Life Changing Training

Editor’s Note: After the Christmas bombing in Nashville, Tennessee this story highlights the importance of being prepared because we never know when or where the next bombing or other attack will take place.

By FASTER Saves Lives Student & Boston Bombing survivor

On April 15th, 2013 my family and I stood less than one block away as two bombs detonated in a cowardly terrorist attack.  Fifty minutes earlier, a family member and I were standing well within the shrapnel range of where the first bomb detonated.  We had unknowingly passed the future first bomb site multiple times trying to find a good spot to spectate.  

My wife and her sister had completed their first Boston Marathon around 50 minutes before the first bomb exploded.  Had we stayed at the finish, we may have been injured, but for sure would have been in the presence of those injured and/or killed.  

We felt, heard, and listened in confusion as the roar echoed between the buildings at a meeting area near the finish line. We were evacuated toward the Boston Commons. Not understanding what just happened, we saw the news of the bombings on a TV screen in a fast food restaurant. As we were exiting the area, first responders started pouring in.

Since 2013, I never found peace with “thank God you weren’t there when they went off” as many expressed to us.  Instead, I battled personally, “had I still been there when the bomb exploded, what would I have done?  I wouldn’t have known what to do.”  I was ashamed of this.  I watched on the news for weeks as those much closer to the attack took immediate action and began helping and saving lives, but most incredibly keeping their cool as if they were placed there by God to be the heroes these victims needed.  Although I like to think I would have helped, I most likely would have been more of a liability than an asset.  

The 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings stuck with me for years, and I vowed if I were ever in a position to help, I would do so God forbid the worst ever happen again.  Having sought various forms of training since then, in summer 2020, I signed up for “FASTER Saves Lives” training through Buckeye Firearms Foundation conducted at Tactical Defense Institute (TDI) in West Union, Ohio.  The training was both mentally and physically grueling, but the incredible instructors at TDI, with instructors present from the Faster program, T&K Armory of South Point, and Cerino Consulting and Training group, we were taught extensive weapons training, how to assess dangerous scenarios, neutralize threats, but most importantly for me, how to apply on-the-spot trauma care and treatment for severely wounded victims.  

The completion and passing of this training was an emotional reward for me to be better prepared if the worst ever occurs again.  I pray you never find yourself in a dangerous situation.  It isn’t like the movies.  You will not react how you think you will.  However, if you wish to learn how you “will” react, and be coached by the best instructors on how you “should” react, TDI will prepare you for the dangers you hope never to encounter.  TDI also gave me the education and confidence needed to assure that if the worst were ever to occur again, I would be able to fight back, I would be there to help, and I’d know exactly what to do until first responders arrive.  

Thank you to Faster Saves Lives, Buckeye Firearms Foundation, T&K Armory of South Point, Cerino Consulting And Training Group, and finally Tactical Defense Institute for forever changing my life.  Please support and back these organizations.  The number of lives they’ve saved, or will save with their training is limitless as long they are able to continue doing what they do.  

Editor’s end note. I am frequently awe struck by the people schools and churches send to our training classes. Their stories and their courage are inspiring. I’ve heard many times that we have “changed their life.” That is the goal, and in the process they have changed ours too. Most importantly, they have changed the lives of those they have saved with the medical skills and tools acquired in our classes. The ripple effect of family and friends of those saves is immeasurable. It is an honor for each of us to work with those volunteering to protect others and to assist the world-class instructors we hire to train our nation’s school and church staff.

School Resource Officer SWD Challenge

by Ron Borsch

Raising awareness! First, it is key for parents, teachers, school administrators, SRO’s and other stake-holders to have a good idea of just how rapid an active killer can accomplish spontaneous mass murder. To have practical plans, training and countermeasures in place, it is also important to be aware of just how deadly any delay is in stopping an active killer attack can be in a school. It is a given that a campus with multiple schoolroom buildings is too much of a task for a one SRO to promptly arrive to stop or mitigate mass murder, ditto as well for only one SRO in a single huge facility. There is a solution.

For years, I have given Buckeye Firearms Association and others, permission to use the research results of my Stopwatch of Death© (SWD) database. More recently with their foundation’s FASTER program, is
all the more reason for our continued support. Periodic plugging the FASTER program in my national/international law enforcement-only free newsletter, prompted me to thinking about further research backing, by creating new objective evidence supporting the essential need for training and arming certain teachers and staff.

Practically, teachers are far more likely to be physical present at an actual school shooting scene than an SRO who clearly cannot possibly be everywhere. These teachers and SRO’s share the very same goal of saving lives. FASTER trains teachers in firearms and first aid for free, and even has
given grants for special training of SRO’s.

STUDENTS BEST PROTECTION
On the tracking history of active killers that have been stopped, there are three general categories that have stopped them: Unarmed students and or faculty; On-site police and; Off-site police. The advantage will always go to brave actors already on site who can and have acted in a matter of
seconds, oftentimes unarmed. Off-site police responses take a matter of minutes merely to arrive outside the building. Even with an SRO on the way, for example from 100 yards, there is the potential of 19 attempted murders in 15 seconds! Clearly, a properly trained and armed teacher, already present at the scene could mitigate the shedding of innocent blood before the SRO could arrive. A student’s best protection in the case of an active killer attack is trained and armed teachers.

