Sabbath
Safety
by
Cope Reynolds
OK,
the time has come to discuss a very serious and grossly misunderstood
subject. Active shooters or maybe more correctly, active assailants.
What if an attacker uses a knife or machete or a chainsaw or a
baseball bat? The general response by the ”attackees" and
the results of the attack will be much the same regardless of how it
is perpetrated. However, for the purposes of today's discussion,
we are going to specifically address an active shooter situation.
To
earn the title, active shooter or active assailant, one typically has
to conduct their evil deeds in a place where there are lots of
people, generally unarmed people like a school, or a mall... or a
church. Yes, sadly, society has degraded to a point where we are not
even safe in our places of worship. Every major religion, and many of
the lesser-knowns, has been attacked right here in America. Catholic,
Protestant and Jew as the saying goes. Baptist, Church of Christ,
Mormon. None are exempt. The only real difference is how the church
and/or the congregation responds. Some have policies against guns,
some have security staff on the payroll and others just pretend it
will never happen to them. After all, if we live righteously, isn't
God supposed to protect us? Cannot the same be said for the locks on
our doors, fire extinguishers, motorcycle helmets and, to some
degree, life insurance?
God
will do what God will do. Bad guys have the ability to make their
choices, good or bad, just like the rest of us. If God were to
protect us each and every time they (or we) made a bad decision, our
reason to be on this earth to begin with would be negated. Our free
agency, and theirs, would no longer have meaning. So what do we do?
Stay home? Pray a little harder? Post guards at the doors? What about
carrying a gun? Yeah, many of us will be armed and take
responsibility for our own safety and that of our loved ones,
regardless of laws and church policies. The old adage is, it is
better to be tried by 12 than carried by six!
As
mentioned above, some Churches have armed security on
staff. Not a bad idea. Maybe not ideal but multiple well-trained,
highly visible individuals could certainly be a deterrent. Some
Churches have adopted the "run, hide, fight" philosophy
that the Department of Homeland Security introduced a few
years ago. Let's talk about that one for a minute...
Speaking
strictly for myself, I think "run, hide, fight" is grossly
flawed. I see this doing nothing but instilling panic and creating a
"fish-in-a-barrel" effect for the shooter. A large
congregation cannot all fit through one or two doors before the
shooter has time to inflict many, many casualties. Add that to the
fact that all the chaos and people running every which direction
would make it very difficult for anyone to address the shooter
whether they physically, bodily attack him or respond with weapons of
some type. Even if you made it out the door, down the hall and
outside, are you sure that there are not more shooters outside
prepared for just such a response?
Hide?
Really? Where in the world are you going to hide from one or more
determined attackers in a building with almost bare rooms save a few
folding chairs and a table? Do the doors even lock in the rooms that
are available? Yes, if you're lucky, you might delay them finding you
until the police or others arrive. You may also just create another
"fish-in-a-barrel" shooting gallery.
Fight?
OK, now we're getting somewhere! Let's talk about that for a bit and
look at some different scenarios. I've been to a few other churches
other than my own as a guest and it seems like one thing is fairly
consistent... and predictable. Most of them have some sort of an
opening exercise in a larger, more open area and then split up into
groups and retire to their respective classrooms. Let's take them in
order. If you were a shooter bent on achieving a respectable body
count, wouldn't that large room be a logical place to start? The
congregation would generally do well to sit away from the outer edges
of the seating arrangement, whether it be wooden pews or folding
chairs. Select personnel, whether they be former or current law
enforcement, veterans or just men or women determined not to allow a
catastrophe to happen while they are present, should sit in strategic
positions where they can best respond if necessary.
If
the worst case scenario were to happen, GET DOWN! Right where you
are, GET DOWN! This puts some visual interruption between you and the
shooter and throws a monkey wrench in his plans. He or she was
counting on you all jumping up and piling up against the door like
they did in the theater in Aurora, Colorado a few years ago. Don't
make it any easier for him than you have to! Will getting on the
floor guarantee that you won't be shot? Not necessarily but it will
most assuredly cut down on the number of casualties that are created.
