A Michigan University Gives Professors Hockey Pucks to Combat School Shooters

A Michigan university has a message for school shooters: the puck stops here.

At least that’s what it would appear as Oakland University, a public school near Detroit, is distributing thousands of hockey pucks to faculty members and students on campus as a defense against school shooters.

The idea for using pucks came from a faculty active-shooter training session that saw a participant ask what items people could use to defend themselves against an active shooter.

Oakland University Police Chief Mark Gordon suggest throwing something hard and heavy … like a hockey puck.

Faculty union president Tom Discenna ran with the suggestion and purchased 2,500 hockey pucks for about a buck apiece – 800 for union members and another 1,700 for students.

“It’s just the idea of having something, a reminder that you’re not powerless and you’re not helpless in the classroom,” Discenna said.

Despite the bulk purchase and the distribution, using a puck to defend against an armed assailant is meant to be a last resort.

“If you threw [a hockey puck] at a gunman it would probably cause some injury. It would be a distraction, if nothing else,” Gordon told local station WXYZ.

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Evan Bleier

Evan is a senior editor with InsideHook who earned a master’s degree in journalism from NYU and has called Brooklyn home since 2006. A fan of Boston sports, Nashville hot chicken and Kentucky bourbon, Evan has had his work published in publications including “Maxim,” Bleacher Report and “The Daily Mail.”