If I had an AR-15 and came upon a "locked door", couldn't I simply fire a few rounds into

[Leghorn21]

the door lock mechanism and walk right in??

Seriously

[shrike3]

1. There are AR "experts" floating around here; maybe one of them'll respond.

Wish I could help you out. It's a decent question.

[Kaleva]

3. A 12 gauge AR shotgun certainly would

[Alexander Of Assyria]

25. No need...can buy what u need from same Merchant of Death Gun Store. Maybe a grenade?

[shrike3]

26. I joked once that maybe we need tanks.

Never joked that way again, because some actually looked interested.

I live ruby-red Indiana, so I have to be careful not to give anybody any ideas.

[Kaleva]

2. I would think so and doesn't the office have keys?

[unitedwethrive]

4. I think the point is that it doesn't make a difference how many locks you put on the doors

leading into a school...as long as there are high powered weapons, they can be breached.

[Kaleva]

7. Doors can slow down a determined intruder

I've spent a few hundred reinforcing my doors but I know that will only slow down someone hell bent on mayhem. Even my master bedroom door is reinforced. If they attempt to breach that, then I'll use my gun.

[BlackSkimmer]

18. At the press conference, the colonel said they got a key from the janitor.

If true, unbelievable.

Surely police should have dupe keys to schools.

My parents lived in an expensive condo, which was only accessed by key. The fire department had a dupe. I don't know if the cops did, but I'd assume so.

[sarisataka]

27. Assuredly they don't.

There is not one master school key that police could carry that would work in all school buildings.

The fire department can get into apartments because in the lobby you will find a small locked box. The fire department has a key for that Box, this, the same key will open the Box of every apartment building in the city. Inside the Box is the master key for that particular building. Schools do not have a similar arrangement because it is assumed the students will self evacuate in case of a fire

[pinkstarburst]

31. I would not assume the police have a key

Maybe they do, maybe they don't.

But what is absolutely unbelievable to me is that the only person who had a master key was the janitor. I was a teacher for decades on multiple campuses. I have never taught anywhere that the principal and assistant principal did not have master keys for every single room on campus that they carried on their person or could readily access. This idea that only the janitor has the master key... I just don't even believe this...

[Timewas]

5. Of course

Almost any gun except for maybe .17 or .22 would do that, a 30-06 or 270 or 308 doesn't have to be an AR...A 9mm or 40cal 357,44mag 38,45 any of those would do the job. Also attract a lot of attention.

[Blues Heron]

6. not if it is hardened with depleted uranium armor..

[Emile]

8. Yes, the cops should have shot the lock off the door!

[BlackSkimmer]

19. What if an innocent was on the other side?

Besides the fact, I'm not so sure that works in real life.

[Emile]

34. I'm not about to start making excuses for these do nothing cops! They

had the means to break in!

[DURHAM D]

9. That only works in the movies. nt

[ProfessorGAC]

36. Pretty Much

The only way I see that working is by firing many rounds around the whole mechanism so the whole thing can be pulled out.
Of course, that might give the people inside some time to get out the windows.
But, I don't think it would be bang, I'm in.

[grumpyduck]

10. Depending on the fire rating of the door,

i.e., how thick and solid it is, a couple of dead-on rounds would probably do it. The problem is, what would the rounds or the splinters do to those inside the room if they get caught in them. If the door has a vision panel in it, you could get an idea of who is where, but you might also get shot.

I'm guessing the cops would probably prefer one of those battering ram thingies, but that's a guess.

[BruceWane]

11. Not really.

That's a movie thing. Not reality.

The lock bolt will remain extended into the door jamb. You have to retract the bolt out of the door jamb before the door will open.

You'd basically have to blow about a 6" diameter hole all the way through the door lock/door jamb area for this approach to actually work. Just shooting the keyhole will basically make the door permanently locked because you've destroyed the mechanism that retracts the bolt.

Consider as well that you're basically firing a gun at a door that has a classroom full of kids on the other side. Gee, what could go wrong?

[Kaleva]

14. Breaching rounds for shotguns are available

[CelticCrow]

35. Exactly

Breaching rounds are designed to destroy locks or hinges on impact and then vaporize minimizing any danger from fragmentation/ricochet and fire from a standard shotgun. The breacher is vulnerable during the action if the bad guy decides to start shooting through the door until the door is down and the stack moves in to clear the room.

[myccrider]

40. Are there dead bolts on classroom doors or does the lock just prevent the knob from turning?

It’s been a loooong time since I worked in the schools but there were never deadbolts for inner doors.

[agingdem]

12. so it's the unlocked door, the cops afraid to enter the building, video games, the killer's

state of mind...all that are to blame for the deaths of 19 children and 2 teachers...not the guns, not the no background checks, not the open carry, not the no questions asked accessibility to assault rifles, not Abbott's 2017 election promise to blanket Texas in guns...a deranged 18 year old walked into a gun shop and walked out with a military grade assault weapon because Abbott said he could...

