Active Shooter Response Kit

First aid kits have been a standard, pretty much everywhere, for as long as I can remember.  Police carry them in their squad cars, industrial buildings have them everywhere, offices have them, schools have them, people keep them in their cars...pretty much if you need an aspirin or a band aid, you will be able to find these items in the ubiquitous first aid kit.

Now on the market are "active shooter response kits".  A sign of the times, no?  You can find these kits on Amazon, some police and fire departments are now issuing them, and of course EMS can order them.  Similarly, other active shooter products are now on the market as well including active shooter armor kits and you can even get your kid a bullet-proof backpack for school (?!?).

I guess forewarned is forearmed and since it isn't if but when an active shooter will strike again, it may not be such a bad idea to put together your own active shooter kit.  Among the items you may want to include:

• Ballistic shields (they come in a range of sizes from small to large and work like this)
• QuikClot (to stop bleeding)
• A fancy tourniquet or a not so fancy one (they work like this)
• Nitrile gloves
• Safety glasses
• Gauze pads
• Medical tape
• Israeli compression bandage
• N95 mask
• Trauma shears
• Any other first aid supplies you are trained to use: ET tubes, nasal airway, oral airway, decompression needles, etc

Of course you should get as much training on trauma response as you can--from EMR (Emergency Medical Responder) to Stop the Bleed classes (fairly new for civilians) to EMT or Paramedic level courses.