Just following news headlines will make it clear that more and more people living in cities are confronted by so-called "active shooters": criminals and/or lunatics who start shooting for whatever reason, and often don't stop until they are neutralized. Consider these few headlines (out of many more I could have used) from the weekend just past:
- Mass shootings rock 2 US cities, leave 3 dead, 18 injured
- Judge signs murder arrest warrant for suspect in Forest Hill homicide
- Armed man captured after shootout with Oakland police
- Tulsa Teen, 19, Shot Outside Event Center as Suspect Remains at Large
Ed Monk has many years of experience in planning for such situations, and has trained not just individuals, but also police departments and major institutions, in how to handle them. He's written a short but very informative book titled "First 30 Seconds: The Active Shooter Problem".
Part of the blurb reads:
The author served as an active-duty US Army officer for over 20 years. Throughout this career, planning to give and receive deadly violence was a common, required task. Ten days after his Army retirement, he began teaching public high school, where violence was never allowed, discussed, or planned for. He was STUNNED when school leaders told him the school’s planned response during an Active Shooter attack was to gather in groups and wait to see if the killer or cops got to you first.
This experience started his study of the Active Shooter problem. This book is about what he found.
Massad Ayoob, well-known to readers of this blog, is one of the most authoritative and experienced firearms, self-defense and law enforcement instructors in the United States. He's released this nine-minute assessment of Ed Monk's book, and recommends it highly.
I've already bought my copy of Ed Monk's book. I recommend that any reader living in a major urban area should do likewise, and if you live in a more peaceful area, buy one anyway - because you never know who may end up in your area. It might be a very useful tool to initiate discussions with law enforcement, schools, libraries, etc in your part of the world.
Peter
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