Armed first responders can accomplish the same thing.
True.
I well recognize that.
However to criticize police for not being able to respond instantly when it is literally physically impossible to do so, is no answer. There is enough to criticize LE over these days without criticizing them for not being able to violate the laws of physics.
Armed second responders - you and your cohorts are your own first responders.
It was government and the Left that started the narrative of government employees being first responders.