Apologies for the slow blogging this week, folks. The Evil Princess and I drove out of Little Rock Sunday afternoon from the Rangemaster Tactical Conference to St. Louis, where on Monday I once again chaired ILEETA’s Panel of Experts on Firearms and Deadly Force issues.  We had to drive from there almost 900 miles to make it to a Wednesday deposition in an attempted murder case.  That left us kinda short on writing time.

In St. Louis I was once again able to assemble an all-star cast of master instructors. We address hot button issues, and in mid-March of 2018 nothing was hotter than the police response at the Parkland school massacre.

All in the room were appalled that deputies were on scene including a designated School Resource Officer, but no one entered the school until Coral Springs officers arrived to back up the personnel present.  By then, 17 innocent people, mostly kids, were dead and some 14 wounded.

I was proud that our blue-ribbon panel included Ron Borsch, the man who pioneered the concept of the first responding officer going in alone. Excoriated by the old heads for coming up with this concept years ago, he has been proven correct.  He would be proven right again the day after the Panel, when a courageous School Resource Officer in Maryland named Blaine Gaskell responded in less than a minute to gunfire, reportedly fired a single shot himself, and the threat was over. (Kudos to the blog readers here who have mentioned that in previous commentary already.)

Many on the panel had already trained armed school personnel, myself included, but Chris and Michelle Cerino had probably done more of that than anyone else present. Chris has stated in the past that their team trains the teacher to a slightly higher standard than state troopers. When I asked for a show of hands, all but three in the audience of more than sixty raised their hands in support of armed faculty programs.

The Panel of Experts is a regular thing at ILEETA, the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, which I’ve proudly served on the board of advisors since its inception. If you train law enforcement personnel, whether or not you are a sworn officer, you are eligible to join, and it’s an incredible week-long “knowledge download.” Information can be found at www.ileeta.org.

 

I snapped this photo of the Panel during the discussion of response to active mass murderers. From left: Vicki Farnam, Kevin Davis, Chris and Michelle Cerino, John Bostain, Manny Kapelsohn, Brian McKenna, John Farnam, Ron Borsch, Don Alwes, and Bert DuVernay. Absent is Lou Ann Hamblin, who came in late to the second half because she had to be teaching elsewhere at the ILEETA seminar during the first couple of hours.

Driving out of St. Louis in the rain, toward the Arch and the next destination.

22 COMMENTS

    • Theo, this symposium of trainers and educators, I’m sure, had at least a few whose top brass hold liberal views. This will be reflected in the people they chose for their training programs. Top down, not bottom up. Even if their views differ from the brass, they dare not publicly disagree.

  3. I think Broward County was a county that fell victim to a serious far left sheriff who decided to play games with the school superintendent and didn’t train inside those schools accordingly and allowed a 36 year veteran officer to linger on the job who probably should have retired at Florida’s 25 year fully vested retirement in his prime.
    Further a female captain was raised straight up the ranks brought on by Sheriff Israel who gave an order to stage outside. I think she was a perfect example of the peter principle promoted beyond her capabilities when we have standard police protocols of going straight in once the first officer is on scene.
    The SRO FAILED TO DO HIS JOB, THE CAPTAIN NEEDS TO BE TERMINATED and Broward county deserves a new sheriff. The actions of these people cost lives plain and simple young innocent children and a few brave educators.

    • and the drifing factor behind THAT corruption was a FedBux programme rewarding those districts that reported a lowered arrest rate for kids in school. Broward County decided to game the system by simply not charging or reporting what are “crimes” for anyone else. Thus, with the “crime rate” remaining near constant, the “arrest rate” dropped.. and they got a $54Mn reward. This shooter had at least four disqualifying “incidents” that, had he been properly dealt with under the law, would have been reported to NICS and he’d never have been able to buy a gun. Not to say he could not have come up with one elsewise…. BCSO and that school district need a through housecleaning. That’ll come along just AFTER “my ship comes in”…..

      that situation with three opposing the concept of armed teachers, then those three going POOF!! is, well, “interesting”. Nice observation, that.

      • Add to that that Miami – Dade county was participating in that program. Travon Martin was suspended from school which is why was up north. Observations that the misdemeanor charges against him should have been felonies. The chief of school police was fired during the trial for cooking the books when a huge drop in felonies was too good to be true.

        South Florida is filled with closet democratic politicians, some call them RINOS. They have successfully killed any meaningful gun legislation for four years now. And with the influx of more democrats from Puerto Rico things stand to get worse.

    • Your article is very good. Isn’t it amazing how applicable the words of Sun Tzu still are today? Even though it has been more than 2,000 years since they were written?

