Fox News on Tuesday night broadcast a number of suggestions for how to prevent mass shootings, hours after a gunman killed at least 19 elementary school children and two adults in Texas. These ideas included creating tax breaks for retired military and law enforcement personnel to patrol school property, installing “man traps,” and purchasing “ballistic blankets” for students.
“Instead of parents buying their kids all these tools and toys and games, invest in the classroom to make it safer,” Maureen O’Connell, a former FBI agent, suggested to Bret Baier. Companies can conduct “threat assessments” for areas of vulnerability, she said, “and they have blankets that you can put up on the wall that are colorful and beautiful—but they’re ballistic blankets.”
Similar comments were made on Hannity, where the namesake host first whined about President Joe Biden choosing to “politicize” the tragedy when he called for action from Republicans lobbied by the gun industry. Sean Hannity then turned to Dan Bongino, and said that “for years” he’s advocated for ways to keep students safe.
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“People—retired military, retired law enforcement—outside the perimeter of every school in the country, they can donate their time, we can offer them tax breaks, no income tax in the state, no income tax federally, 10 hours a week and we can have every school in America covered,” Hannity said. “People around the perimeter, people in the halls, first responders there—we don’t have to worry about police response times.”
“I don’t know any other way to keep kids safe, though,” the Fox host added. “And by the way, it would be a lot less than what we’re giving Ukraine.”
Bongino mostly agreed, and also praised the “terrific” idea of the “man trap” that was put forth earlier in the show by former NYPD detective Pat Brosnan—the same Fox guest who made a bizarre link between vaccinations and shootings after a gunman killed nine in San Jose, California, last year.
The trap is “a series of interlocking doors at the school entrance that are triggered by a tripwire, [which] could be a gunshot, broken glass, a manual switch tossed by a school employee,” Brosnan explained. “And it traps the shooter like a rat.”
“It’s not labor, it’s not gun control. Sorry to say,” he added.
