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]