      However, your article makes the error of “formula-based” thinking. It follows the idea that we can just treat this issue logically. That we can study it and then develop a set of formula responses (like a computer program) that will make the best response possible to a bad situation. This approach has at least a couple of flaws. First, it does not address the source of the problem. It does not address the root causes of what drives some people to go on a mass-murder killing spree. Second, it assumes that the formula response will be evenly applied throughout the land. This will not be true at all. The ideological makeup of the local government and law enforcement agencies makes a huge impact on how policies are applied. In the Broward County School mass-murder incident, I believe that the left-wing policies of the local sheriff and the school district greatly contributed to the success of the murderer.

      Rather than write again what I have already written, I will simply repeat a comment (below) that I posted back on Feb. 27th:

      Lots of people are heaping scorn on the deputy or deputies who failed to act in a timely manner to stop the Florida school shooting. However, the deputy denies that he is a coward and points out the positive things he did. Basically, he is saying that he followed procedures. See this link:

      http://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/nation-world/florida-deputy-denies-he-was-a-coward-during-school-shooting/507-523447661

      I suggest that we should not dismiss the deputy’s comments as just CYA.

      As I have noted before, the left-wing / right-wing split originates from basic assumptions made (usually subconsciously) by human beings. Leftists assume that humanity trends toward goodness. That people do wrong ONLY under the influence of external social or environmental forces. Right-wingers (or conservatives, if you wish) assume humans trend toward evil and that it takes EFFORT on the part of humanity to do good.

      The effects flowing from these assumptions are PROFOUND. A human’s entire worldview and political thoughts are shaped by the difference. It is as profound as the assumption of innocence in criminal law. As everyone knows, the assumption made in criminal law is that an accused person is INNOCENT until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Suppose, it was the other way? Suppose we assumed that every accused person was GUILTY until proven innocent beyond a reasonable doubt? Think what a profound difference that would make in the criminal justice system. Well, the good versus evil assumption that separates left-wing thought from right-wing thought makes an even greater difference in worldview.

      The Broward County Sheriff, Scott Israel, is clearly in the left-wing camp. His views on firearm prohibition are enough to show that. In addition, his office worked with Broward County schools on an Obama-era program designed to “go easy” on non-white students that misbehave. Some speculate that this is the reason that the murderer, Nikolas Cruz, could “run afoul” of the law over 30 times and yet still have a clean enough record to go buy an AR. See this link:

      https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2018/02/26/how-obama-and-holder-changed-broward-county-law-enforcement-for-racial-reasons/

      It is common to say that, under stress, a person will react as he trained. The Liberal Sheriff of Broward County spent years training his deputies to go easy on misbehaving children. To react with a soft touch. He spent years training his deputies to think like left-wing pacifists. Why on earth is anyone surprised that they failed to act aggressively to this crime? After all, you will react as you train!

  5. I hope that this is not true but I would speculate that the three may have had some deep dark motive in mind for not going in immediately. We already know how the far left feels about guns and that mindset alone caused terrible things to happen. I heartily agree with the post here that says they need a new Sheriff and probably a few under him replaced. I question the fact whether or not the deputy actually even had his sidearm in his holster as radically far left as they are there.

  6. I agree, we need to stop relying on an outside response. We need trained and armed personnel on campus. Also some trauma packs, and folks trained in the use of those. Saddened for our country that it’s come to this, but these are the only ways we can reduce the carnage of these tragedies.

  7. It’s easy to play Monday morning Quarterback in cases like this. I was very dismayed about the Officers standing outside while children were being killed. The Sheriff definitely needs retiring and possibly even holding accountable IF the allegations are true. As long as WE the people of the United States of America, sit idly by and wait for someone else to fix the problem we WILL lose the 2nd Amendment as we know it today. Mass does an excellent job of teaching and informing the public AND Law Enforcement, but he is only one man or possible in a small team of people who understand and strive to educate the ignorant. Keep up the great works Mass and hopefully you will come to a community near me.

  8. The fix NICS was slipped into the budget bill that was signed by the president today. I have not seen the reaction yet, but I am sure that many on the pro gun side are going to be quite upset. I wonder if this anger is misplaced or not. I know that I possess a Med. Marijuana card, but do not use the drug. I tried it for a medical condition, it doesn’t work, and so I no longer use it. But the federal government in their wisdom considers me to be an addict. That is so much bureaucratic bs, I can hardly stand it. My state allows me to use the medication, if I need it, and still possess a CCW, which I do, yet the fed gov won’t let me buy a gun if I only have the card, and don’t even use the drug.

    Also, the many other parts of the rule that they are messing with, such as adding back the social security rule of people who have a helper with their finances now getting labeled as mentally unstable. Oh, the Republicans, and especially the leadership, really screwed us on this one. What happened to our CCW reciprocity? Yep, gone in a flash, like a Rino. I guess that the Republicans don’t remember the time the Democrats screwed the gun owners, and the Democrats got the boot. November will come and then we will find out if people remember this or not.

  9. As the 03/24/18 nationwide “We Hate Guns” march-a-thon commences to roll out tomorrow morning, it is important to take note that the motives of the anti-gun “concerned students” who are aided, funded and guided by the anti-gun Progressive Left are not quite as pure as driven white snow.

