Another Day, Another Mass Shooting

It's pretty bad when "mass shooting" gets its own blog category because there are so many of them but with a quick count, yesterday's mass shooting in Colorado brings to five the number of mass shootings I have written about here.  There is no way to write a blog post about "do this and avoid a mass shooting" because each shooting is usually quite unique so I will just throw out some random thoughts on the topic:

• Random shootings are, well, random so there is no way to pinpoint with any amount of accuracy places where these events will occur or any way to determine who will carry out such shootings.
• I personally feel that when it is your time to go, you go (based on seeing way to many people die who, medically speaking, "shouldn't have" while an equally large number of people escape death when really, medically speaking again, they "should have").  But anyway, that's my personal view...
• It wouldn't surprise me if the shooter is found mentally ill.  Mental illness is rampant in our society and the care of the mentally ill in the US is atrocious.
• Guns don't kill people, people kill people, although gun grabbers will latch on to such a tragedy as a way to push for more gun control laws--or an outright ban--in order to "keep us safe".
• What is the deal with Colorado?  Two mass shootings in one otherwise unremarkable state. WTF?
• What is it with so many people taking babies and infants to midnight movies?  Not that this has anything to do with the shooting specifically but I was rather surprised that there were so many babies and small children at the theater during the shooting.  Or maybe I am just old but kids that young belong in bed before midnight and small children don't need to be at an R rated movie.  But again, I am probably just old and such a thing is common place now.
• What a media feeding frenzy.  These types of events bring every type of media person out of the woodwork so they can then pounce on victims of the tragedy and ask them how they feel.  How do they think they feel?
• I wonder how many people in the theater were armed?  I can't help but think that a few armed citizens enjoying the movie could have made a difference.  Obviously I mean armed and tactically trained.
• And again I may be old but I don't like crowds, mostly for tactical reasons.  When the spouse insisted on seeing New Years Eve from the Las Vegas Strip I reluctantly went along.  That was the first, last, and only time we will do such a thing.  I spent the entire evening watching everything but the festivities--mostly I was watching visible and plain-clothes security, the movement of the crowd, and listening for sounds other than from the festivities (difficult when there are fireworks going off).  Crowds are a great location for a mass shooting because the crowd is  busy paying attention to the event (a movie in this case), it makes a huge statement (the shooters gains instant and permanent notoriety), the anonymity of the crowd allows the shooter to move around the crowd seeking optimal shooting locations, and the sheer number of people means that the kill ratio will probably be pretty high.
• Finally my prayers go out to the victims and families of victims who were killed or injured in the shooting.  My prayers also go out to the parents of the shooter, I can't image what it would be like to have the police show up at your door telling you that your kid just killed a dozen people.  For those impacted by the shooting, I hope they seek trauma mental health services if necessary because even if the person wasn't wounded or knew any of the dead, this type of trauma can have a pretty serious psychological impact.

A Sad Sunday Morning

I was doing some work this morning with the news on in the background and was stunned to hear that four police officers in a city south of here were killed in an ambush while they were working on their laptops in a coffee shop.
Earlier this month there was what appeared to be a random shooting of a police officer that I blogged about here. At the time it was such a sudden, totally unexpected event that it shocked the entire city. People just don't go around shooting police officers here for no apparent reason. They don't go around shooting police officers randomly even if they have a reason. This type of behavior is simply not tolerated in our area.
So this is yet another terrible tragedy that will reverberate throughout our area. While this type of activity happens commonly in other areas, specifically other countries (see here and here), generally due to political/gang/drug activity, targeted shootings of police officers in our area is practically unheard of.