ESTABLISHED EXPERTISE
Aside from a career as a police officer, (including SWAT) and a second career as a police trainer, my focus for decades has been on the best countermeasure responses to active killers. Authorities have
interviewed me and published their interview. My own published articles and training background have included similar active killer subjects such as Single Officers Lifesaving Others©. Along with a dozen other chapter authors in Straight Talk On Armed Defense; What the experts want you to know, my chapter was devoted to a few dozen incidents of unarmed students and teachers stopping active killers. Sometimes there was an SRO in the school, other times not.

UNWARRANTED RESERVATIONS
I was recently advised that there may be some reluctance among stake-holders, even among some SRO’s and police agencies to be wary about someone on scene beside police being armed because on arrival, they could be confused with the active killer. That only sounds logical until reality TIME, DISTANCE and MATH are factored in. Part of understanding time, distance and math starts here. Just how fast can a Rapid Mass Murder© occur?

WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD
First, let’s examine an example of a real Rapid Mass Murder© incident. Many of you may remember the 2011 Congresswoman Gabriel Gifford’s Tucson AZ mass murder incident. The police response time there was four minutes. (There are both faster and slower actual police response times). The point here is that before anyone could even summon police, in fifteen (15) seconds, six were murdered and thirteen were wounded. It was stopped by unarmed citizens. Simple math here works out to more than one attempted murder per second! (Rounded down from 1.27). There are also a couple of other similar time and casualty incidents, ruling out that this incident was an exception to the rule. In my SWD database, this now fairly represents a standard potential of what is actually possible.

INFORMED, NOT SURPRISED!
All too often we are surprised by something we thought was so or true until someone using a scientific repeatable method, shows us the reality. To make my case for a School Resource Officer SWD Challenge, I will be using a protocol that establishes scientific repeatability that anyone can
replicate in another school. The necessity for this challenge is to establish an eventual documented response time range of averages for an SRO nearby responding to an active killer attack. Merely possessing that type data is enlightening proof to further support the reasoning and logic for training and arming volunteer teachers. My belief is that every school should have an SRO as back-up to trained and armed teachers that could all better contribute to a potential lifesaving mission.

SUMMARY
It is a virtual given that any Off-Site safety force, (Police, Ambulance, Fire), cannot be expected or relied upon to arrive in seconds. That leaves us with the already On-Site people. Just how fast can an SRO arrive? Of course that depends on the size of the school, just how close the SRO is and his or
her physical fitness. A practical challenge is needed to obtain documented eye-opening data supporting training and arming teachers. I offer the School Resource Officer SWD Challenge.

ONLY 100 YARDS?
One hundred yards is intended to be an easily administered standard, part of a baseline measurement as a goal for SRO’s to meet or beat 15 seconds as a rule of thumb. In a typical two story school, long hallways, around corners, up or down stairs, etc. being only 100 yards away and lucky enough to hear gunfire in a compartmentalized facility that was designed with sound suppression in mind, would seem to be a virtual gift distance advantage. That is until it is understood that for every second to cover that distance, there could be a potential of 1.27 attempted murders (dead and wounded). Since teachers are far more likely to actually be already present, trained and armed teachers could act much faster than an SRO at almost any distance.

A STRICT STANDARD PROTOCOL INSURES VALIDITY
When a prescribed standard protocol is followed, the results of different groups and locations should be valid and directly comparable. This is NOT a mere 100 yard dash. To simulate surprise, the SRO or other participant starts with his or her back to the run direction. One ninety degree corner on the route is required. Timing can be as simple as using a sports stopwatch, or as elaborate as an electronic shot-timer and blank starting gun. Videoing for later viewing is recommended, even inviting the media to give publicity to a worthwhile gathering of SRO’s for a lifesaving preparation training
event in your community.

SHARE – BACK
To Share-Back or contribute data for eventual publishing of results, the actual School Resource Officer SWD Challenge© protocol, and a format sample can be requested from the author at rbi0075@juno.com. When the form is completed, signed and returned, it will become part of the
overall research study. The larger the participation, the more valid the overall average times. Submissions should be no less than five SRO’s and unlimited for the Patrol category.

About the author: Ron Borsch is a Viet Nam veteran (1965-66 101 st ABN Paratrooper), has served on two different International Law Enforcement and Educators Training Association, (ILEETA) expert panels for the last several years. In 2018, he served on the BuckeyeFirearms Foundation FASTER expert panel, (video here). He is a hobby writer, also offering pro bono presentations to local civic groups, churches and schools.

Ohio Judges are Out to Lunch While Kids are Out of School

Article originally published at SlowFacts. Republished with permission.

By Rob Morse

Few of us think very well, and sadly, that weakness applies to judges too. Two Ohio judges recently rendered a decision. They told the three thousand school staff members who were trained as first responders that they can no longer bring their firearms to school unless they pass police officer training. I’m not sure what problem this ruling was trying to solve. We have many thousands of school-years of experience with volunteer armed school staff in Ohio. So why, now, would judges reverse the standing interpretation of the state attorney general?

