Gun Control and active shooter training
If you turn on any news or talk channel you will be bombarded with the debate on gun control. The latest mass shootings have set off another heated round of arguments, with fingers pointing in every possible direction. I’m not going to discuss my personal viewpoints here; rather, I want to talk about the importance of having a plan and TRAINING that plan so you may know how to survive a mass shooting. While we can debate gun control until we’re blue in the face, the bottom line is that guns and the murder of innocents are here for the foreseeable future. Preparing yourself and your family for emergency situations (home invasion, active shooter, fire, terrorist attack, earthquake) is the single best thing you can do to stay safe.
Many of us tend to freeze when we are confronted with an emergency or disaster. Training (such as active shooter training) can help build reactions that become automatic, and ACTING increases your chance of survival. Staying calm increases your chance of survival. Being able to think and act during chaos is key. If you have a plan and have drilled and trained that plan with your family then you will have a framework within which you can operate.
Martial arts are a great way to teach the body skills you need to survive. Naturally, knowing how to deal with an attacker is a benefit of martial arts training. But keeping calm under pressure is another tool that martial arts instills in its students. I recommend that everyone take some sort of martial arts class, preferably one that teaches strict self-defense if students don’t have years to train. Krav Maga is an excellent martial art for self-defense, and if you’re in Redondo Beach or Hermosa Beach or Los Angeles South Bay, you should check out Elite Training Center‘s programs.
You should create a simple emergency plan with your family; one for home, one for away from home. It should be specific and be the same for different types of emergencies. The procedure is the same whether it’s a fire or a home invasion. If you are out and there’s an active shooter situation, what are you going to do? Freezing will likely get you hurt or killed, so any other option such as running or even fighting gives you a chance. But unless you train (specifically active shooter training), freezing is the reaction that is likely to come out. It’s great to have a plan, but you need to run through that plan often to keep it fresh in your mind.
Active shooter training for schools and businesses
Schools and workplaces should come up with plans for emergency scenarios as well, and employees and students should practice and train those plans. Evacuation should be stressed (as it works for fires and disasters as well), and if people are going to engage an active shooter they should have at least basic active shooter training and a solid plan of attack.
If you or your family or your workplace/school/church needs help creating a plan, there are resources for you! Do some research, talk to local law enforcement. Keeping our communities safe has to be a community effort, and we need to work together to plan for the worst while hoping it never happens.
Elite Training Center Redondo Beach
1628 South Pacific Coast Highway,
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 598-1887