Here's some random thoughts:

• First of all, my condolences go out to the families of the officers. These are hard working people who have families who got up to go to work this morning and won't be coming home. There are no words that can bring comfort to the families at this time but my condolences go out to them nonetheless.
• The PIO for the Sheriff's office in the area is doing an excellent job as are the other officers working the scene. I can't imaging having four of my family members killed and having to go on working, especially in the public eye, during such a horrific time.
• I hope this doesn't impact the whole gun rights issue. Of course it probably will. People tend to make knee-jerk reactions to crimes which involve guns and it negatively impact responsible gun owners.
• I hope this doesn't impact the racial/religious relations in our area. Unfortunately when the media reports that it is a black man who is a suspect, it seems like ALL black men are looked at differently. If it is found that the suspect is a Muslim (as in the Ft Hood shooting), then ALL Muslims are painted with the same brush. This is unfair. The vast majority of blacks (or any other race for that matter) are wonderful people just like you and me. Likewise, the vast majority of Muslims (and all other religions) are wonderful people just like me and you. There is a small criminal element in all racial/religious/geographic groups which shouldn't cause people to generalize ALL people of those groups.
• I hope when they catch the person/people who did this they save the judicial system and tax payers a whole lot of money...if you know what I mean. I would rather have my tax money go to support law enforcement instead of support someone who will have a lengthy stay in prison.

Police Shooting Update and Some Preparedness Lessons

A few days back I reported on a recent shooting in our city that targeted police officers. Yesterday, a suspect in the shooting was found by the police which led to another shootout. Here's some take away lessons from these incidents:

• First, the officers were sitting in their patrol car minding their own business when the shooter pulled up next to the car and started firing, wounding one officer and killing the other. Lesson: any time you are sitting in your vehicle paying attention to what you are doing (reading a book while waiting for the spouse, talking on your cell phone, finishing up work before you get to a meeting) you can be a target. People should be able to feel secure in their own vehicles but that isn't always the case. Car-jackers, robbers, rapists, and yes, random shooters, will take advantage of people being distracted to commit a crime which usually involves the victim being in or around their car, often involves a weapon or violence, and can lead to injury or death. Always be hyper alert when in your car, whether you are driving, sitting at a stop light, parked in a parking lot, or in the bank/fast food drive thru.
• When the suspect was cornered, he drew his weapon. Either he had a death wish or he flunked math--one with a firearm against literally dozens with firearms is pretty poor odds. Lesson: people may react irrationally when cornered or in a desperate situation. If someone pulls a gun on you, shoot first and ask questions later. In the split second it will take you to analyze their motives and formulate some possible outcomes, you could be dead. Ditto, if you pull a firearm on someone; you need to have a life or death reason to do so. Most people who are drawn on, even if you just meant to threaten them with your firearm, will take it as a threat to their life and react accordingly.
• Immediately after the suspect was taken into custody, his entire apartment building was evacuated. Lesson learned: have your BOB/Go Bag ready to grab at a moment's notice. If this had happened at your home, where officers knocked on your door and said you must leave now, no time to grab a change of clothes or anything else, and that you will be away from home for an indeterminate amount of time, would you be prepared? Note also that evacuees were sheltered on a city bus; area roads were blocked with so many responders that there was no way for the people to even drive themselves away from the scene.
• While one apartment building was evacuated, the other buildings in the complex were put on lock down. No one was allowed to come or go from their apartments and all were told to remain inside their homes until further notice. Lesson learned: do you have a lock down procedure for your home? While it may not be as complex as the procedure for locking down a huge commercial building, knowing what to do in these situations is something that needs forethought and practice. A communications plan is also in order. What if your kids or spouse were expected home within the hour however no one was being allowed in or out of the complex? At times like these, being able to contact family members, having a secondary plan and a safe place to wait out the crisis, and a way to receive ongoing communications about the situation would be in order.
• The police were able to break this case due to a tip from a citizen. Lesson learned: pay attention to your surroundings. The neighbors noticed that a car which never had a cover on it suddenly had a cover on it. That may be a tip. Others saw the vehicle description on the news and thought it looked an awful lot like the neighbor's car. Part of being prepared for anything is being aware of everything. If something seems off or unusual or strange, find out why. Or at least make a mental note of it for further follow-up if needed.
• Apparently the suspect's apartment contained firearms (not a major concern to me), ammo (ditto), and either IEDs or the makings of IEDs (concerning). Lesson learned: you never know what your neighbors keep in their home and, unfortunately, some of the things they may be keeping could kill you or flatten your neighborhood. I tend to choose where I live rather strategically. For many reasons I choose not to live in an apartment building, one reason being that I have no control what my neighbors do and cooking meth, making bombs, and other unsavory things could have a very detrimental affect on me and my family. If possible, choose where you live with care.