People excuse their emotional decisions. Part of the law says that an armed security guard must meet the standard of a law enforcement officer. That section of the law is titled- “109.78 Certification of special police, security guards, or persons otherwise privately employed in a police capacity.” (emphasis provided by the author) The state attorney general wrote a formal letter saying that armed volunteer teachers are not acting in a police capacity. The judges didn’t believe him.

What does it mean to act in a police capacity? The police perform routinely scheduled security patrols, but armed school staff don’t do that. Teachers are not required to move toward someone who is breaking Ohio’s laws, but the police have to. Police make arrests and secure suspects, but armed school staff don’t do that, and shouldn’t do that. Armed school volunteers don’t preserve evidence and transport suspects for processing. School volunteers are not required to appear in court during a suspect’s trial. That is what the police do. So why would a judge of obvious intelligence confuse the two situations?

Armed school staff were put in place for one reason. These volunteers said they would stop a mass murderer and treat the injured. We are fortunate that attempted mass murder is rare. Unfortunately, we can’t afford to have an armed police officer standing in every hallway in every school so he can be there when a madman wants to kill our kids. We can’t afford to have an Emergency Medical Technician standing in very school hallway to treat the injured. Teachers volunteered to do that job, but most of the time these armed teachers are busy teaching.

School staff volunteered to do that job without additional pay. They were going to put their body between a murderer and “their kids”, and all they wanted was the training to stop the threat. These volunteer school staff submitted to background checks and interviews. During their training, they demonstrated that they shoot better than the marksmanship standard set for Ohio police officers. The volunteers in our schools learned first-aid/trauma training to stop the bleeding after they stopped a murderous attack. They took this training so they could keep students and staff alive until the police and EMTs arrived. How could a judge confuse these volunteers with the duties of a police officer?

Judges are human, and we are all captive to our experience. The judge usually sees two types of people who have guns; they are criminals and cops. The judge almost never sees a person with a concealed carry license as a defendant in his courtroom. For the judge, it is the cops who are the good guys who carry guns, even though there are a hundred legally armed civilians for every sworn law enforcement officer. For the judge, police and criminals are real, while legally armed civilians with a concealed carry license are an abstraction; they are something the judge has read about, but has never seen.

Societies also formalize and codify behavior over time. We used to do it on our own, but now, people get licenses to cut hair, apply makeup, braid hair, and fix up your yard. We used to carry a firearm without a permit, but now we require a license. We used to run errands to earn some extra money, but now, many cities require a cab or coureur license to do that. With this court ruling, these judges said that volunteer school staff need police certification and hundreds of of hours of training that they’ll never use so they can protect our kids in school. We don’t need teachers to write parking tickets or process an accident scene. Will a judge say that school volunteers need EMT certification in order to provide first aid?

It is human nature to assume that our experience is ordinary. Ordinary citizens protect our family at home and protect ourselves at work. In contrast, our judges are protected by an armed bailiff and by law enforcement officers who work in the jails and the courtroom. Perhaps the judge has forgotten that most of us provide our own protection. We are our first responders, at home, at work, and in public.

Judges also have to get elected. Perhaps these judges will claim they made our children safer by requiring more training for armed school staff. What they will deliberately ignore is putting our children at greater risk by leaving more children undefended. 79 of Ohio’s 88 counties had programs in place that allowed trained school volunteers to go armed. The judges’ ruling leaves those kids unprotected. The judges’ decision doesn’t make sense to me, but maybe the judges are depending on campaign donations from anti-gun groups to get re-elected.

The courts will take years to correct this decision on appeal. The legislature will probably fix it in a few months. The good news is that we are in the middle of a quarantine due to the Wuhan flu. Our school-age children are at home and being protected by their parents. That gives us time before we put our children at risk in our public schools.

We all make mistakes. It is up to us to fix this one. You can find your Ohio legislators here.

FASTER OPOTA+ CHALLENGE

FASTER Saves Lives is excited to announce the launch of our new FASTER Challenge Program!

What are you doing to practice the life saving skills you learned in FASTER?
Do you get to the range/school and not know what you shouldl be practicing?
Do your practice session consist of more talking and discussion then practice?

Then the FASTER Challenge Program is here to help!

Each month we will issue a new challenge that anyone can participate in. The challenge will be something to help you practice the skills needed to keep yourself, your students and your community safe. Plus just for TRYING the challenge you will also receive a custom FASTER Challenge patch to commemorate the challenge.

Simply put you take the challenge and receive a patch awarding you for your effort and support. The patch is a standard embroidered Velcro-backed 2″ x 3″ patch suitable for putting on hats, jackets, book-bags, range bags, and anywhere else Velcro will stick.

So get out, take the challenge, support FASTER and have some fun!

It works like this:

1) Go to www.FASTERSavesLives.org and scroll to the bottom of the page where you will see the heading “Upcoming FASTER Training” and click that link to begin registration for each particular challenge we offer. Or use this month’s direct link: FASTER OPOTA+ Challenge

2) There you will see what the challenge is, this inaugural month is the OPOTA+ challenge. The same qualification from FASTER Level 1. You will see a link that lets you download the course of fire for that specific challenge. This month there is also a video demonstration with addition BONUS PRACTICE TIPS!

