# Alabama School Security Weapon: Canned Corn **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 15, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935 "2015-01-15T21:54:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/1 "2015-01-15T21:54:32Z")
From the “Visualize Hurled Peas” Department: > [@](#): > > [Principal: Let Students Hurl Canned Food at Intruders](http://abcnews.go.com/Weird/wireStory/principal-seeks-food-cans-defend-school-intruders-28191214) > > An Alabama middle school principal wants to stockpile cans of corn and peas in classrooms for students to hurl at possible intruders as a last resort defense. > > In a letter Friday, W.F. Burns Middle School Principal Priscella Holley asked parents to have each student bring an 8-ounce canned item. > > “We realize at first this may seem odd; however, it is a practice that would catch an intruder off guard,” she wrote in the letter, published by TV station WHNT in Huntsville. > > “The canned food item could stun the intruder or even knock him out until the police arrive,” Holley wrote. “The canned food item will give the students a sense of empowerment to protect themselves and will make them feel secure in case an intruder enters their classroom.”… EDIT: Inspired by this story – take the [Emergency Preparedness Assessment Evaluation for the State of Alabama](http://bondwooley.polldaddy.com/s/emergency-state-of-alabama-safety-test) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/2 "2015-01-15T21:58:49Z")
Why only corn or peas? I’d rather beet the hell out of them. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/3 "2015-01-15T22:33:04Z")
Does the Geneva Convention apply here? That would explain why beans and brussels sprouts weren’t on the list. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/4 "2015-01-15T23:53:36Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Why only corn or peas? I’d rather beet the hell out of them. And carrots! And sticks! ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/5 "2015-01-16T00:08:06Z")
Whilst this confirms some perceptions of Alabama, leaving loose weapons about after hours or otherwise unattended would be a temptation for putative criminals and others to raid the armory and arm themselves with cans. Which may be used in further crimes. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/6 "2015-01-16T00:24:19Z")
“They pull a knife, you pull a gun. They pull a gun, you pull a can of corn. **That’s** the Alabama way.” ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/7 "2015-01-16T04:57:27Z")
> [@](#): > > “We realize at first this may seem odd; however, it is a practice that would catch an intruder off guard,” she wrote in the letter, published by TV station WHNT in Huntsville. Well, she’s not wrong on either count. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/8 "2015-01-16T05:07:19Z")
The principal was not clear. _Creamed_ corn. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/9 "2015-01-16T05:12:47Z")
now - everybody grab your corn - HURL! On my mark - unleash peas! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/10 "2015-01-16T05:27:13Z")
This is part of ALICE training, but to carry around canned corn seems to be a misunderstanding or, at least, taking it too far. One of my friends posted about it on Facebook and here was my response: > [@](#): > > I just went to a PTA meeting where they briefed us on this. The theory is, why let the kids sit and wait to get killed when they can be doing something, anything to distract the shooter. Just to throw him off his game. Especially in a class of older kids when getting a gunman to look away or guard himself against a flying stapler might give a testosterone fueled jock a chance to do something ‘heroic’. Along with this, rather than locking the entire school down when an active shooter situation happens, if the situation is contained to one part of the school, they’re now advising the teachers to get the kids the fuck out of the other classrooms by any means necessary (doors, out the windows whatever) and meet at preset rendezvous points. In schools without very young kids they’re also going to start doing Active Shooter drills (without the flying soup cans). > For The Record, I’m not 100% sure, yet, how I feel about this, I’m just relaying information to you (and I’ll give you a link just as soon as I can find it). It’s becoming the new standard and quickly being adopted in most schools throughout the US. > > Having said that, I think a lot of this ‘training’ will go out the window one someone shows up with a gun. It’s pretty well known that when someone points a gun at you, most people will freeze in their tracks. I’ve had it happen first hand (My store got held up a few years ago). > > [http://www.alicetraining.com/.../respond-active-shooter.../](http://www.alicetraining.com/.../respond-active-shooter.../) > > You’ll notice that the ‘throw shit at the guy’ is meant only for when you literally have no other option but to sit there and be killed. They’re not suggesting that people come in from other rooms and attack, they’re not saying you should hunt him down in the school, they’re not suggesting that you should provoke the shooter if he’s pacing back and forth, it’s really meant as a last ditch effort when he’s firing at you (or about to). She mentioned mentioned that she agreed with the idea but she was just commenting that it seemed silly for everyone to carry abound a can of soup with them…which was in the picture I saw on FB, my next comment was as follows: > [@](#): > > I honestly figured it was just the picture or something taken out of context. At [daughter’s] school the example was ‘a stapler or eraser or bottle of water…whatever you can grab’. Keeping an 8oz can in your backpack (which BTW, is like a thing of tomato paste) all the time is sort of silly. I mean, if a gunman is in your room you’re probably not going to be able to start going through your backpack. Also, while I have no problem with CCW, it seems grade school is a bit early too start getting kids started with that…which is essentially what this is. Regarding the CCW comment, she’s very pro-CCW (she owns guns, I don’t know if she carries them). I don’t carry a gun, never have, but, as I said, my store has been involved in an armed robbery so I like to leave it at ‘I have no problem with CCW’. What bothers me about teaching kids to keep soup cans in their backpack is that you are basically teaching them to bring a weapon to school. I know it may seem silly to think of a soup can as a weapon, but that is essentially what it is. It’s a hard, heavy object that, in this case, exists for no reason whatsoever than to throw at someone that intends to hurt you. If you’re anti-CCW then ISTM you should be against having kids carry projectiles meant to defend themselves in their backpack. Like I said, when they (two cops) spoke to us about it, they just mentioned things like staplers or water bottles, even pencils or books…just things nearby. As he said, sometimes it just takes something like that to break their concentration for a few seconds to make the difference between life and death. Sometimes just breaking their concentration can ‘snap them out of it’. As the ALICE training states, though, this is a last ditch effort, when the option is ‘sit there and wait to be shot’ or do _something_. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/11 "2015-01-16T05:30:29Z")
Did ya hear about the guy who broke his foot by dropping some tomatoes on it? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/12 "2015-01-16T05:45:57Z")
When canned food is outlawed, only outlaws will carry canned food. ---
**Author:** ![Boogly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Boogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boogly)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/13 "2015-01-16T06:07:09Z")
If we all open-carried canned goods we’d all be safer. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/14 "2015-01-16T08:05:12Z")
The best defense against a bad guy with canned food is a good guy with canned food. And likewise for baked lasagne, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/15 "2015-01-16T08:32:07Z")
Archer Daniels Midland is pleased. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/16 "2015-01-16T10:16:23Z")
Maybe they should be carrying cans of tuna. They may be smaller but you can throw them at a higher velocity and you can carry a larger number… ---
**Author:** ![Boogly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Boogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boogly)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/17 "2015-01-16T11:01:23Z")
Wouldn’t that be determined by the caliber of arm that you are armed with? ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/18 "2015-01-16T13:41:34Z")
I bet a loaf of bread would make a good silencer. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/19 "2015-01-16T13:55:14Z")
The practice would “catch an intruder off-guard” unless the intruder had seen this article… ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935/20 "2015-01-16T13:55:47Z")
> [@DrumBum](#): > > I bet a loaf of bread would make a good silencer. breadstick batons for everyone! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-school-security-weapon-canned-corn/709935.md?page=2)