One lesson we can pick up from todays tragedy at Seattle Pacific University is that citizens do not need to be armed to the teeth in order to successfully defend themselves against an armed assailant. The gunman today was tackled and pinned to the ground by an unarmed student, employed by Campus Security because he had been trained in what to do in such a scenario. Observe, Opportunity, Engage. Within minutes of the beginning of this incident, according to this evenings police press conference, about 4 minutes from the outset, the student saw his opportunity when the suspect stopped to re-load his shotgun, and tackled him, pinning him to the ground. The first student was immediately joined by others who assisted in holding the assailant in place for the five more minutes necessary for Seattle Police to arrive on scene. Other students remained calm, and followed procedures which the campus had practiced -- non essential, non-combatants entered lock down, pulling window shades, locking doors, and seeking places within the room behind which they could barricade themselves. No one became an available visible target. As tragic as the initial deaths were, the response time from inception to immobilization was four minutes. A fully armed student populace, as the NRA would have you believe, would not have led to general calm and following of procedure, but to a free for all blood bath with countless more mortally wounded. Congratulations to Seattle Pacific for having the foresight to work with SPD to develop adequate non-weaponized emergency response through policy, drills and repeated practice. Today, the ripened fruit of those efforts saved lives.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 04:11:55 +0000
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