Replies

But the difference between those folks who took down the shooter at the Casino and the kids at VT was precisely the training. The kids hadn't had ANY and were just not expecting evil to visit them on their campus. So because they had nothing in their past that would give them any indication that they COULD fight back, they were simply paralyzed with fear. The professor who threw himself in front of the shooter at VT did so precisely because he had faced evil in his past from the Nazis. He knew what was coming and reacted to it, even as the students were still confused about what was happening around them.

Someone who has at least had some training in law enforcement, or in the military, has the ability to get over that initial surprise and possible reticence to at least have some idea that he or she could do something to mitigate the danger for others, even it it might mean danger to themselves. That's why they have to do so much training. It is against human nature to put oneself in danger.

Training certainly HELPS, but even people with no training used to ACT. I can think of teenagers back in the day who stopped fights, intervened in bullying, and two kids who jumped and beat up a punk who was robbing an old lady with a knife.

I seriously think that the public schools have taught kids to be passive who in the old days would have acted. Team sports (especially football) used to foster that attitude. Now the schools say don't hit back, even if the bully hit you first, or you'll be punished just as severely as the bully. Violence never solved anything; don't defend yourself.

K-12 is 13 years of that nonsense, I think it sinks in.

Someone who has at least had some training in law enforcement, or in the military, has the ability to get over that initial surprise and possible reticence to at least have some idea that he or she could do something to mitigate the danger for others, even it it might mean danger to themselves.

Let's not confuse military and law enforcement training.

The cops didn't exactly rush in and distinguish themselves in the school shootings, or any mass shooting for that matter....

Military are trained to move to the sound of gunfire, cops are all about 'Officer Safety'....