Ready for the latest in must-have safety equipment? DSM (Don’t Shoot Me) Safety Products has introduced a tactical pageant sash system designed to be carried and worn by off-duty cops in active shooter situations. The goal is admirable. Eliminate “blue on blue” shootings in high-stress, chaotic situations when IDing the guy in front of you holding the gun is a split-second, life or death decision for a responding uniformed officer. It certainly can’t hurt and, to appropriate one of the gun controllers’ favorite rationales, if it saves even one life…
But DSM’s making three versions. One for police, one for security and – wait for it – one for CCW holders. They’re “controlling” distribution by selling them only to verified law enforcement and certified security firm addresses. Which is nice, but I’m pretty sure my wife, the shade tree seamstress, could knock one of these out in an hour or so. So if these things become widely used, it won’t take a Lex Luthor to figure out a faux DSM Safety Banner might keep him alive (and give him the chance to take out a cop or two) a little longer while carrying out the mayhem he’s planning.
Which brings us to the CCW version. Like the cop and rent-a-cop versions, DSM says “purchase requires certification of CCW status, and state of issuance.” OK then. But even assuming the responding officer sees and recognizes one of these in a hard core shoot ’em up scenario, will reading either CCW or – even better – ARMED on a Miss America sash keep him from ventilating first and asking questions later?
Again, a law abiding armed individual wearing one of these isn’t going to make a situation any worse. If you think there’s a chance it could keep you from getting shot, by all means clip one on your belt. I just don’t think I’d bet my life on a copper even noticing you’re wearing a banner when he rounds a corner and sees a man with a gun standing over potential victims.
[h/t Eric Nelson]
reminds me of a bus safety patrol sash i wore in elementary school. the reasoning behind this is somewhat sounds, but a knockoff could indeed be made VERY easily.
My problem with these and the CCW badges (insert mangled quote from “The Treasure of Sierra Madre”) is that they assume that the circumstances surrounding a defensive gun use will be chaotic, with multiple shooters and many victims. In essence, an active shooter situation.
Not that those never occur, (there was such a shooting at a mall 15 minutes away from me last year), but a quick glance through any crime-report aggregation site shows that you’re MUCH more likely to be assaulted or burglarized than be involved with an active shooter. If you use your gun and you’re not able to make the 911 call to tell the cops you’re the good guy, chances are you’ll need QuikClot and chest compression more than a CCW sash…
I’d like to get a badge that is very well made with “Fake Badge” written on it, so The Man can’t say I was impersonating him
Go to most any gun show
Even if this works you need to have it with you. Never leaving home without this thing is doubtful. It’s too remote that you’ll need it, so after carrying it a few times you’re likely to throw it in a drawer and forget it. In the unlikely event you do need it someday you probably won’t have it with you.
What you will have with you at all times is your brain and your training. So I’d say develop those and rely on them.
Just as remote as needing your CC. I wouldnt leave my conceal carry at home and I wouldnt leave the sash either. as far as it looking like a “safety patrol” sash, I would dress like the Easter bunny to keep from getting capped by a good guy.
Tee Jaw is right. After the novelty wears off, the butt pain off having to constantly have this is going to tire the user. Eventually, it is going to be left in the glovebox.
Add to that the risk of using it. The shooter is going to target the wearer and the responding LEO may not recognize it unless they are trained on it. It is going to take weeks/months/years of seeing the sash on don’t shoot targets before it becomes instinctual. In the moment, the only thing the officers are not going to shoot is fellow LEO wearing uniforms from local or adjacent elements.
I call shenanigans on this one. No, it couldn’t hurt, but ExurbanKevin is right, this should be lumped in with CCW badges, something that may not exacerbate the situation, but how much will it really help.
(and lets be honest, if you have time to break this thing out and put it on, you have time to call 911.)
The money spent on this would be MUCH better used to help pay for some self-defence legal insurance.
I think I’m just going to print up t-shirts but instead of having block letters saying SWAT or PARMEDIC they’ll say INNOCENT BYSTANDER
from the example posed in this video how about PLEASE DON’T SHOOT ME 2X’S IN THE BACK.
DSM is operating under a faulty premise. Just because you are legally armed doesn’t mean that the cops are just going treat you like you belong there. Here is my advice. If the cops are present get out of the way because you are just another private citizen with a gun. If you were involved in a successful DGU drop the magazine, clear the chamber and place the gun on the ground. Don’t move until the cops get there.
… and then get ganged up on (or shot) by the goblin’s friends.
No thanks.
I’ll re-holster (if I can) or keep it at low-ready (if I can’t) and keep my eyes and ears open for other threats.
But if the cops are around, then yes, get the h$!! out of their way. If they need your help, they’ll ask for it.
Provided the threat is well and truly over. How the hell are you going to know that? It’s probably safer to make the call, leave the scene and THEN put the weapon nearby and surrender.
Successful means it’s over. It the DGU failed then you don’t have to worry about being mistaken for an active shooter since you will be lying in the street in a pool of blood.
If the cops arrive before it’s over and you have a gun they will treat you no differently then the bad guys.
Nothing says “accessorize” like a “shoot me first” sash complementing the “shoot me first” vest.
+1 as long as they are both that day glow yellowish green color of that sweet ass patrol sash.
At least a SMF vest would have a convenient pocket to stash the sash (along with the CCW badge).
+1
Just what the world was waiting for — a “shoot me first” sash.
Umm, maybe I missed something but humor me here…
Are they selling a sash that says I have a concealed weapon on my person? As in a big piece of cloth saying that the expensive handcannon I went through half a wardrobe and three holster manufacturers to conceal to the maximum in comfort is now a matter of public knowledge?
Yes, but you’re only supposed to deploy it if you’re in a DGU situation. I say “supposed to” because I honestly still can’t see what good could come of it.
An off-duty cop in civvies, sure. But me? I don’t see it.
So after I get through with one of the most harrowing and death defying tricks of the average person’s life, call for authorities, paramedics and stabilize the scene to where additional gunfire doesn’t break out…I put on my happy strap? It just sounds like I have better things to do at that time, I swear it does.
I think it’s a great idea. I work volunteer security at my house of worship. I intend to carry one of these in the hope it will give the cops pause in the event of mayhem.
That said, if I see a guy I don’t recognize (i.e. not on my team) wearing one of these, I will shoot him IMMEDIATELY.