When it comes to regulations, the usual pattern is for Democrats to think higher costs are worth it for saving lives. For example, if there's a proposed regulation that studies suggest will cost $7 Million per life saved, Democrats will generally come down in favor of it and Republicans against it, since Dems draw the line somewhere around $10M/life and Republicans around $5M/life. Those aren't fixed or consistent values, but they're in the ballpark.
Here's an editorial from a time when Bush's EPA was fighting against a drinking water safety measure which would cost more than the cut-off threshold of $6.1M/life:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...ic-darn/566e8ac9-b39b-4d35-9eae-f8564bd724d3/
So, let's come at the question of securing schools against shooters from the other direction. What if we apply a $10M/life cutoff? Based on the idea we can stop ALL school shootings (an average of 36 deaths per year), how much could we spend per school before it was above that cutoff where even the Dems would ordinarily think it was too expensive to be worthwhile if we were instead discussing a new regulation?
Well, there are 130,930 K-12 schools in the US. At $10 million times 36 lives, that's $360 million per year. Divide by 130,930 schools and you get a figure of $2,750 per school.
So, can you think of a way to prevent all school shootings at a cost of $2,750/school or less? Obviously, that's not going to pay for a guard. It won't even pay to have a single steel security door installed.
Here's an editorial from a time when Bush's EPA was fighting against a drinking water safety measure which would cost more than the cut-off threshold of $6.1M/life:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...ic-darn/566e8ac9-b39b-4d35-9eae-f8564bd724d3/
So, let's come at the question of securing schools against shooters from the other direction. What if we apply a $10M/life cutoff? Based on the idea we can stop ALL school shootings (an average of 36 deaths per year), how much could we spend per school before it was above that cutoff where even the Dems would ordinarily think it was too expensive to be worthwhile if we were instead discussing a new regulation?
Well, there are 130,930 K-12 schools in the US. At $10 million times 36 lives, that's $360 million per year. Divide by 130,930 schools and you get a figure of $2,750 per school.
So, can you think of a way to prevent all school shootings at a cost of $2,750/school or less? Obviously, that's not going to pay for a guard. It won't even pay to have a single steel security door installed.