From the article “Instant response: Carry off-duty!” by Dick Fairburn, Illinois State Police, via Front Sight, Press:
Several years ago a comprehensive study of active shooter incidents found that most were over too quickly for a Rapid Deployment Contact team to assemble and make entry into the kill zone. In almost every incident where an active killer was stopped before they fully ran their plan, someone on-scene took immediate action. Generally, these “Instant Responders” were security guards or ordinary citizens. Even when police officers did stop the shooter, they were either on-scene when the shooting started or the first to arrive at the call.
The church shootings in Colorado this past Sunday followed the same pattern. At the first attack, the shooter was gone before police could arrive. At the second shooting, about 12 hours later, the killer was himself killed by a courageous volunteer security worker carrying a weapon on a concealed weapons permit, thus stopping him before he could do more damage. Similarly, an off-duty officer minimized the killing last spring at a Utah mall. Just a few days before the Colorado incidents, another mall shooting in Nebraska was over before police could get on-scene.
Rapid Deployment training is great training. It should be mandatory for all officers and should be refreshed at least annually. But, Rapid Deployment must be considered a follow-on technique to supplement the Instant Response of on-scene personnel or first arriving officers. Any other technique will delay contact with the killer and allow them more time to snuff out innocent lives. Even at the World Trade Center, a large percentage of those rescued and evacuated before the collapse where directed by civilians who stepped up and filled a vacuum of leadership. The 9/11 report dubbed these heroes “First – First Responders.”
I live in one of the only two states that have no provision for concealed carry by permitted civilians. A researcher who tracks concealed carry statistics claims several potential mass murders are stopped each year by legally armed civilians, often without a shot being fired. Most of these mass killers are frightened little boys trying to make themselves famous as they go out in a blaze of glory. When confronted by a confident, armed adversary, many such shooters surrender with little more than a whimper.
This was written by a cop for cops. The idea is that a cop is always “on the clock” and should never be without a weapon, even during “personal time”. But the logic holds for civilians just as well.
Wherever you go, whatever you do, as you live your life, be ready, willing, and able to provide for your own self-defense … and one of the best ways to do this is by legally carrying a handgun.