    Click on the link below from “Business Insider” to learn that the anti-gun “concerned students”, far from being interested in engaging in a constructive, productive dialogue with the NRA and NRA members about school security and private gun ownership, intend to use their loud, rude mouths on social media to “humiliate” the NRA, NRA members and American gun owners.

    Definition of Humiliate: to reduce to a lower standing in one’s own eyes or in others’ eyes.

    Synonyms of Humiliate: abase, chasten, cheapen, debase, degrade, demean, discredit, disgrace, dishonor, foul, humble, lower, shame, sink, smirch, take down.

    My reaction to this revelation that the anti-gun “concerned students” who are supposed to be worried about “gun violence” intend to use social media to deride and mock the NRA, NRA members and American gun owners is as follows:

    “Such immature actions will only serve to alienate and repel American gun owners. NRA membership rolls will swell. In addition, all American gun owners will realize, once and for all, that one can never, ever compromise with a smiling crocodile, even if the smiling crocodile is a juvenile who pretends to be pure in thought and deed.”

    Business Insider 03/22/18 11:46 A.M.

    http://www.thisisinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivors-humiliate-pro-gun-opponents-online-social-media-2018-3

  10. It is interesting that no information on the cause of death of the Maryland School murderer has been forthcoming. The question, as to whether it was Officer Blaine Gaskill’s bullet that ended his rampage or whether it was a self-inflicted suicide, is still up in the air.

    Surely, the authorities must have this information by now. If it was a close-range suicide wound, a cursory examination of the wound would reveal the gunshot powder pattern of a short-range discharge. If it was the Officer’s shot that took him out, it would have been fired from a much greater distance and there would be little or no trace of a gunpowder pattern. It would not ever really be necessary to wait for the autopsy and ballistic analysis report.

    Why no update from the Police to clear up this point? Are they keeping this information “under wraps” simply because they don’t want to talk to the Press any more than absolutely necessary? Or because they want to “dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t'” before they make a statement?

    Or does it serve a political purpose? If an examination of the wound revealed that it was the Officer’s bullet that ended the incident, this would reinforce the “Good Guy with a Gun” outcome that flies in the face of the desired left-wing narrative and aids the NRA and 2A supporters. In this case, in order to not do that, there may be a political decision to “keep it under wraps” until the story dies away and such information is no longer harmful “to the cause”.

    Maybe this sounds paranoid. However, I would not put such tactics beyond the American Left (at all)! They love to use misinformation and propaganda. It would be nothing to them to suppress the facts if it served their purpose.

  11. Mr. Ayoob:

    Off-topic, but now that the Minneapolis police shooter (Noor) in the Justine Damond murder has been indicted (for 3rd-degree murder and 2nd-degree manslaughter) can you make any comments about the issues?

    I’d be interested to see you contrast this shooting with that of Castile (who was stoned to the gills and ignored the officer’s directions to NOT touch the firearm he was carrying). This was a woman, unarmed, and in her pajamas who was shot for the sole reason (according to Noor’s partner) because she “startled” them. If acquitted, does this mean that the police have a reasonable cause to believe that they are about to be threatened with death or grievous bodily injury every time that they are “startled”?

    The end result of such a decision is that the people will utterly cease to call police, for ANY reason. Damond called 911 because she thought someone was being assaulted in the alley behind her home (in a VERY nice neighborhood; I live a couple of miles away in a much less wealthy area of the city). If people begin to believe that any interaction at all with officers may (reasonably) result in their own death, then ceasing to call them is also a reasonable response.

    • Blackwing, I try to wait for trial in these things, but I’d have to say the officer’s defense team is going to have a very uphill fight. We shall see.

  12. TN MAN, your most recent post hits the nail squarely on the head as far as I am concerned. If the gunman had committed suicide the MSM would have been trampling each other to get the story out first. There has been some top level hush hush from the Left to keep this under wraps like you say until they hope the truth never gets printed. Dangerous people from the media and elsewhere out there.

  13. Check out this current NY Times article focusing on teachers in Ohio who are seeking out professional training and thereafter carrying concealed revolvers or pistols to protect their flocks of kids if an armed intruder makes the mistake of invading their respective schoolyards or classrooms.

    NY Times Article “Arming Teachers”

    Published under subtitle “Exposures”

    Date of Publication: 03/24/18

    Author / Writer: Kate Way

    Author biography: Kate Way, a photographer, filmmaker and educator based in Massachusetts, is a co-director and a co-producer, with Julie Akeret, of the documentary film “G Is for Gun.”

    “In as many as a dozen states, schools have already taken advantage of laws that allow employees to carry guns. Ohio is one of them.”

    Read More…

    P.S. Be sure to also click on the “G Is For Gun” link to watch the 30 minute long documentary film on the topic of arming teachers in Ohio.

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