What You Can Do About Active Shooter Events

Another active shooter mass murder at a school. All the same rhetoric about mental health, guns, armed teachers, etc.

And of course…memes.

Memes that take complex issues and turn them into fortune cookie wisdom.

But nothing actionable.

I’m not an atheist. I’m also not very religious (in the organized sense), but this is such a weak argument.

And in my opinion, shows disrespect to the victims. Especially the ones who are religious.

God isn’t allowed in schools? Seriously?

If you believe this, then God must not be omnipresent or omnipotent.

God isn’t allowed in schools? What about the other 17 hours of the day? Is His influence keeping evildoers from committing their acts?

Maybe the truth is that God gave us free will. Even to commit evil.

Maybe…just maybe…because of our free will, we all need to take responsibility and work on ourselves rather than ask the divine to magically fix us.

That’s the inconvenient truth about free will that many don’t want to accept. Freedom requires responsibility, discipline, and work.

Another weak argument.

I’ve seen this posted on social media several times since the Florida school murders.

I definitely agree that thoughts and prayers are not enough.

But all the people I saw that posted this meme didn’t offer any specific solutions or suggestions…

I mean…..are you writing in to your government leaders on the local, state, and national levels with your ideas? Are you contacting your schools with your ideas?

Don’t just cry out. Offer something of value. Something potentially actionable.

Otherwise this meme is the same fucking thing…thoughts and prayers.

If you’re going to pray, don’t wish-list pray. That’s just you talking. Ask for guidance, then shut up, breathe, and listen. Maybe God will speak to you and inspire you with an actionable solution.

Know that any changes that you want to see are going to take a lot of effort and time.

All that said, politics is not my field. And I don’t know all the answers on that level. All I know is what I can do. What I can control. Individually, for myself.

I train.

Until policies do change, I can train to give myself a chance to stay alive.

That’s something I can do right now, today. I’m willing to put in the effort and work.

I know how to defend myself with my hands, and with a knife, and with a gun. Because I train.

The next thing on my personal training schedule… Emergency medical skills.

Even if you are so opposed to violence that you won’t learn self defense or defensive firearms, you can still save lives by getting Trauma Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) training. These kinds of courses are offered all over the place. Look it up. Google is your friend.

This way, even if you’re not in a position to stop an active shooter, you could still save a victim.

So… Are you just going to keep shouting to the heavens for something to magically change? Or are you going to take action to make that change happen?

Work on changing policies and culture in the long term. Get the skills to survive for the short term.

Maybe you can’t save the world in the next couple of years, but at least get yourself and your family (including your kids) to appropriate training so you have a fighting chance to save yourselves.

To learn more about surviving an active shooter event, I highly recommend getting a copy of Aaron Jannetti’s book, How to Survive an Active Killer.

I make no money off promoting his book. I just think it’s really well researched, practical, and I want people to be safer via that educational resource. Also check out Aaron’s active shooter response seminars.