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Since 1999 and the Columbine massacre, nearly 400,000 American students have experienced gun violence at school. In the years since, schools have spent billions on metal detectors, surveillance cameras, and armed resource officers. None of it has stopped the shootings.A Texas startup thinks drones might.Campus Guardian Angel, formerly known as Mithril Defense and based in Austin, was founded by Justin Marston and Bill King, a retired Navy SEAL who piloted hundreds of predator drone strikes during the War on Terror. The idea came to Marston after Uvalde, where 19 students and two teachers were killed in 2022 while law enforcement waited over an hour outside the classroom. "The first 120 seconds are incredibly critical," Marston said. "That's when most of the shooting happens."The drones are stored in wall-mounted charging boxes throughout school hallways. When a teacher hits a panic button or activates a mobile app, a drone launches within five seconds. Remote pilots at a tactical operations center in Texas take over via live video feed, guiding the aircraft through the halls. The company says the drone can reach a shooter within 15 seconds.Once there, it has options. Blinding strobe lights. Ear-splitting sirens. Pepper gel sprayed directly at the threat. And if all else fails, the drone itself becomes a projectile, capable of ramming an attacker at up to 60 miles per hour.Nine schools across Florida, Georgia, and Colorado are now preparing to deploy the system for the coming school year. Florida allocated $557,000 across three schools. Georgia approved $550,000 for five. A Colorado charter school is self-funding its own program.Not everyone is on board. "They are operated remotely from Texas," one Colorado parent told ABC7. "These are our tender babies, and they are now going to have to be in a place where there are drones flying around."What do you think?