It's absolutely heartbreaking, but active shooter drills are a part of the education system in this country now. After several mass shootings in our schools, going back several years, they've become almost necessary. Rather than deal with the issue of guns and gun control, the powers that be decided it was more prudent to prepare our kids and educators for an active shooter.

We understand the necessity of being prepared, but it makes us sick to think that our kids, some as young as 6 or 7, have to worry about being murdered in their classrooms and have to understand how to protect themselves in the event of an active shooter on campus.

Research has shown that active shooter drills are having a negative effect on our students. Teachers also undergo active shooter training, and in some cases, they're being physically harmed by the activity. Teachers in Indiana were actually shoot with plastic pellets during a recent training activity, prompting state lawmakers to reconsider the incredibly traumatic practice.

During an active shooter training session in January, teachers at at elementary school in Monticello, Indiana were told by local law enforcement to kneel against a classroom wall. They were then sprayed with plastic pellets after being told that this was what would happen if the teachers did nothing during an actual active shooter scenario. The plastic pellets hit several teachers in the back, causing abrasions, bruises, and welts. Not to mention the incredibly traumatic emotional and mental damage that would cause.

Shockingly, this was a training practice the White County sheriff's office has used before. The teachers at Meadowland Elementary who were shot with plastic pellets were supposed to be taking part in ALICE training, which is used across the country in hundreds of schools. Shooting teachers is not typically part of the training protocol.

After receiving complaints about, you know, BEING SHOT, the Indiana State Teachers Association has lobbied state lawmakers to amend the training to include language that prohibits teachers from being shot by any sort of active ammunition. While that legislation works its way through the Statehouse, the sheriff's office has agreed to no longer use live ammunition of any kind in active shooter training. What a world, what a world.

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