A Recent Shooting

A shooting in our city a couple of days ago was disturbing on a number of levels. The people targeted? Uniformed police officers in a marked patrol car. The method? What looked like a professional style hit on a random couple of officers. What was most disturbing? I have seen these kinds of hits on law enforcement officers in a number foreign countries but seldom, if ever, in the US. Of course US officers have been targeted before but rarely so blatantly or so randomly. Here's some thoughts:

• Was it a gang initiation? Often these cases are solved pretty quickly because your run of the mill gang banger is usually more concerned with telling everyone what they did so they can "bask in the glory" of the event...right before they get caught and end up in prison for life.
• Was it a message from a gang that was recently targeted by the police? Seems more likely. The details of the shooting point to people who have done this before and in a particular style reminiscent of Mexican drug gangs that want to make a point by taking out high profile/high publicity targets such as the police.
• Was it just a random shooting? Not likely. People don't randomly target uniformed police officers out of the blue. Doing so is too stupid for words.

What does this mean for us regular people?

• Again it reinforces the need for average citizens to be armed, trained, and to practice regularly. If police officers can be targeted, anyone can be targeted. Anytime. Anywhere.
• Citizens need to be proactive in their community. It was fairly horrifying to read about the 15 year old girl gang raped by a dozen teens last week while a group of people watched and not a single person called 911. If you want a good community you need to be part of the solution. Staying quiet out of fear, apathy, or just to go along with the crowd is a piss poor reason to do nothing and in these cases you create the community you live in so I hope those thugs enjoy their miserable community.
• I could complain about bad parenting, problematic kids, and society going down the tubes but Socrates already did that in 400 BC and people are still blaming society's ills on these things.
• People need to be aware of their surroundings. In this particular case, the shooting was so swift and out of the blue that the officers did not have time to respond. In most places in the US people feel secure in their homes, their cars, and on the streets so they don't take precautions that you would take in, say, Iraq or other war zones. People's awareness ratchets up quite a bit, however, when they perceive that the area they are in poses a threat some how. Situational awareness. Very important.

Mass Shootings: Some Random Thoughts

If you have been anywhere near the news today, you have already heard about the mass shootings that took place yesterday in Germany and Alabama. Here's some random thoughts on the issue:

• These incidents often lead governments and other authorities to the knee-jerk reaction of more stringent regulations on firearms. This seems counter-intuitive. Laws are followed by law abiding people (the ones who were killed by the shooter--since they were following the law, they were not armed) but they aren't followed by the killers who, um, usually acquire guns illegally in order to go on their killing rampages.
• Random shootings are by nature, random, so there is no way to know such an event is going to happen.
• I think everyone should be armed. Mass shootings usually happen at locations where the shooter knows that people won't be armed such as at schools. This makes all of these people sitting ducks for some psychopathic killer.
• After researching ways to prevent mass shootings, I found basically no concrete information on how to defend against and/or prevent these incidents. Seeking help for those who have expressed a desire to kill and preventing bullying were suggested but many people don't come in contact with the shooter until the incident is happening so preemptive steps are kind of a mute point.
• Having not experienced such a situation and having no real experience in this area, I nonetheless take some precautions to protect myself and my family against the possibility of this happening: I am usually armed, I am aware of my surroundings, car doors are locked when I am in the car, doors are locked when I am in my home and office, no matter my location I always check for escape routes as well as areas that could provide cover and/or concealment, and I watch people (how are they acting, what are their hands doing, their body language, etc).

If anyone else has better ideas on what to do in this type of situation, please add your suggestions...