reacting to an active shooter

10.18: care/survival/active shooter education:
summary:
. my place of employment had the police come
and tell us how to survive a mass murderer.

. most of the shooters have little criminal background;
but they tend to be socially isolated
age-20..30 males,
and are often familiar with the place they attack.
. common mistakes when calling 911 include:
everybody doing it at once,
and not being calm and informative,
or others near caller not being quiet.
. a common reaction to an armed intruder
is to freeze and beg for mercy;
but the guy is here to punish people,
so you are just making his job easier:
everyone should distract and run,
or if trapped then everybody should swarm him:
that might make you feel more likely to get shot,
but if the group doesn't try,
the entire group will get shot.
. the best place to hide is a room in which
the door can be secured with heavy furniture.
. when there is a chance of escape,
you might get a sense of guilt if you
don't stop the bleeding of the shot ones;
but you will only get yourself shot too.
. when you do exit the building
be aware there are likely police outside,
and they don't know if you are the shooter,
so be ready to follow loud angry commands:
"hands up, turn around, on your knees".
. if the police do find you in the building,
someone who knows the building well
should be prepared to help police with
finding and searching all parts of the building.
. some wondered if a no-gun policy
would tend to make us less safe;
especially if we advertized it;
actually we have no metal detectors,
and could have some guns concealed.
comments:
. interesting the main age range was 20..30;
half that range is under 25,
the age when the brain becomes fully developed
(insurance companies charge more for under 25).
. mostly men didn't surprise me:
the only woman I remember was the San_Bernardino_attack
[Tashfeen Malik]
. I wonder wonder if that age group
has higher suicide rates; [no:
the highest suicide rate (19.3) was among
people 85 years or older.
The second highest rate (19.2) occurred in
those between 45 and 64 years of age.]
. that reminds the recent Las_Vegas_shooter
was unusually old
[64-year-old Stephen Paddock].