I just had the misfortune of turning on the tv only to see Piers Morgan interviewing someone about the use of bulletproof whiteboards in schools. (Of course, seeing him in and of itself was a misfortune – but, that’s what channel was on when I turned on the tv.) WHAAAAAAT??? What an utter absurdity: the notion that somehow all of our nation’s children will be so much safer if ONLY school districts would make an investment in these educational latter-day chalkboards-cum-shields.

As it turns out NPR did a story on them back in May. School safety consultant Kenneth Trump’s take: “The vendors may be opportunistic, but the people on the purchasing end aren’t thinking it through, either.”

It is a very poor risk assessment: the likelihood of a lone shooter coming into any particular school is small, and if he (it is invariably a he) gets that far – past door buzzers and scanners – the likelihood of a teacher being able to deploy the whiteboard as a personal shield in time is small to nonexistent. But, people do make money preying on and exaggerating other people’s fears.

The title of this post says it all.