Knowing that, would you, as a trained LEO expect me to fly at the gunman, knowing my level of minimal training?
Yes, if you want to have a chance at living.
Please consider that you may one day actually face such a situation. It's not about heroism; it's about pragmatism. I don't condemn those dead and wounded kids. I pity them and I am sympathetic to the loss their loved ones are feeling right now.
Some kids managed to jump from a window and survive. Good for them! That was smart and took guts because it was NOT a ground-floor window. Most of the classroom would not have been in a position to make such an escape. I'll repeat my assertion that their best chance at living was to attack.
The limiting factor is often mindset. People can't fight back if they refuse to accept that they are in a fight. Even trained, armed police officers have died with their weapons holstered because they refused to believe they were at war with someone. Most people refuse to contemplate that they will ever be in a fight for their lives. Right now, American's minds are reeling at this asault on their calm, safe reality. People are actually more comfortable viewing things like this as an uncontrolable event, that it was just fate; "There was nothing anyone could do!" Some will go back to the reassuring belief that this was an anomolous event and that they never need to worry about evil men. Others will consider this event and decide that the world is
not a safe place and will prepare themselves mentally and physically (including arming themselves) to fight. Those of us who would prepare to fight
must consider the reality of the violence in our modern world. We
must consider the plights of victims and the triumphs of survivors if we are to be prepared. We must pick apart what worked and what did not work.
It doesn't matter that things like this
shouldn't happen and that good people
shouldn't have to consider making a desperate charge against an evil, armed killer. What matters is that this is the way the world is and we can either plan for chaotic events or simply let them happen to us. I choose to examine and discuss the ugly, horrible events of our times and certainly will not be stopped by criticism that it is ignoble or macabre. I hope you and others will come to do the same.
Johnny