A father and son team in Mississippi have invented a desk designed to provide secure shelter for children in the event of a school shooting. Todd and Donald Drummond came up with the idea for the Defender Safe Space Desk in the wake of the 2018 shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in which 17 were killed and an equal number wounded. The ballistic material-reinforced desk was demonstrated for use in Kiln, Biloxi area, earlier in February. A tester was seen ducking inside the static desk and closing its door to secure herself inside. "We went into history of what was happening in a school shooting and children for the most part were virtually running around aimlessly in a school looking for a place to hide, scared, panicking, and at the same time they were being shot at or they were being chased by an intruder for whatever reason," said Todd, the father. "They had no options so what we're providing here is a first line of defence," he added. Todd, who served in law enforcement for 20 years, says he drew on this experience when designing the desk. "We tried to use our tactical and law enforcement and our experience to get proactive ... to develop a static defense desk to give them the option to defend themselves," he stated. The team is looking to raise money through its Defend our Children charity (https://www.doccharity.com/) to provide the desks free of charge to schools that can't afford the $1,800 (€1,480) price tag. The device is also designed to provide security in other emergency situations including in the event of tornadoes.
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SHOT LIST:
M/S Woman hides inside Defender Safe Space Desk during demonstration, Kiln, Biloxi area
C/U Bolt securing desk to floor
C/U Side of desk
SOT, Todd Drummond, Inventor, President, Founder and Chairman of the Board at Defend the Children: "Eventually, looking at this through the tactical lens that we were, we went into history of what was happening in a school shooting and children for the most part were virtually running around aimlessly in a school looking for a place to hide, scared, panicking, and at the same time they were being shot at or they were being chased by an intruder for whatever reason. They had no options so what we're providing here is a first line of defense."
C/U Todd Drummond securing desk
C/U Securing desk
SOT, Todd Drummond, Inventor, President, Founder and Chairman of the Board at Defend the Children: "What you have to look is that today, up till today, school children virtually are defenseless in a classroom. They don't have anywhere to go or any shield to give them some first line of defense should a shooter or a threat of emergency event occur in their classroom, ranging from weapons to tornadoes to a malicious fire alarm."
C/U Corner of desk
SOT, Todd Drummond, Inventor, President, Founder and Chairman of the Board at Defend the Children: "What we try to do, Donald and I, we try to use our tactical, law enforcement and our experience to get proactive, to stay ... to develop a static defense desk to give them the option to defend themselves."
M/S Woman hides inside Defender Safe Space Desk during demonstration
M/S Desk
M/S Desk
M/S Desk
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