When it comes to an active shooter situation, our humble servants in the federal .gov know exactly how to handle things. To disseminate their wisdom, the deep thinkers at FEMA have put together a little computer course designed to teach federal employees just what to do in that unhappy event. The tutorial’s primary takeaway: run and hide. Oh, and if that doesn’t work, throw things at the shooter. Because nothing says “back off” like a Swingline Optima right between the eyes. FEMA’s making sure much everyone on the federal payroll is getting the training, titled “Active Shooter: What You Can Do.” Yes, even armed armed Border Patrol agents. And no, they’re not amused . . .
foxnews.com reports that, against all odds, the head of Border Patrol Agent Union Local 2544 seems to actually understand what his members’ duties to the pulic are:
“We are now taught in an ‘Active Shooter’ course that if we encounter a shooter in a public place we are to ‘run away’ and ‘hide’” union leader Brandon Judd wrote on the website of 3,300-member union local. “If we are cornered by such a shooter we are to (only as a last resort) become ‘aggressive’ and ‘throw things’ at him or her. We are then advised to ‘call law enforcement’ and wait for their arrival (presumably, while more innocent victims are slaughtered).”
Never mind the affront to his armed officers’ dignity, he’s worried about what will happen if one of his members actually does encounter a postal situation.
“It is always comforting to know that for those of us who carry a weapon when we are off-duty, if we should encounter such a situation, stop a shooter and save countless lives, we can look forward to being disciplined or fired by the Border Patrol because we should have run away to hide and then maybe thrown objects at the deranged killer instead of taking action and stopping him with a firearm,” the union local’s website says.
So if you’re a federal cubicle drone – or just a civvy with business in a federal building (think post office) – you won’t be armed. Well, you won’t be if you’re obeying the law, that is. Should someone with less regard for federal law than you pull a gun open up, your only hope is that an armed federal employee happens to be there and decides that returning fire and protecting the public is more important than any potential job consequences that may result. Good luck with that.
Isn’t any different than the Air Force’s training on active shooter situations. Resist at last resort, and throw things. The online training (we don’t rate a pamphlet) depecits a Senior Master Sergeant (E-8) grimacing whilst, and at the same time, throwing a motorcycle helmet at his would-be assailant.
LOL, Army training aint that different…I’m told we are to, “take notes” of the active shooter, then throw things…
Granted, what else are you going to do? I work in a mini-cube farm. On the plus side, I could always arm the alarm and baricade my coworkers and I inside the spin-dial locked part of the building.
Should you try to figure out what he is saying, you know, to determine whether it is a terrorist attack or just workplace violence?
When I was a young Devil Dog, I saw some of the Air Force security plans for a joint deployment. The take away for them, run and hide behind the Marines. No joke.
I think I just threw up in my mouth at the current state of affairs coming out of our “government”.
To be fair, “Run and hide behind the Marines” is actually a pretty good plan. 😉
If I have to deal with an active shooter I cannot think of anything better than a Marine Platoon for that situation.
In other news, the French government upgraded its terror alert level from “run” to “hide” today. The move caused some consternation amongst the general public, who are well aware that only two levels remain: “surrender” and “capitulate”. Watch this space for further developments.
That’s “run, hide, surrender and *collaborate*.”
Point taken.
Why would you have to worry about an “active shooter” in a Federal government building? They are GUN FREE ZONES!!! So everyone inside is perfectly safe, right?
It’s nice to see lessons from the Brian Terry incident result in a change in policy. From shooting bean bags to running as fast as you can. Next will be stay in the car until the shooting stops.
How disgraceful.
So what do they need 450 million rounds of ammo for? T0 throw at attackers?
Run the two or three steps to get to cover….
Hide behind the cover while removing your “object throwing device” from its concealed location….
Throw the 17 lead object contained in your available “object throwing device”….
I don’t see a problem….
Ms. Saleed-Brown, this is office equipment. The sticker on the bottom of the grip clearly says “dry chemical paper punch”.
Bureacracy in action. My wife works on the Hill and has received the training. Run hide, and throw things are sound tactics for those who are unarmed. However, I thought law enforcement is there to protect the general public in situations like this. I would think the mission of an armed federal agent in an active shooter situation is to bring the situation to a rapid conclusion by the application of force. However, if I am mistaken then perhaps we have found more budget to cut.
Law enforcement exists to clean up the mess, not to protect.
There’s a cold sense of logic behind such so called “advice”. If the spree shooter kills half the building before police take him down , the bosses can rest easy knowing they won’t be subject to a lawsuit by the dead SOB’s family.The view from the top:better your entire staff gets killed than to lose your cushy top-tier govt. job on account of a multi-million dollar tort suit, brought by the surviving family of the departed murderous asshole. I dearly hope someone says im wrong about this, but my time in the military taught me when upper management today has a crisis between Career vs Taking Care of your People, career comes first at all costs.
… when upper management today has a crisis between Career vs Taking Care of your People, career comes first…
While there are good units (and companies) that are exceptions, there’s a lot of truth in that.