3) The ‘Join the Challenge Now’ button is where you actually sign-up for the challenge. The cost monthly will be $20 for the challenge patch and for if you need we can send you the offical targets as well. Join the challenge now because once the month is over if you still want to take the challenge you can but the price goes up on the first of the following month.

4) Go to the range or an appropriate space of land, use top notch gun safety and Take The Challenge! Make sure you learn and have fun while you do it! There is no needed score, just to take the challenge and it’s on the honor system.

5) Please take pics and tag us on our social media accounts and help us spread the word and fund the mission of FASTER Saves Lives! #FASTERChallenge
Facebook: @FASTERSavesLives
Twitter: @FASTERSaves
Instagram: @FASTERSavesLives

6) When your patch arrives in 2-4 weeks wear it proudly and get others to take the challenges with you.

7) Sign up for the next challenge, we plan on offering a different challenge each month!

If you have questions contact the Challenge Program leader:
Tom Hall
Tom@FASTERSavesLives.org
740-550-4159


Thanks for supporting FASTER Saves Lives,
Joe Eaton
Program Director
Joe@FASTERSavesLives.org

Madison Local School District May Appeal Armed Teacher Ruling to Ohio Supreme Court

by Dean Rieck

A recent appeals court decision would force Madison Local School District to require more than 700 hours of training before teachers and other employees could carry firearms in school. According to Journal-News, Madison officials are considering appealing the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court.

In 2018, Madison Local School District in Middletown, Ohio, joined school districts across the state by implementing a comprehensive safety program that included an armed response team inside schools. Team members had gone through Buckeye Firearms Foundation’s FASTER Saves Lives program, consisting of a highly focused 26-hour course dealing exclusively with armed response, crisis management, and emergency medical aid. This is more active killer training than most Ohio officers have when graduating from the police academy.

However, in early 2019, we reported on a lawsuit (Gabbard v. Madison Local School District) involving Bloomberg-funded Everytown for Gun Safety coming to Ohio to prevent the school district from arming staff. Both our Foundation and the FASTER program were mentioned in the suit.

While the Everytown attorneys maintained they were interested only in the safety of children, we believed then, and continue to believe, that the real goal is to shut down the FASTER program and set a legal precedent that would prevent teachers, or anyone else, from carrying firearms in schools unless they are police officers. Given that no school employee could ever be expected to complete that much training, and given the expense of hiring security or police officers, a loss in this case could prevent nearly anyone from being armed in Ohio schools.

Butler County Judge Charles Pater ruled against the Bloomberg lawyers disputing their claim that Ohio law mandates police levels of training:

“To read it in context it would easily be rational to say what this is talking about is a position — and it’s not designated as a security position, it’s not designated as a law enforcement position — but some position which encompasses carrying a firearm,” he said.

“The position of custodian, of secretary, the position of teacher, the position of a school administrator … those positions as positions don’t encompass, don’t require carrying firearms.”

This is the same interpretation of the law put forth by then Attorney General Mike DeWine in 2013:

I do not believe that R.C. 109.78(D) applies to non-security personnel. Put simply, it is unlikely that the General Assembly intended this language to reach every school employee. Had they intended to do so, they would have simply said that no school may employ “any person who goes armed.” Instead, the General Assembly’s use of “special police officer, security guard, or other position” suggests that “other positions” applies to security personnel. Thus, a board of education or governing body of a school may give non-security personnel written authorization to carry a weapon onto the premises. R.C. 2923.122(D)(1)(a).

The Bloomberg-backed attorneys appealed the ruling, and Judge Robert Ringland of the 12th District Court of Appeals said that the district cannot circumvent state law. According to the Journal-News, he wrote:

“The express language of the statute does not suggest an intention to allow teachers or staff to carry a firearm while on duty with less training than that indicated in the statute,” Judge Robert Ringland wrote for the court. “Rather, the plain language of the statute reveals that a board of education may only employ such persons if they have received significant training or have more than 20 years of experience.”

This is where the case now stands. It will be up to the school district to determin its next move to ensure they can protect studends.

“It is difficult to understand how the 12th Appellate District Court of Appeals could arrive at this conclusion,” said Joe Eaton, FASTER Saves Lives Director. “They seem to believe that the Ohio legislature intended for school staff to be trained in ‘vehicle pursuit’, ‘radio procedures’, ‘prostitution’, ‘commercial vehicle offenses’ and other non-related items before they are permitted to exercise the same right to self defense in their school that they do every other hour of the day outside of the school. ORC 2923.122 clearly does not require this for other persons the school board authorizes.”

There is clearly a serious disconnect here. The purpose of the FASTER program, and the point of staff carrying firearms in school, is not to replace police and EMT, but to allow teachers, administrators, and other personnel on-site to stop school violence rapidly and render medical aid immediately. It is a well-established fact that faster response to school killings and other violence results in fewer lives lost.

