My office is the last one in the line and has no window in the doorway. It’s on the second floor and leads into a small parking lot for the building. I have given serious thought to bringing in one of those fire escape ladders and a big hammer to break the glass. I’ve told some of my colleagues to run to my office which we could barricade while we break open the window to escape. My H is also planning on getting me a device that you put on your door that enables it to stay locked, even against pressure. Realistically, however, I have a better shot, so to speak, of being a part of an outdoor shooting because I pass through Penn Station every day.
We haven’t done active shooter drills but we have had to do individual online training.
It’s not true the country does nothing about this. Over 95% of public schools, have active shooter drills. Many employers now provide active shooter and workplace violence training.
Maybe the statement should be “this country does nothing to proactively deal with this problem that other countries don’t face anywhere near the level the US does”.
Active shooter drills and workplace violence training are reactive responses to the problem. They don’t address the problem.
^Active shooter training is proactive, not reactive. It meets the definition of proactive: “acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes.”
Perhaps the appropriate term is preventative or prophylactic. Active shooter drills may help minimize casualties once the shoooting has started but do not prevent the initial problem.
Thanks for the better word choices, @roycroftmom. I’m sure roethlisburger understood what I meant, though, given the context but seems to prefer not to acknowledge that for reasons I don’t comprehend. Eleven innocent people died yesterday and active shooter training wouldn’t have helped.
Whenever I go in places now my mind automatically notes how safe it is (or isn’t which is far more common). That never used to be a natural way of thinking for me aside from muggers or similar. There are a gazillion soft targets in every state, town, village, or rural gathering place. As long as we have folks who feel this is an appropriate way to act on their grievances or an ideal way to end their lives and they have access to weapons, these stories will never stop.
With muggers/robberies in general we were always told to "do what they say and in most cases you’ll be fine. With shooters we have to totally change that thinking to, “act now and swiftly” with running, hiding, or fighting for folks’ lives…
When Nashville hosted the NFL Draft in late April which drew 600,000 people, I wasn’t about to go near it. I am not a paranoid person, but I have to admit that one of my first thoughts was what an easy target it all was, especially being outside and all.
I haven’t stopped going anywhere. I’m more aware, but I’d rather live and die young than grow into old age and do absolutely nothing. The more I watch our parents, the more I’m determined to keep going places and doing things while we’re able. 1000 Places to See Before We Die? With 25 years that’s 40 per year. We’ll be back meandering as soon as we can 'cause I bet I could list more than 1000 and I’m certainly not guaranteed 25 years.
ETA: The folks who just died were at work - even the contractor getting a permit was working. A car just ran into a house and killed the homeowner inside. One never knows - anywhere, anytime.
That seems an odd sentiment. I would think people have feelings of powerlessness, despair, grief, frustration, anger, the list goes on. But “secret sick satisfaction”? I don’t feel such contempt for other Americans. I realize it’s a thing now, to judge fellow Americans with extreme contempt for differing opinions or lack of coordinated action to deal with these issues, but I don’t think that leads to any answers.
It’s strange that you didn’t feel the same way 10 years ago. Columbine was 20 years ago. Other shootings, including the University of Texas tower shooting, predate when many posters were born.
We live 20 minutes from the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, I drive by it all the time. We know people who work in that particular building, luckily they are all safe. Of course, they are dealing with some serious emotions right now. I cannot even imagine. I think I will always remember where I was when I heard about this…I was out with friends in Virginia Beach and started getting texts from relatives out of state asking if we were ok. I had heard about the situation at the municipal center and once I started getting texts, I knew that it wasn’t good.
Our community is grieving and coming together. My children who are still at home have been emotionally impacted. It was discussed at our church this morning. Everyone has been asked to wear blue tomorrow in honor of the victims.
I work at a local hospital, we now undergo active shooter training as part of our yearly trainings. I admit it does scare me.
This may be a myth. If you look at the NYTimes analysis, the frequency of active shooter attacks on k-12 schools has changed very little since the late 1980s.
So normal is good? Or makes it ok? How does this compare to any other first world country? How does it compare to any other country that isn’t at war?
Not only school shootings, but all the other mass shootings too - workplace, gangs, etc - anything where A doesn’t like B so feels it’s ok to shoot them.
Then compare the random ones like LV.
I’m curious as to how “normal” we are, esp since whenever we travel out of country and talk with locals or other travelers no one else sees it as normal and wonders why we put up with it.
@roethlisburger - I was absolutely talking about actual prevention, not what to do when/if this happens.
FWIW - my office is huge on safety. On this issue…nothing. One of my coworkers did address it in a department staff meeting recently, but we are just a small percentage of the people in our office. Most of us are in cubicles, the offices all have glass fronts and we are on a high floor.
@Roethlisburger, the NYT chart shows quite an uptake in school shootings since 1998, and as mentioned there are far more shootings in churches, concerts, movie theatres, dance clubs, day care/preschool/colleges and workplaces than before.
Always amazes me when the gun crowd suddenly becomes so dedicated to mental health access, and so ignores the more obvious issues. There are lots of mentally ill folks all over the world. Only in America are shootings routine.
Because such posts (like this one) always end up getting deleted for violating ToS and the threads end up getting closed. Let’s steer clear of 2nd amendment discussions, what lawmakers should or should not do, NRA, etc.
And while we’re at it, let’s move on from analysis paralysis with trends, percentage change over time, time between major shootings, plotting shootings on X- and Y- axes, etc.
We have had some former law enforcement folks working in our corporate office and there have been requests from them to carry (concealed) to help protect the building. They are responsible gun owners and we really considered the requests carefully. In the end, the decision was no. In Kentucky (where we have some locations), former law enforcement people have to be allowed to carry even if your policy says no one can bring weapons onto your premises. It is for their own protection from any former “bad guys.”
I was deeply affected by Columbine even though I didn’t live there and had no real connection. I was consumed with grief and read everything about it that I could just to try to make some sense of it. A year or so later we were in Colorado and I made my family drive by the school. Sadly, as the years have gone by, I have become almost used to these incidents and while I’m distressed, nothing has gotten to me the way Columbine did.