Safety Begins in the Home – Your Home

By Gerard Valentino

As we inch towards another anniversary of the September 11 attacks and the cowardly attack on Beslan School Number 1 in Russia, we have to wonder what the world has learned in the intervening years. In America, partisan bickering continues over the future in Iraq, and in Russia borders skirmishes continue over disputed provinces of the Republic of Georgia.

Hollywood has deemed enough time has passed since the attacks on the Twin Towers to start making movies about the tragedy. As usual, the Hollywood elite condemn America for actions they believe caused the attack, and then exploit the situation to make their money.

The question remains, however, about whether the world is any safer today than it was then. Make your own judgment on whether America as a whole is safer since that answer is beyond the reach of most of us.

A judgment you can make is whether you have done things to make your loved ones safer.

Make no mistake - it’s up to you to do so. One overriding lesson of both 9/11 and the Beslan massacre is that people who took action saved their own life. In many cases, they also saved the life of people they didn’t know.

That doesn’t take anything away from the first responders who gave so much, and ran into the chaos while others ran away. But it is without a doubt, the facts as they are known. Stories of heroism from both tragedies are consistent on that point.

In Beslan, parents gave their life saving children, women pulled children from burning buildings, men covered children and women with their bodies as explosions and gunfire rang out, and a young boy broke out a window and helped hundreds to safety. Still, 331 innocent people died including 176 children.

We already know the same thing can happen here. All it takes is a determined terrorist combined with the lax security at most schools and you have a national tragedy. Terrorists can also strike at our infrastructure leaving people on their own. Now that 9/11 and Beslan are far enough in the past many have simply forgotten that being prepared saved people’s lives during both tragedies.

Simple mental preparation can be the difference between life and death in a disaster. Just thinking “it can happen to me,” is sometimes enough. It sure is better than nothing.

The same is true when it comes to how concealed carry license holders should prepare for a gunfight. To be brutally honest, the odds say it won’t happen to any of us. Being prepared for what is likely not to happen is a requirement in today’s society, whether you are attacked on the street or a victim of a large scale terrorist attack.

Few people can comprehend the emotional turmoil of the parents who stood outside Beslan School 1 during the hostage crisis and subsequent battle for the school. The same is true for the families of those lost in the 9/11 attacks. Many forget the Pentagon was also attacked that day and families of service members were shocked to learn that such an assignment didn’t assure their safety.

Seven years after 9/11 and four years after the attack in Beslan many Americans have already forgotten just how terrifying both events were.

Our schools are no safer today than when the Beslan massacre happened as evidenced by the shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. Although law enforcement is far better in responding to active shooting situations than they were even two years ago, it isn’t enough. Not because the police don’t respond properly, but because an instantaneous response time is impossible.

The same is true for a home invasion, carjacking or other violent attack. If someone kicked down your front door right now, could you get to the phone? If you answer honestly, the answer is probably no.

Chances are the police couldn’t respond to your emergency because you will never make the call. Under the circumstances the three minute response time no longer matters.

Today is a day to mourn the innocent victims of the cowardly acts at Beslan School 1 in Russia and on September 11, we will mourn the victims of that cowardly attack.

But that doesn’t answer whether your family is safer today than on September 10, 2001.

The Department of Homeland Security can’t answer that question for you. Either can President Bush, Congress or your local government. One answer is certain, the schools aren’t any safer since only the killer will be armed when the attacks begins. Not because people want teachers and students of legal age disarmed, but because the educational elite cling to the false hope of gun free zones.

Only you know whether you’ve made preparations to protect your family. Have you talked to your children about what to do in a life threatening emergency? Does your spouse have access to a gun and the training to use it if an intruder walks in the door at 3:00 p.m. instead of the kids coming home from school? Where will you get water if the city system shuts down?

If you can answer yes to these questions than your family is safer today than on September 10, 2001.

If not, when the crisis comes, will you blame the government? Or yourself?

Gerard Valentino is the Buckeye Firearms Association Central Ohio Chair and writes for the ValentinoChronicle.com.