Dean Rieck is Executive Director of Buckeye Firearms Association, a former competitive shooter, NRA Patron Member, #1 NRA Recruiter for 2013, business owner and partner with Second Call Defense.

Headline: In one Ohio county, teachers now carry guns in 5 school districts

The Columbus Dispatch reported recently that two new school districts in Tuscawaras County approved allowing staff members to carry firearms in 2019. This brings the total number of school districts in the county that allow staff members the ability to respond immediately to protect their students to five.

From the article:

As 2019 draws to a close, the number of school districts in one northeastern Ohio county that have authorized staff members to carry guns on school property has grown to five.

This year, school boards at Garaway Local Schools and Claymont City Schools approved the safety measure. They join Newcomerstown Exempted Village Schools, which started arming staff members in 2013, Indian Valley Local Schools (2017) and Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools (2018). All are in Tuscarawas County.

Newcomerstown Superintendent Jeff Staggs is quoted as saying he continues to believe it’s a good idea.

“When seconds count in responding to a dangerous event, the faster the event is stopped more students and staff stay alive,” he said. “I’m still in favor of a highly trained armed staff along with multiple other layers in the school safety plan.

“We continue to train and tweak our school safety plan to meet the new issues that schools face every year. The sheriff’s office has been a huge help in our training program with our journey to get better at school safety.”

Garaway Superintendent James Millet agreed.

“I still think this is a valuable decision to protect Garaway students and staff,” he said. “At Garaway Schools, the safety of each and every child within this community is our district’s highest priority. We are continually examining safety measures for our school district and looking for ways to improve.

“We believe that armed staff is one way to provide a quick response and opportunity to protect people in an attack.”

Superintendent Millet told the Dispatch the plan has been well-received in Garaway.

For his part, Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell told the newspaper he believes that area educators who have been armed have the training and skills necessary to keep everyone safe.

Teachers there have gone through FASTER training, provided by the Buckeye Firearms Association. FASTER stands for Faculty/Administrator Safety Training & Emergency Response.

Police officers who go to a police academy receive 60 hours of training on firearms, and two days of that is in the classroom, Campbell said. By comparison, area teachers have been given three separate weeks of training.

“I put guys through one of them, and it’s very good,” he said.

“All of them are qualifying at at least the same level as every peace officer (in Ohio), and all of them have kept up so far,” Campbell said.

According to the article, staff members are required to keep their gun on their person at all times. They are not allowed to talk about it, and they’re not allow to show their weapon, even to other teachers.

Sheriff Campbell also said he believes arming staff is a good idea because it’s rare to hear about a teacher running away when there is a shooting.

“I believe teachers love their kids just as much as parents do, or close,” Campbell said. “I think that they will put their lives right in the middle of the line to protect kids, and that’s another reason that I’m not against it, because I really believe that most teachers look at those kids as their kids.”

The sheriff said parents should feel better about their children attending schools with armed staff members.

“My son doesn’t go to a district that carries,” he said. “My daughter works in one. I feel safer for her. I’ve seen her staff members shoot. They’re good.”

More than 2,600 teachers and staff have taken FASTER training in 260 school districts across 18 states and in 79 of 88 Ohio counties. Training includes both armed response and traumatic medical care.

Chad D. Baus served as Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary from 2013-2019. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

Evil walks the Earth

December 14, 2019, marked the seventh anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting – tragically, we still have a lot of work to do to protect our children from evil.

December 14, 2019, marks the seventh anniversary of the murder of 20 school children and six school staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut. In the wake of that horrific crime, I was prompted to write the following editorial about the attack and its implications for the public and law enforcement. My writing was raw and emotional, reflective of the anger and frustration we all felt in the wake of this senseless and depraved attack. 

As I reflect on this piece today, I’m saddened and frustrated to note that we haven’t come very far in the years since. Far too many members of the public and the law enforcement community are still willing participants in the fiction that “the police will save you.” At the time, I hoped we could salvage something useful from this tragedy, by using it to encourage real security reforms, but seven years later we’re still trapped in the same cycle. Mental health reforms are still being ignored, true improvements in security protocols, training and infrastructure have been meager, and law-abiding gun owners are still being attacked and blamed for the criminal acts of madmen – who are frequently already “on the radar” but not receiving the proper attention and intervention from law enforcement and medical professionals.

This has to stop. Shying away from the difficult decisions and hard work is getting us nowhere. Ignoring the lessons of Sandy Hook has only brought us more grief in communities like Roseburg, Oregon; Flagstaff, Arizona; Townville, South Carolina; Parkland, Florida; Santa Fe, Texas; Highlands Ranch, Colorado; and Santa Clarita, California. How many of the students in these communities could have been saved if we had made the bold and courageous decision to pursue real safety reforms instead of simplistic solutions that only provided the illusion of safety?

We still have lots of work to do. Let’s get busy, so that next year’s report card tells a better story.