Men, shield the women and children as much as possible. STAY DOWN
until you have some indication that it is safe to get up. Don't try
to be a hero. If you are not trained and armed, stay out of the way
of those who are and let them address the situation without having to
worry about innocent people gumming up the works. If there is no one
in the congregation that is either armed, trained or both, you must
take it upon yourselves to either subdue the shooter or make life so
miserable for him that he runs away.
What
can you do? How effectively do you think he can shoot through a hail
of hymn books, shoes, briefcases, scriptures, baby bottles and cell
phones? As you throw, advance towards the threat. Keep throwing and
keep advancing. Some of you may get shot but I promise many more will
not. You have made your choice to stand and fight because he made his
choice to attack God's people. I think it wouldn't be unreasonable to
think that God may lend a hand at this point. Maybe the fact that you
are brave enough to fight IS God's response.
OK,
what happens if you're in the hallways or classrooms when the
shooting starts? Get in the nearest room and lock or barricade the
door as best you can. Take stock of your resources. Weapons? Chairs,
music stands, pencils, briefcases, fingernails, water bottles,
staplers, etc. Be prepared to relentlessly introduce the assailant to
all of the above if he manages to breech your doorway. While it
may be inadvisable to bring a stapler to a gunfight, it is many times
better than doing nothing at all. History has proven this over and
over!
SURRENDERING
OR COMPLYING WILL NOT SAVE YOU!! It is most unlikely that he came
there to take hostages. The statistics are abundantly clear. In
100% of situations where one of more individuals with weapons have
tried to kill or control a group of people, people that fight have a
much better chance of surviving than those that cower in the corner
and await their fate. An excellent example is the Warsaw Ghetto
Uprising of 1943. Read up on it.
Church
shootings are not new. They have been happening in America
periodically since the late 1700's. There has been more than 246
shooting events at churches since the year 2000, 94% of which
happened at Christian churches. These have resulted in 307 deaths and
many more injuries. These statistics do not take into account the
literally thousands of documented, non-shooting, violent events.
I
have one last thought to share, and it will be unpopular. If you are
gentle, thin-skinned and brimming with love for your fellow man, God
bless you, but it might be best if you stop here...
I
hate to say it, but profiling works. Law enforcement has used it for
generations with a great deal of success. Somewhat quietly maybe, but
they've done it. I won't go into specifics here, but there is a
growing segment of people in this country who sometimes like to leave
their mark in life by generously spreading their DNA over a rather
large area that usually contains a number of innocent, unsuspecting
people. There's not really a real gentle way to approach this so let
me just ask this question... Have you considered the possibility of
your intruder carrying a bomb? If so, what are your plans? While
it is decidedly unlikely, I think it is becoming more and more likely
as time wears on.
Most
of us that have participated in self-defense training of some type
have been taught to shoot at CoM, or center of mass of a humanoid
target. CoM is the largest and easiest target to hit and contains
many of the most important organs that keep us among the living. The
problem is, that area is also where explosives are typically worn, so
this presents a very serious problem for us. If we instinctively
shoot for CoM and our unwelcome guest happens to be sporting a
particular type of vest, it could be the last shot we ever make.
Likewise, if we hesitate and are too slow to evaluate the situation
and make that perfect cranio-ocular cavity (read 'head') shot, the
results will be the same. In my classes, I am spending quite a bit
more time instilling the importance of head shots. Think about this
and practice accordingly!
With
all of the above in mind, make sure there are 1st aid supplies
(particularly tourniquets, compressed gauze, compression bandages, a
hemostatic agent and gloves, AT A MINIMUM) and the training to use
these items kept on-hand and readily accessible.
We
are entering dark times. Pretending it's never going to happen to you
or yours will not make it go away!