[herding cats]

13. There's reports of him shooting the classroom door next to an adjacent classroom.

He then used the connecting door between classrooms to enter the adjacent 4th grade class.

So, it appears he might have done just that. I guess locked doors are no match for an assault rifle? I always thought you needed a shotgun for this, but apparently I was wrong.

This is per one child who called 911 and another who survived under a table with a tablecloth on it hiding him and 4 other children from the gunman.

[usonian]

15. Then fire fighters just shrug their shoulders and go home? I don't think they have assault rifles.

Maybe they called a locksmith.

Waiting.

[BlackSkimmer]

23. You keep showing this pic, obviously taken days after the shooting.

While I agree the cops on scene failed miserably, we know nothing about these guys here.

Plenty of pics of the useless cops on scene. Why not use those?

[usonian]

28. There's an irony to it. The juxtaposition of the "protectors" and those that they failed.

Protecting what?

As we used to say in the 60's "lawn order".

It actually comes from a RW site.

[BlackSkimmer]

29. "It comes from a RW site." Yikes.

But these guys were not the "protectors." Plenty of pics of those on site during the tragedy standing around doing nothing. why not use those pics. Wondering why you chose this one?

Just wondered why you've used this pic several times in at least two different threads.

[usonian]

30. Like I said, the crosses represent failure, and what's to guard? Nothing can bother these kids now.

Maybe that doesn't pop into your mind, like it does to mine.

Nor to those site admins. We all see things differently.

That's actually a GOOD THING!

You can open the image (control-click, or right-click) and get their main URL.

I am not going to give them publicity.

I just did an image search, as I usually do. The others didn't have the irony.

And that's that!

[gldstwmn]

16. I wonder if we'll ever get to see the door.

[sarisataka]

17. As the answer ofter is, it depends

A typical household knob lock, likely will get through.
A dead bolt would be tougher but probably could with a few shots and a minute to manually pull the bolt out.
Fire doors with commercial grades locks, nope.

[33taw]

20. How about taking a fire truck through the outside wall or windows?

[BlackSkimmer]

24. Maybe children getting run over?

Could be a problem.

[33taw]

32. I didn't say drive into the room. Break and opening into the room.

Firefighters are trained in entering locked buildings and rooms. They were likely onsite and often have master keys to building and rooms in "knock-boxes". Go through and adjoining room.

[lastlib]

21. If it's a steel door, I'd be leery of a ricochet....

..but I'm no expert, so the question is above my pay grade.

[Arazi]

22. Yes or simply go in through a window

That goes for either the shooter or the police

[Gaugamela]

33. All school doors must allow someone inside to exit regardless if they're locked from

the inside. It’s fire code. The doors have what’s known as a panic bar on the inside that you press to release the catch. A shooter just needs to break the window on the door, reach through and pull the panic bar to let himself in.

[ProfessorGAC]

37. At Most Of The Schools Where I Sub...

...at least 3 in every 4 doors is glass. So a determined psychopath isn't being stopped. There's no doubt what you say is true.
But, firing rounds just to get in might give the alert to teachers inside to start barricading doors, setting up barriers & impediments to dissuade a killer from entering that room.
I've even surveyed rooms looking for something to tie the doorhandle to the computer cart, to make it hard to open the door. (Those same fire codes require classroom doors to open outward.)
Since I sub in a lot of science classes, I've actually moved fire extinguishers closer to the door. In a desperate situation blasting an intruder with CO2 might(!) help a little.
But, if a bad guy really wants to get in, they will.
The school's outer doors still should have been locked, though.

[Gaugamela]

38. Yes, as I recall the front doors at Sandy Hook were locked, and the shooter just shot his

way through. I’m recently retired from the local school district and I remember having numerous conversations about how to secure a building in the event of an active shooter. We went round and round and eventually I realized that all you can do is slow them down a bit, but nothing is going to stop them if they’re determined to get in. In most instances you wouldn’t know they are there until they’re already inside. Obviously, the district does everything it can to deter such a situation, but ultimately the answer doesn’t lie in fortifying schools. It’s a cultural problem, and I don’t see it getting better any time soon. Significant gun control would be a start, but not the whole solution. It’s a mental illness problem, but not just the mental illness of a few isolated nut cases. They are the violent manifestation of the endemic mental illness of about half the population.

[Calista241]

39. Depends.

Shooting at solid objects from close range can be dangerous for the shooter. Destroying the locking mechanism so completely that it allows easy access for an intruder is unlikely. Shooting locks and doors without the proper shotgun and ammunition is more of a movie thing.

Most every exterior door I've seen to a school is a metal fire door. Those doors will be harder to get through for a person trying to shoot their way in.

I guess my verdict is that the door would not have conveniently opened for the shooter, at least not without some serious commitment in shots and then trying to kick / bash the door in. The shooter probably would not have been able to make entry into the school without being further engaged as more and more police arrived at the scene.