Friday, the 14th of December 2012 was an emotional day, and even now, more than a month later, my mind and heart still haven’t completely settled down. That morning, I had flipped on the news in my hotel room so I could catch the headlines while I stretched for a run. I was greeted by the news of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

EVIL WALKS THE EARTH

A 20-year-old whack job killed his mother, then went on to kill 26 people at an Elementary School, including 20 children. Twenty first graders, to be specific. A whole classroom of them. Twenty children around the age of six or seven years old. We’ve seen the likes of this before, but this one hit me in a very unexpected way. I felt a deeply emotional response to this shooting that I hadn’t felt in the wake of the others. I have always been outraged at incidents like this, but on this one, I was deeply, personally, saddened and disturbed. It brought me to tears and filled me with sorrow and rage like that I felt in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. I don’t know why this one hurt so much, why it was so personal. Maybe it was seeing the faces of the parents who were pleading to know if their child was OK, and thinking about what it would be like if I was in their place. Maybe it was the thought that this could have been my wife’s classroom. Maybe it was the thought of the terror and confusion that a six-year-old child must feel when everyone around him is being executed. I don’t know, but it hurts. I’m getting teary again as I write this. I had to turn it off. I went for my run, but my mind stayed locked on a kindergarten classroom on the other side of the nation, and the horrors yet to be discovered and experienced there. When I got back, I turned the TV back on to get an update, like a moth drawn too close to the light. Things were still confused at this early stage and the information was unreliable, but there was no doubt that this was an atrocity that would affect many. I felt a peculiar sense of rage when I saw the images of armed police officers in ballistic vests and helmets scurrying around the scene searching for unknown hostiles. Please understand, I wasn’t mad at them. They were doing what they always do: bravely and professionally responding to a fast-breaking, violent situation to secure the scene. Instead, I was enraged with the futility of it all. The shooter – and his victims – were dead before they ever got there. Fierce-looking men with rifles and armor often seem to show up after it’s over. They bark orders and run around in circles because that’s all there is left to do when the killing has already stopped. It’s not their fault. I know they rushed to the scene as fast as they could, arriving within minutes of the call. I know they did everything they could to save and protect lives when they got there. I know they would have given anything to have been there when it all started, so they could have stopped it. But it doesn’t matter. They were too late.

WHEN EVIL COMES TO CALL

What infuriates me is that this “idyllic little community in Connecticut” – as the idiotic news anchor called it – was a guilty participant in the fraud about their children’s safety. They told themselves that the police could protect them, that they could get there fast enough when evil came to call. They told themselves that an electric door lock could keep evil out. They told themselves that the school was safe, that their children were safe because there was a “No Guns” sign posted on the entrance, which would certainly be obeyed by all. And it was all bullshit. And their children died a horrible, terrifying death as a result. These adults couldn’t bring themselves to face the inconvenient and frightening truth that the police, despite all their skills, commitment and good intentions, cannot be there when it matters. They couldn’t bring themselves to face the fact that when Evil shows up, you’re going to be on your own, and if you can’t defend yourself, you’re going to get hurt, or you’re going to die. Those realities were too frightening, too difficult to manage, so they eagerly bought into an elaborate lie that others would take care of it for them, that others would lift the burden of providing security from their shoulders. Oh! The relief they felt when they learned that they didn’t have to worry about defending themselves or their children because the police would do it for them. They would always get there in time. The locks on the doors would keep evil at bay. The “lockdown drill” would make everybody safe and inaccessible. Fantasy. Dangerous fantasy.

THE TRUE FIRST RESPONDERS

The police officers, firefighters and EMTs call themselves first responders, but the awful truth that they all know deep down inside is that they are not. The citizens involved in these events are the true first responders to just about any tragedy. They are the ones who are first on scene, and bear the initial responsibility to defend and protect the innocent, and tend to the wounded while they’re waiting for the professionals to arrive. Instead of feeding the lie that it’s someone else’s responsibility, here’s what these citizens need to hear from us: The real “first responder” is YOU. YOU are the one who will always be first on scene when the danger comes. YOU are the one who must be the first to respond to danger. YOU are the one who will keep you alive for the three or four minutes that it takes for the police to get there. YOU are the one who needs to be suitably trained and armed to save yourself and the ones you love. That’s a damned scary truth, and many people aren’t ready to face it, but it’s the truth, and no amount of hand-wringing or self-deception will make it go away. All across America, ordinary adults don’t want to face that truth, so they buy into the lie. And they feel better. And secure. Right up to the point where some evil bastard breaks into their children’s school and kills them and their classmates in a matter of seconds. The part that really enrages me is that after it’s all over, they’ll double down on the deceit. Instead of owning responsibility for their own security, they’ll go to even greater lengths to contract it out. They’ll clamor for more police, more guards, more pat-downs at airports, more screenings, more X-ray machines, more laws, more gun control, more government overreach, more locks, more lockdown drills, and more of everything that didn’t work the first time, the second time, or the last million times that innocents were killed by evil men before they could be rescued by the “first responders.” They will recoil in horror at the suggestion that the teachers and administrators that they entrust with their children’s safety should be equipped with the tools they need to ensure that safety. They will balk at the idea that these teachers should be allowed to volunteer for training that would enable them to carry firearms to protect the children in their classrooms from evil. They will reject the idea that responsible parent volunteers should be allowed to do the same, that they could somehow make a difference during those precious minutes while everybody is cowering under their desks, waiting for the police to respond. How many six-year-old children can a madman kill in four minutes while innocents are waiting for the police to come and save them? Put yourself into the shoes of those innocents for a moment. Better yet, imagine that it’s your kid hiding under that desk, your wife waiting to confront the shooter when he comes through the door – wouldn’t you like to give a responsible adult on that campus the ability to stop the attack in the first minute? How many lives could be saved if the killer didn’t have those extra three minutes to rampage?

