How far can we, as individuals and society, remove ourselves from combat medic and TTAG contributor Jon Wayne Taylor’s advice to identify a lethal threat, eliminate the threat and reassess? If the LA County Sheriff’s office’s video SURVIVING AN ACTIVE SHOOTER is any indication, we’re so far away from active self-defense we might as well just, I dunno, run? Hide? That’s what the video recommends. Until seven minutes in, when viewers are told . . .
“If you cannot escape the location, and you can’t shelter in place, you may have to defend yourself as a last resort. Almost anything can be turned into an improvised weapon. Look for something that can destruct the shooter’s ability to see, breathe or control their weapon.”
Hmmm. Now what kind of something could that be? A shovel, a broom, a fire extinguisher or . . . thinking . . . a gun? No wait, it can’t be a gun. In the City of Angels, American citizens aren’t allowed to carry or keep a gun in schools and most workplaces. Most people living in LA County can’t carry a gun anywhere. At all. Ever. Because they can’t get the government’s permission to exercise their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.
That said, improvised weapons are a thing. Unfortunately, this otherwise graphic video shows our cornered hero neglecting the key part of any self-defense recipe: violence of action. To paraphrase Jule Styne and Leo Robin, extinguisher gas in the eyes can be quite continental. But bashing a bad guy’s brains out is an unarmed defender’s best friend.
Meanwhile, the video warns people leaving an active shooter scene not to physically reach out to thank armed second responders, lest the good guy get drilled by his or her aspiring saviors. Good advice. But wouldn’t it be nice to live in a country where the police reach out to thank armed civilians for eliminating a lethal threat? Some of us do. As this video reminds us, we should fight for the ones who don’t. [h/t DrVino]