I would feel better if I were protected by gentlemen from 22nd Regiment at Bradbury Lines too.. did the tan cordury match the tan beret?

If you think about it - and many have - a college is the perfect place to wreak mayhem. Most colleges are liberal, hence the vast majority of the population will not be armed as they are under the impression the police are everywhere and can protect them. As few of these people have ever considered what bad things could happen; instead of running and finding cover, they cower in place, even in the middle of an empty lawn. Finally, most colleges have strict gun control regulations in place. Carry a pistol and you are outta there, do not pass "Go", go directly to jail.

I think I would chose to break a few rules and have something that would even the playing field, like OC spray, a Taser - something.

Just a minor nit here -- while agreed, most colleges have strict gun control rules in place, in *most* cases (consult your local laws) it is NOT illegal. Again, laws vary, consult your local laws.

-john

True for "most" campuses. But you can always enroll at one of the finer schools in Colorado - C.S.U. in Ft. Collins. Which doesn't ban firearms. However, to legally own a handgun you need to be 21, so that limits handgun carry to upperclassmen since most folks start college at a younger age. The C.U. campus in Boulder has banned firearms for a long time, but the courts just said that they cannot do that anymore.

Realistically, trying to defend yourself against an assailant who is armed with a firearm, you're just not going to have much luck with anything EXCEPT another firearm or an automobile (to run them over). I sure wouldn't go up and pepperspray someone waving a gun around. That's just stupid.

If you cannot or choose not to arm yourself to deal with an armed threat, then the best course of action is situational awareness and a pre thought out plan of how to get the hell out of Dodge. Actually, those other things are equally as important even when you ARE armed yourself.

Any zone that is "gun free" merely because somebody said so is a perfect place to wreak mayhem. History proves that school campuses are a prime example. It's like the shooter already knows that he won't be met with any kind of resistance that's going to stop him.

Again, I like to use real examples. So, consider for example the "gun free zone" of Virgnia Tech. At the height of arrogance, the shooter (who I choose not to name) chain locked the doors of the building. He knew at that point it would be like fishing in a bucket. Do you really think the shooter would do something like that (chain lock the doors) if he knew at least one person in every class was packing?

Just to clarify - I am not anti-gun. I spent 20 yrs in the Army and own my own personal protection package.

I am against stupid laws passed as knee-jerk reactions to situations that happened and were handled poorly.

Good running shoes.

One class at Virginia Tech that had no losses was due to a girl getting up as soon as she realized something was wrong, carefully peeking through a crack in the door, then closing it and getting help to barricade it.

Like burglars, terrorists like school shooters will probably follow the path of least resistance -- if one door won't open, they'll try another. They are also probably quite confident that everyone will panic or run, not attack.

IOW, have some kind of a plan for as many possible situations that you can think of: attack, run, hide. Then you might possibly have something to fall back on if it happens, rather than just having your brain spinning in neutral.

But I guess in a geology class you could always throw rocks!

Do you know if your school has any kind of plan? What about some of your classmates?

Sue

my classroom was pretty typical for a public high school... outward opening steel entrance doors with probably 8x24 section of reinforced glass for vision...several inner doors leading to common office and other classrooms... during "lockdown" had a section of opaque paper to cover window...for active shooter my plan was to use wedges for the inward opening doors and had precut 8' pieces of 2x2 for outward doors...two loops of 550cord per 2x2 section, half hitch from each loop around door knob... adjust length of loop so wood is in contact with door frame diagonally crossways... pretty resistant if agressor has only outer door knob for purchase

I suggest that if you consider the scenario in real life, and people do, its called responding to an active shooter - in a primary school, a campus, a church, a workplace, a shopping mall, even a military base (Ft Hood). Lots of folks are responding to active shooters, far more than they are to isolated campus shootings, which are relatively rare. There are lots of similarities across these attacks. Lots of folks are giving thought to how to respond to active shooters, on a personal (victim) level, as police / SWAT, and as EMS. I like this article written from the EMS perspective: http://www.jems.com/article/major-incidents/arlington-county-va-task-force. Especially this quote:

"In a paradigm shift following Columbine, police departments moved to an aggressive response in which police immediately pursue, establish contact with and neutralize the shooter; the idea is that the sooner the shooter can be contained, captured or neutralized, the fewer the casualties."

The idea of victim response to an active shooter isn't often dealt with as directly: most often the advice of first responders is to take cover, establish distance and barriers between yourself and an active shooter, treat wounded and wait for assistance. In short, protect yourself and the lives of others. I think though that the idea of rapid containment, capture and neutralization would allow for people in the direct path of an active shooter to take action on their own, with some general caveats:
- don't head out of your room or area in search of the shooter: armed or unarmed, you are more of a danger to yourself, other targets of the shooter, and to first responders. If not in the same area as the shooter, distance (evacuation) and barriers are your best protection.
- if you find yourself in the same room as the shooter, you have a split second choice to make: rush the shooter, hopefully with others, or take cover, and evacuate as possible. It seems to me that distance from the shooter and from available exits or cover is critical here. If you have to approach from across a room or down a shopping mall corridor, your odds of subduing a shooter before he can fire on you are diminished. Also, I submit that the situation will probably overwhelm even the most prepared person: we just aren't keyed to respond to a sudden and immediate threat to our lives in the form of an active shooter. Only training and experience can somewhat overcome that, and AFAIK no one provides potential victim response training (defn: contain, capture and neutralize, before the arrival of first responders).

Some folks however may be more predisposed to thinking on their feet and mounting an immediate attack - vets who have seen action, aren't panicked or overwhelmed by the sound of gunfire, and might have the training to subdue a shooter. In general I recommend sitting next to them in class...