COAST TO COAST

I mentioned that I was in a hotel when Newtown happened. The hotel was across the street from the Clackamas Town Center shopping mall near Portland (Ore.), where another example of evil incarnate killed two and wounded one in a public shooting just three days prior to the Sandy Hook incident. For whatever reason, I was drawn to it, so I took a walk over there. The emergency vehicles were gone. The TV cameras were gone. The crime scene tape had been removed. On the surface, everything appeared to be back to normal. I walked through the door of the Macy’s department store – the same one used by the killer – and traced the path he took. At the door to the store, I saw a young woman in her early 20s chatting with an elderly man. The young woman wore the uniform of a contract security guard, complete with shoulder patches. She had no weapon of any sort, but had a charming smile as she explained to the elderly patron that “yes, this is where he came into the store.” I briskly walked past them, through the store and towards the exit into the mall, which led directly into the food court area where the murders occurred earlier in the week. The mall exit was staffed by another petite, young and unarmed woman in a security uniform. She looked uncomfortable and vulnerable in it. Her body language was not confident. She would have looked more at home in a “Hot Dog on a Stix” uniform. In the food court, it was business as usual. The blood had been mopped up, and all the tables and chairs righted. I walked into the center, imagining the deafening echoes of a .223 caliber rifle round going off in this space, bouncing off the tile floors, walls and ceiling. I looked around, hoping to see some sign that increased security measures were in effect, but I didn’t see anything of the sort. Another security guard, also a small woman, strolled by in the center of the mall in a more officious looking uniform, complete with Smokey Bear hat and shiny badge. But that was all. No weapon. I saw a kiosk in the center of the food court and approached it. I don’t know if it was a new introduction, or if it had been there on Tuesday, but it was a display with the logo of the Clackamas Sheriff’s Department. It offered various messages and videos about what you could do to stop bullying in schools and secure your valuables from theft. Strangely, there was nothing on it that instructed you on the steps you should take if an armed killer walked into the food court and started shooting. So, is this what passes for a response to an active shooter rampage in America today? Just three days prior, two people lay dead and one lay wounded in this very spot because some whack job went over the edge with a stolen weapon in his hand. Just three days before I stood in that spot! And how did we respond? The mall’s General Manager Dennis Curtis said that “extra unspecified security procedures [would] be in place” according to an NBC (KGW.com) report, but all I saw was a talisman with a Sheriff’s logo on it, and a trio of young women masquerading as defenders. I don’t mean that as a personal attack on these women. I’m sure they were all good people and were dedicated to doing a good job, but none of them were armed with a weapon. This is not an issue of sex – without a weapon and the training to use it, even the largest and strongest of men would be equally ineffective against another crazed killer armed with a rifle.

UNARMED “SECURITY” GUARDS

The best that any of these unarmed people could do would be to serve as a speed bump for the killer to roll over on his way to the target. Although they wore distinctive uniforms that mimicked the look of armed defenders like the military or police, they were neither. Their uniformed appearance might soothe the sheep, but an unarmed citizen with a cell phone would be no less effective, and could summon help as quickly as one of these unarmed security guards with a radio… monitored on the other end by more unarmed personnel. I was reminded of Colonel Grossman’s observation that “an unarmed security guard is not ‘security.’ It is murder.” As for the Sheriff’s display, it didn’t even look like it was sturdy enough to provide cover, and it was too small to be effective concealment. So, this is it? Window dressing in the wake of a multiple homicide? A doubling down on the fantasy that if we look safer, if we feel safer, that we actually are safer? Sadly, there’s an even greater outrage at work here. In the wake of the Clackamas shooting, word leaked out that a citizen with a legally concealed firearm drew a bead on the shooter and caused him to flee from the scene before he could kill more. The heroic and responsible actions of this citizen short-circuited the attack and kept the death toll at two, instead of dozens, but this information has been actively suppressed by the media and those ideologues whose anti-liberty, anti-self-defense agenda could be derailed by a positive example of the value of a responsible, armed citizen.

GRIEF GIVES WAY TO ANGER

I grieve for the families in Clackamas and Newton. I cannot imagine their sorrow, grief, confusion and hopelessness. I pray that God will provide them strength and will ease their pain and will take care of them in the same way that I know he is caring for their fallen children. I also pray for the officers and emergency responders who raced to the scene and encountered the stuff of nightmares. I pray that God will provide them strength and peace as well because we need them in the fight against Evil more desperately now than at any time in our history. But I fume with anger at the opportunist politicians – and clueless citizens – who would argue that the only way to prevent these tragedies from occurring is to add more locks to the doors, ban guns, disarm law-abiding citizens and fuel the delusional fantasy that the responsibility for your personal security can be farmed out to other people, that they will be there when you need them, and that they will be able to defend you against an armed attacker with their portable radio to nowhere. It’s dangerous nonsense. I pray that another parent will never have to wonder if their child is laying in a pool of blood in the middle of their classroom, but I can guarantee that it will happen again if we buy into the lie once more, if as a nation we embrace the deceit because it’s more comfortable to do so than to face the truth and make the hard decisions. This article, originally published 02/07/2013, has been updated.

