US school rebuilt with bulletproof barriers and curved corridors

A US school is being rebuilt to make it more difficult for gunmen to kill students in potential mass shootings.

Fruitport High School in Michigan is the first school in America to be rebuilt with concrete barriers in hallways to hide from bullets.

The hallways are curved to prevent a shooter from having a clear line of sight during any potential attack.

Classrooms have also been redesigned so students can hide more easily in case of emergency.

Windows that look from corridors into classrooms will have impact-resistant film on them and doors will be controlled by local school leaders who can lock every door across an entire district at the press of a button.

Bob Szymoniak, Fruitport High School's superintendent, believes these will become part of the structure of all schools in America.

"These are design elements that are naturally part of buildings going into the future," he told The Washington Post.

He says the finished school will be "magnificent."

Recent school shootings influenced the plans for the school, which is costing $48 million to rebuild.

2018 was the worst year ever for school shootings in America.

Gun violence on US campuses left 113 people dead or injured last year.

In February 2018 a former student of the Marjory Douglas High School in Parkland killed 17 people and injured another 17 with a legally purchased semi-automatic rifle.

In May last year, a student killed 10 and injured 14 at Santa Fe High School in Texas with weapons including a pump-action shotgun.

Following a mass-shooting in El Paso, Texas, on 3 August 2019 President Donald Trump said that he supported better background checks for people buying guns in America.

But this week, reportedly following conversations with the National Rifle Association, Mr Trump said that the US already has "very strong" background checks and that tighter control could lead to a "slippery slope" where "everything gets taken away."

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