Mass Shootings: Cleveland area police suggest everything but defending yourself

The first 911 call was made at 1:43 p.m. Dispatchers sent out an alert two minutes later, and the first police officer arrived four minutes after that. By then, the shooting was over. - USA Today

By Ken Hanson

Dave Summers of WKYC in Cleveland has posted an interview with Lyndhurst Police Sergeant Pat Rhode, detailing police strategy to react to an “active shooter” situation. Unfortunately for the reader looking for advice on how to protect themselves from nut-job shooters in a mall, church or campus, the story regurgitates nothing but the same old tired, tried and failed advice.

The story details active shooter training the police are going through, and how local patrol officers are now receiving “SWAT-like” training. The story boasts that while it used to take the police up to 30 minutes to respond to an active shooter, it can now take only minutes. Citizens are encouraged to be aware of their environments and know “where to go in case of an emergency.” Unfortunately, the next words out of Sgt. Rhode’s mouth isn’t “and by ‘where to go’ I mean ‘go for your gun.”

Once again, the police, and the gullible reporter for the Cleveland NBC affiliate, are selling the concept that only the police can protect you. Nonsense. The police can never protect you - only you can protect you. This is conclusively demonstrated by the case history, and anyone who is not willing to accept this is in very severe denial. This is the essence of the brief that Buckeye Firearms Association is filing with the United States Supreme Court in the Heller case, and it could not be more timely.

Think about the concept for a moment, as outlined in the story. Police react. They arrive after the crime has been committed. No police training or policy is ever going to put the officer present where needed more than a fraction of a percent of the time. And even when they are immediately present when the shooting starts, they can only serve to minimize the damage.

Take the Alrosa Villa shooting three years ago this week as an example. A Columbus Police officer was present when the shooter fired the first shot, within 50 feet of the shooter. A concealed carry license holder and military veteran was 10 feet away, disarmed at this crime scene due to Ohio law. Despite this best case scenario, officer Niggemeyer could do nothing but wade through 4 bodies and 2 injured persons to get a clear shot at shooter Nathan Gale as he held a hostage. Officer Niggemeyer is a hero for entering the club immediately and not waiting for backup, he did everything right. Nothing could ever be done better short of having the officer on stage, shotgun in hand. Yet this best-case scenario leaves the toll for all to count.

In instances where police respond speedily, and then commit when ready, the result is much the same. The Platte Canyon High School (2006) shooter took 6 hostages in this "gun-free" zone, and the police secured the release of 4. (After they had been apparently sexually assaulted.) Still, the shooter killed one hostage and himself when police finally acted.

At Delaware State University (2007), the police respond speedily to the shooting of 2 students on this "gun-free" campus, one of who later dies, and don’t even find the shooter. An arrest is made 3 days later.

Weston High School (2006) narrowly averted disaster when an alert janitor, unarmed due to state and federal law making his workplace a gun-free zone for everyone but the psycho, risked his life and wrestled a shotgun away from 9th grader Eric Hainstock. Unfortunately, the Freshman also illegally had a handgun, and sought out his principal. Principal John Alfred Klang, unarmed, heroically wrestled with Hainstock, eventually subduing him, but only after the principal received fatal gunshot wounds.

Tacoma Mall (2005) a gunman armed with an “assault rifle” heads to “no-guns” mall, but encounters two armed citizens. None of the mall patrons are killed but at least 6 are injured by the time Dominick Moldanado surrenders to police.

Trolley Square Mall (2007) Sulejman Talovic enters the no-guns-allowed mall armed with a shotgun, a handgun and a backpack full of ammo. Fortunately an off-duty police officer (i.e. a citizen) and his wife are present and he reacts without hesitation. The gunman is quickly cornered as local police respond to back up the citizen, and yet 5 people other than the shooter are killed despite this quick response.

Hudson Valley Mall (2005) a gunman enters the "no-guns" mall in a state with very limited concealed carry with an “assault rifle” and shoots until running out of ammo. No one is killed, and the gunman is subdued by an unarmed mall worker and mall patrons.

We could go on examining instances where police only can only react, and only the folks who are getting shot at are in a place where decisive action can and is taken. However, it is much more illustrative to look at the typical shooting result and question why the police and media give any credibility to the concept of “reaction.”

Your typical shooter is on a one-way trip. That is the intent. The suicide note is written, the YouTube rant has been posted, the angry manifesto videotape has been made. These folks are on their way out. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again plainly: the only thing that will protect society is by insuring these nut jobs accomplish their “martyrdom” as quickly as possible. Metal detectors, banning video games, self-esteem programs, bullying workshops, “no gun” zones – you take them all. I’ll take one armed citizen present when the bullets start flying.

The evidence is incontrovertible. Look at just the last year alone. Nickel Mines Amish School (2006, "gun-free" zone by law). Shooter commits suicide. Virginia Tech (2007, "gun-free" zone by policy and law, which VT fought for). Shooter commits suicide. Success Tech High School (2007, "gun-free" zone by law). Shooter commits suicide. Platte Canyon High School (2006, "gun-free" zone by law). Shooter commits suicide by cop. Westroads Mall (2007, "gun-free" zone by policy backed by law). Shooter commits suicide. Greenspoint Mall (2007, policy unknown, mall security unarmed). Shooter commits suicide.

Simply put, there is nothing to “react” to. The police serve to document the crime scene. Shame on NBC and the Lyndhurst Police for failing to convey accurate information that might one day actually save someone.

The best person to stop an active shooter is the person actually being shot at. Only you can protect you. Any law that interferes with or impedes your ability to defend yourself is a law that makes you a victim waiting for the police to arrive so they can start photographing the bodies.

Related Media Coverage:
John R. Lott: Media Coverage of Mall Shooting Fails to Reveal Mall's Gun-Free-Zone Status

Cincinnati Enquirer: Mall shooter spurs safety debate

Columbus Dispatch: Holiday security tight at malls

As if MORE deaths were needed to stress the points made above...

SUNDAY: Nine shot in 2 church-related Colorado attacks

Three people were shot to death and six were wounded in Colorado on Sunday in two church-related shootings in the U.S. Christian heartland.

A gunman -- described by an eyewitness as dressed in black, wearing combat boots and holding an assault rifle and at least one handgun -- wounded four people when he opened fire in the parking lot of the vast New Life evangelical church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, after Sunday services, police said.

A New Life church security guard shot and killed the gunman before police arrived on the scene, Colorado Springs police chief Richard Myers told a news conference. (emphasis added)

Police did not identify the gunman. There were about 7,000 people in the building when shooting erupted, a pastor said.

In an earlier incident, 70 miles away, a man who entered a Christian missionary training center in the Denver suburb of Arvada with a handgun killed two young missionaries and wounded two others shortly after midnight, police said.

FOX News is referring to the New Life security guard as a "hero" who saved many lives.