About the author

Mike Wood is the son of a 30-year California Highway Patrolman and the author of “Newhall Shooting: A Tactical Analysis,” the highly-acclaimed study of the 1970 California Highway Patrol gunfight in Newhall, California. Mike is an Honor Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, a graduate of the US Army Airborne School, and a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with over 26 years of service. He’s a National Rifle Association (NRA) Law Enforcement Division-certified firearms instructor, serves as a member of the PoliceOne Editorial Advisory Board, and has written the “Tactical Analysis” column at PoliceOne.com since 2014. Mike is the senior editor at RevolverGuy.com, and has been a featured guest on the Excellence In Training Academy and American Warrior Society podcasts, as well as several radio and television programs. He’s grateful for the opportunity to serve and learn from the men and women of law enforcement.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared at PoliceOne.com. Republished with permission of the author.

Another Ohio school board approves armed staff

WTRF (CBS Wheeling/Steubenville) is reporting that another Ohio board of education has voted to allow school staffers the ability to carry concealed firearms to protect their students.

From the article:

The resolution passed unanimously in a 5-0 vote on Tuesday evening. According to Board of Education President Dr. Ted Starkey, concealed weapons has been a major topic within the school district for the last six years. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to be discussing alternatives like this. We wouldn’t have to be discussing ways of putting down a murderer in our schools but recent history has shown us that’s what’s happening in our world and there is no sign that it’s going to stop. DR. TED STARKEY, PRESIDENT OF INDIAN CREEK SCHOOLS BOE

According to the article, staff that choose to carry a concealed weapon on school premises must complete training monthly and re-certify on a yearly basis.

Dr. Starkey told WTRF improved response time is the reasoning behind Ohio allowing schools to arm teachers.

Materials from Buckeye Firearms Foundation’s FASTER Saves Lives program were distributed at the meeting.

Chad D. Baus served as Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary from 2013-2019. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

Another board of education in Ohio votes to allow concealed carry for teachers

New Philadelphia, OH’s Times Reporter reported this week that the Garaway Board of Education has passed a resolution to allow for armed staff at Garaway Schools.

From the article:

Garaway joins Newcomerstown, Indian Valley and Tusky Valley as Tuscarawas County schools that authorize armed staff members.

“Additionally, we included a strict authorization policy and training measures that must be completed before approval,” said Superintendent Dr. James Millet in a statement. “This measure, in conjunction with our local law enforcement, offers an additional protection for our students and staff. According to a study completed by the National School Safety Council, adding armed staff to schools can help prevent a shooting inside as well as improve response time in the event of an emergency.

“It is important to note, we are continually adding a variety of safety measures for our school district. The safety of our staff and students is a priority and we will always continue to add new safety features and seek ways to get better. This summer we have added physical protection, video surveillance and preventative mental health components.”

According to the article, the resolution calls for the administration and local law enforcement to develop guidelines for the possession and/or carrying of weapons on property owned and operated by the board and in other designated school safety zones, and use during serious threats to safety of students, employees, or administrators and emergency events.

Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell advised that district employees that are chosen to be armed will have weeks of training and must qualify once a year.

In late 2012, in the wake of the horrific mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut, Buckeye Firearms Foundation announced a plan to train and arm willing school staff.

Since then, the Foundation-sponsored program FASTER Saves Lives has trained almost 3000 school staff from over 260 districts across 18 different states. About 90% of these are from Ohio, where we have trained staff from at least 79 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Over 30 districts in Ohio have publicly announced their involvement in the program, while others have chosen to keep the information as part of their confidential school emergency management plan.

Chad D. Baus served as Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary from 2013-2019. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

Another Ohio board of education votes to allow concealed carry for teachers

WTAP (NBC Parkersburg, WV) reported recently that the Warren Local Schools board of education has voted to approve the concealed arming of staff members.

From the article:

“This was a long time study of looking into different programs,” superintendent Kyle Newton said.

Newton says the district didn’t just rush into this decision to allow concealed carrying of firearms for selected faculty members, but rather began researching and looking at this option after Parkland.

“Last spring when Parkland happened and some of the other instances that have taken place,” he added, “it was like we have to seriously consider this as an option as one piece of our overall safety plan.”

The article notes that participation is voluntary and confidential. The person must have a concealed handgun license, must be approved by the district’s safety committee, take a drug test and go through multiple training programs.

Superintendent Newtown noted that the decision is based on the fact a “quick” response time from law enforcement in rural areas could be 10 to 15 minutes.

Chad D. Baus served as Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary from 2013-2019. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

Additional Information:

Warren district residents show support for arming teachers