Over the years there has been a lot of news around every active shooter incident. It has gotten to the point that we have a special term for this active of terrorism “active shooter”. The reality of the situation, is that terrorism and mass murder has been around for a long long time. With the evolution of the 24 hour news cycle, and the fact that ratings drives revenue, a focus by the news media on horrific events is the new normal.
With the incidents in Breslan, Virgina Tech, Columbine, and Norther Illinois in recent memory there has been a lot of development of protocols within the education sector for dealing with dynamic critical incidents. Several weeks ago “A Girl and Her Gun” initiated a discussion on this topic. With a particular focus on the local situation and how it impacts her family, it is worth the read.
While the frequency of incidents may not be any higher now than historically active shooters are certainly getting more media attention. As a result, it seems that the mainstream government agencies are getting involved. Below is an interesting video that the City of Houston has prepared. There are some things that are noted here that people mostly forget, or don’t realize. See if you can find the two that I am thinking of.
What did you come up with? The two that I was thinking of:
1. They used a gun free zone as the place of the incident. Notice the posting as the man enters the building. Bad guys by definition don’t follow the rules.
2. First Responders are not there to help you. They are there to contain and end the incident. You are on your own for medical care, and evacuation until the shooter is contained. This fact applies to every incident that you can think of, you will be responsible for the well being of yourself and any others that you select until properly relieved. That relief will most likely not come from the first responders so be prepared to deal with it.
It is interesting to see a government agency recognize this issue and produce a message like this.