I recently stumbled across an article written by Townhall Media's, Lawrence Myers. The article, "President Trump: Have Education Department Mandate Active Shooter Protocols" argues that while the United States reported 18 school shootings since January, Israel has managed to prevent school shootings since 1974. While this might sound promising, there are multiple reasons why similar policies would be hard to implement here at home.

1. They aren't perfect

On May 4th, 1974 Israel experienced the Ma'alot Massacre. The event left 25 dead and 68 injured, 22 of the victims killed were children. While the Israeli government implemented laws to prevent further instances of school shootings, another shooting occurred in March of 2008 where a Palestinian gunman gunned down seven students before he was shot and killed. While the lower number of casualties was due in part to these added security measures, seven casualties is a farcy from none at all.

2. Cost

Another preventative measure mentioned by Myer is the presence of armed guards checking everyone entering the school. The closest thing we have to this is the use of metal detectors in certain school districts. While increased use of metal detectors has proven effective, stationary metal detectors cost $3,500 a piece and wands $150 a piece. Most of these are paid for using taxpayer dollars, however, tax revenue varies depending on the size and property values of each district. Districts with higher property values will be able to afford such preventative measures while poorer districts will not.

3. Population size

The nation of Israel is approximately 22,720 square kilometers.The United States, including Alaska, is 446 times larger, covering an area of 9,833,0 square kilometers. Subsequently, the population of Israel is much smaller, 8.547 million to 323.1 million in the U.S. When you factor that in with the ratio of cops to civilians, it is safe to say that policing everyone is an impossible task.

4. Israel relies on Yamam

Israel relies on Yamam, a Swat like police force, to intervene in hostage and active shooter situations. While Swat is also called in to deal with active shooter and counter-terrorism operations, the Yamam are more militarized in that they deal with border patrol as well.

5. Israeli students have the advantage

In his article, Myers quotes Ben Goldstein, A volunteer security officer and supporter of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force). Goldstein asks, "Are the desks movable? Is the teacher's desk movable? Can they barricade themselves within 20 seconds?" Goldstein also calls for students to use any materials they have to fight back if the gunman breaches the barricade. The main reason this would be hard to implement is that Israeli students age 18 and up are likely to have had some form of military training. U.S. students, on the other hand, are not, and as a result, might not be as prepared for active shooter scenarios.