Hasta La Ideas

In a time when our leaders are not devising intelligent solutions to keep students safe from shootings, the students themselves are stepping up. Justin Rivard, a senior at Somerset High School in Wisconsin, can’t prevent an armed maniac from pulling up to a school with bad intentions. But his invention can prevent them from entering a classroom.

Rivard used his skills in shop class to devise a simple, compact object, made from bar stock and steel plate, that can be used to quickly render a door impassable. Look at how it works:

As stated in the video, after seeing the device Rivard’s school district ordered 94 units in total, covering every classroom for the elementary, junior high and high schools.

It’s not a cure-all, of course; a shooter might time a rampage for when he knows students will be in the hallway, and the Parkland shooter deviously pulled the fire alarm in order to provide himself with ample targets. But at least Rivard is trying to do something to mitigate the problem. That’s more than I can say for our so-called leaders. Amidst their lack of worakable solutions, hopefully more smart students will step up and figure out what else needs to be done.