I’m going to interpret such words of federal government wisdom to first take cover behind your gun and then throw hot lead at the attacker. (sarcasm off)
So much of modern American and Western Society’s values or ideas about what is right and wrong behavior and common sense is the opposite to thousands of years and previous generations of accumulated wisdom. IMO, religions and political/social ideologies need to be practical and capable of helping to produce positive results in real life, and not to make things worse.
For every problem, there is an assh0le in Washington with a bad solution.
And for every non-problem, there is an equally enthusiastic asshole in Washington with an even worse solution.
For every government employee there is a paycheck that is way too big.
Sir,
You get your money’s worth out of me. Not all government workers are overpaid.
I would be interested in seeing the cost of the study commissioned by FEMA to generate the course.
Don’t worry, the cost is nominal. All FEMA did was to relabel its “Guide to Action in Case of a Zombie Attack” training materials.
There, don’t you feel better?
In terms of dollars, or deaths?
I wonder is those are the same instructions BO gives his SS protection.
Everyone,, please I have the solution. First get ride of 75% of the federal government and you will have far less targets.
Wow. Just wow.
The “Preparation” portion of the course also advocates ensuring you have at least two evacuation routes that are “conspicuous and well marked.” By telling planners to help make escape easier for the unprepared, they create target rich funnels for active shooters instead.
Note to self: always find my own inconspicuous evacuation routes.
Normally I don’t use this terminology, I’m the Guardian and sole provider of a disabled, mentally handicapped relative but I can’t muster anything else after reading this, it’s just retarded.
The pussification of our agents is complete.
The real victims are the people who will read such drivel and follow it, not knowing any better. Sad…just sad.
Are they at least allowed to throw the Holy hand grenade?
Nope. Grenades are only issued to select DOD personnel under specific conditions.
Next thing you know we will be lining the boarder with killer rabbits!
Truly a pathetic testimony to how our government thinks and acts.
I don’t think any self respecting armed federal agent would follow this, but I can’t imagine as to why this is now doctrine for all. Can they seriously take this seriously? It really does blow my mind…
The Killer Rabbit was really effective. If we had a bunch of those, we could layoff most of the people guarding federal facilities.
“we are to (only as a last resort) become ‘aggressive’ and ‘throw things’ at him or her.”
I think they left off the rest: but don’t actually hit him or her with things and absolutely do not his or her’s feelings or offend in any way.
I once met a DHS desk jockey that was offered raise promotion if he got handgun training and started carrying a duty weapon. No change in job, just get knighted or whatever and holster up every morning. He turned it down because he didn’t want the responsibility of being a hero in an active shooter situation. Guess, he can go back to his boss and ask for that ‘fo-tay’ cal promotion now.
As others have observed, throw things at the shooter should include a half ounce of lead moving around 850 feet per second. That’s my solution, at least when I’m not at my gun-free job.
The pamphlet does say to “Attempt to take the active shooter down as a last resort.”
That’s not bad advice – but it could be presented better. Depending on the situation, an active shooter’s blind spot could be a very good opportunity to stop things if you’re close enough.
I think I’ll stick with “Keep calm and return fire”
+1
In a federal job would that be considered not following directives and maybe cost you your job.
Last I checked, my life is more important than my job. Concealed carry means concealed. As long as I do my part, nobody should ever know until… well… a reason for them to know arises.
I work in an office enviroment with mostly women, and given the fact that everyone (in theory) is unarmed, the thought of being pummeled with several dozen staplers, tape dispensers, letter openers, hole punchers, doesn’t sound very attractive. For a bunch of women, this might be sound advice, along with “head for the nearest exit”. I personally keep a cheap $20.00 Winchester Bowie knife purchased at Walmart, in a supply closet that I can get to. If someone should find it, not much lost, and no one can say it’s mine. If I can’t get to that, I’ve got a 5 tactical knife clipped to the back of my desk drawer. I don’t believe in bringing a knife to a gunfight, but hey….
I’m reminded of T-shirt I bought for a friend comprising of a picture of a baboon with the strap-line “Let the poo-flinging commence!”. Perhaps they could try adding that piece of Dawinism to their advice.
Duck and cover worked perfectly well for nuclear bombs. How did we become so violent that we now need to ‘throw things’ just because there’s a man with a gun over there?
July 4th – Independence, not dependence. Off to put a few rounds downrange. Best Wishes. Ray
… when upper management today has a crisis between Career vs Taking Care of your People, career comes first…
Which is why I wish to G_d Allen West was our President. When the Orcs had one of his people he popped a cap next to a captured BG’s sack and made it clear where the next one would go. He got his troop back and was excoriated by the Douchebag Brigade, whose esteem is a matter of no concern to him. Now there is an AMERICAN!!
It’s Independence Day and this article reminds me why I need to take my .36, .40, and .45 ‘object throwing devices’ out to the range for some quality time.
I don’t see anything wrong with the above instructions. It only requires a proper interpretation.
Run and hide means “find good cover and concealment”. As for throwing things, I would be happy to throw small conical objects made of heavy metal out of a small metal tube.