Active Shooter

I can’t go into a movie theater or a restaurant or my office these days without plotting my immediate escape in preparation for an active shooter.  On Wednesday, I sat through my second training on what to do in case there is an active shooter on campus.  For the second time, my entire body went ice cold.  But this time, I got angry, too.The law enforcement officer who presented the training told an audience of about 75 that we must now accept the reality that the possibility of an active shooter showing up is the new reality in our country and that we must either accept it or move to Norway.  That comment ignited  my anger and with it, my resolve to help change that reality.  We must never accept random shootings as our new normal like this law enforcement officer was telling us. I heard the other day that more U.S. students were killed by gun violence these last two years than U.S. soldiers fighting in our two wars. This is shameful and completely unacceptable.

I accept that the officer was trying to get our undivided attention so that we would readily absorb the strategy needed to increase our survival of one of these events.  I accepted the chilling violence of the actual and simulated footage of active shooter events.  He said these were necessary to inoculate us so that if the time came we would not be paralyzed by fear and could act.

So, in the interest of spreading the benefit of that training, this is what I learned.  First, if there is an active shooter, identified by a rapid succession of loud bangs, then you have three choices.  The first is to run or escape, putting distance between yourself and the gunman.  The second option if escape is impossible is to hide.  Conceal is removing yourself from sight as much as possible while cover is getting behind an object that a bullet cannot penetrate.  The third option is to fight for your life, using using any and every means possible to take out the gunman.  A few tidbits of information that are important include, calling 911 if you have the opportunity, yelling gunfire when you are running away to alert others, and keeping your hands up as you exit the building.   He let us know that it would likely take the police 4-5 minutes to arrive on the scene and that once they arrive, they will first seek to take down the gunman before attending to victims.  He advised us to learn how to make and use tourniquets to help save the lives of gunshot victims around us.  This is all valuable information that I hope I will never have to use.

But the following two days, Thursday and Friday, young gunmen showed up at two separate high schools, one in Illinois and the other in Texas.  The one in Illinois was stopped by a school resource officer before he could unload on high school seniors rehearsing for graduation.  The second killed eight students and two teachers and wounded another 13.  This feels like the new normal, but I refuse to accept it.  And I’m not moving to Norway!

As a United States citizen, I have a right to demand that my legislative representatives pass reasonable gun laws.  I stand with the students who are committed to voting out any representatives who are endorsed by the NRA and who are currently doing nothing to change the law.  No other nation in the world is experiencing the kind of gun violence.  I’ll stay vigilant while I’m at work, the mall, the theater, church, the park, and restaurants.  But I’ll also be louder in demanding strict gun laws because it will take our collective voices and dollars to overtake the NRA lobbyist and force change.  Until lawmakers hear from enough U.S. citizens and realize that their political lives depend on taking reasonable action, they will continue to do nothing and the shootings will continue unabated.  The U.S. is my home and I’m convinced that working together with likeminded people, it can become as safe as Norway.