San Francisco police to potential spree-killer victims: Fight back!

From a CBS affiliate in San Francisco:

“Law enforcement agencies have begun adopting a new policy on so-called “active shooters,” encouraging civilians to take safety into their own hands and take down gunmen who threaten them at work or school.

This approach is gaining momentum in the wake of tragic incidents in Newtown, Connecticut and the Oikos University shooting in Oakland.”

“’For far too long people have been trained to just hide,’ said Kerry Harris, who runs active shooter training workshops at schools and businesses. ‘What we have found when we get into these active shooter situations is that people don’t always have time to do that,’ said Harris. “And so by telling them to just hide and you are going to be okay, you are setting them up for failure.’”

“This proactive, if not aggressive, approach to personal safety is taking hold nationwide.

At George Mason University in Virginia, first responders are told to take out shooters before SWAT teams arrive as back-up.

While this policy expedites law enforcement’s ability to react, security experts add that it is critical that civilians are trained and prepared to deal with a worst-case scenario.

‘The fact of the matter is there may be times when we need to defend ourselves,’ added Harris.”

About time.

For too long, the police were too protective on their ‘monopoly on violence’. What they had forgotten in their zeal to protect their jobs, is that in a free society, most people must be trusted to do the right thing most of the time, if a free society is to work at all.

It is good to see that the coppers are also beginning to realize that the sheep mentality is tactically unsound. In Columbine, the killers were able to rack up such a large body count because the first responders (an armed security guard, followed by a cop who happened to be driving past) pulled back and left them alone. Why? Because procedure back then was to set up a perimeter and let the ‘experts’ (i.e. SWAT teams and hostage negotiators) deal with it. By the time the first SWAT team set foot in Columbine High, the murderers had already killed themselves.

One of the take-away lessons of 911 was that when the fancy-pants, three letter acronym agencies fell down, it was a spontaneously formed citizens’ militia on United 93 that created the only bright spot that dreadful day (thanks to Mark Steyn for this example).

Up here in Canada, we have only to look at the terrible example of the Montreal Massacre. When Gamil Gharbi separated the men from the women in the lecture hall, and all the male feminists obediently filed past him on the way out the door – to safety, not one of them thought to reach over and grab the barrel of Gharbi’s Mini-14. If somebody had, could he have become the first person killed? Quite possibly. But if some glorious hero had done it anyway - and others had followed his lead, the body count would have likely been much lower. To paraphrase the Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds, it is much harder to kill a pack than a herd.

Let’s roll!

Comments

[WiseGuy]

Saddly, nothing was learned on 9/11.

Instead of restoring 2nd Amendment rights on airplanes (something that would have prevented the mass murder of almost 3000) the oh-so-wise polititians banned all sharp objects. Now we have to wonder, if the time comes again to rise up and defend ourselves, will we have the tools to do it? Not on an airplane.

We are still sheep.

[JoeFrmEdm]

Very good policy.......

[bmatkin]

I have to disagree with Wiseguy. Airplanes are not like other scenarios, they are virtually flying culverts at 30,000 feet. There is amply opportunity to screen would be passengers of harmful stuff, however, I do agree that letting citizens carry normal stuff is the right thing to do. Small knives and scissors being an example. One other thing, nobody has mentioned profiling. It is the best way to help ensure safety but is also the most politically incorrect. I'm for profiling all the way, a body scan of an 75 year old Caucasian is just plain stupid.