective and inexpensive options are often rejected in favor of more costly ineffective ones.
A cheap solution to any issue provides no reason to demand a budget increase.
I have worked in both private and public sector. I have never been to a public sector meeting where this was true. Low cost solutions are always looked at. However, TCO is an issue that is considered. Of course, other factors weigh in.
As an example, when a department I was in was looking for new cars 4wd was a necessity. Another investigator and I voiced a recommendation for smaller vehicles like the Subaru. The decision was made to go with the Tahoe because it is what the deputies drove and the Sheriff wanted us to present a unified appearance when we showed up somewhere. I throw this in as an example where, yes, cost was not the driving factor. However, the lower cost solution was considered.
These ideas are all still nothing but bandaid solutions to the effects. Until you address, treat and cure the causes, this will become an ongoing (and ever more expensive exercise).
Until this country addresses it HUGE issues with depression and other mental health problems, no amount of arming teachers or bulletproof glass will prevent this. Instead of wandering on campus, a shooter can wait nearby the bus area and kill kids; or take out an entire school bus with 50+; follow certain kids home, etc.
Address the cause, eliminate or minimize the effects.
Agreed, NPR has an interesting label, "deaths of despair."
The despair problem is not going away until it is addressed. However, as a nation we have not even reached a point of agreement that there is a problem; further, we have not agreed on what the problem is.
Some say the problem is economic; but even there we have disagreement. Some say the economic problem is too much inequity and economic stagnation, other voices claim the problem is that there is not enough inequity.
Some identify social isolation. Much of this social separation is the result of lifestyle choices that people feel are not choices at all, such as long commute times and the resulting isolation from community. This leads to a greater reliance on government to present solutions that, in previous times, were addressed by social organizations. Other sources of social isolation are what we are doing right now, using technology to substitute for real interaction. We know this is harmful, particularly to youth. However, as a society we have decided to just not look at that elephant.
These things are just the tip of the iceberg. We avoid addressing the root problems, the causes of despair, out of fear that the solutions will infringe on "liberty" or inconvenience us. It comes down to the reality that even if we, as a society, agreed on the problems and decided to address them, it will be a fast, or inexpensive fix.
Yes, developing a training regimen for armed teachers and allowing those who choose to, to take part is a band-aid solution. Yes, it is easier to
say, "just fix the underlying social issues." However, saying and doing are two different things and are both put off to some point in the future. A training regimen for armed teachers and allowing those who choose to, to take part is a band-aid solution. That being said, it is something we can do now, not at some point in the distant future.
