Press Release: COBRA-Active Shooter Response Plan
Why is the Obvious Solution to School Shootings Not Even Part of the Conversation?
While the NRA, politicians, and celebrities fill up the airways debating gun control, one expert says there is an obvious question not being asked, “Why do schools have fire drills, tornado drills, lock down drills, but not active shooter drills?”
Watch the Featured ABC Action News Story On The C.O.B.R.A. Active Shooter Response Plan
That’s the question posed by veteran street cop, maximum security prison guard, and author of “The Psychology of Self-Defense” Chris Sutton, “How many lives at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook would have been saved had the school had a well rehearsed active shooter plan in place?”
According to Sutton, the knife attack at Lone Star College is a great case in point. 15 people were hurt from a single attacker wielding a knife. He says, “Had these students been trained in the active shooter scenarios, there is no way that the number of injured would be so high. These kids simply had no clue how to deal with the attack. The school failed to provide them with training even though training is readily available.” (See the video of Sutton discussing the knife attack)
Sutton has been teaching active shooting preparation as part of his Cobra-Defense program since 2003. The Cobra-Defense Active Shooter Plan is a variety of drills and scenarios that Sutton has pulled from his extensive police training. The drills and scenarios help people react with sound strategic and tactical skills despite the hysteria of an attack. Sutton likens the training to a “Police Academy for Civilians.”
With the frequency of shootings increasing, organizations may need to reverse the thought that, “It would never happen here…” to “Let’s prepare in case it does.”
School and workplace shootings also have more than the mortal cost of lives lost. Civil lawsuits for failure to protect students have proliferated in the wake of increased school shootings. Having a well rehearsed plan may help mitigate that liability by saving both lives and money.
It’s clear that we live in a world where the threat of active shooters is a real danger. The ongoing debates about gun control and other cause related issues to school and workplace shootings needs to be balanced with a proactive plan of preparation for the next time it happens.
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