Quote:
Originally Posted by moe l.
I've been under the impression the WORST thing you could do is comply with a gunman. At that point you could trade places with a sheep at the slaughter house because you'd typically have the same odds of survival. If it were me, I'd run like hell and take as many with me. We all know how difficult it is to hit a moving target. At least you'd have a chance at survival.
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I always love seeing the official police line when someone fights back against an armed robber and they say you are better off giving in. I got my pistol permit in 1995 because I was working overnights at a convenient store and every cop I knew would tell me to get one because by the time they got there it would be all over. Amazing that two weeks after I left the place was robbed.
I once worked for a large industrial mill and there worry was someone walking into the front office and either shooting up the place or taking the company President hostage. None of us were armed even though the head of security, the assistant head, and the head of operations were all ex cops. The President of the company's brilliant plan was that if someone went up front with a gun to send one of us with a camera to videotape what was transpiring. (Not kidding that was the plan). My boss refused to do it because the fact that our uniforms were strikingly similar to the local PD and we might catch a bullet and certainly would be in the way of the local cops and would put someone at risk. The response of having the head of security carrying a pistol concealed of the head of operations carrying concealed was laughed at because they thought too many bad things could happen.
I have worked doing higher end security for many places before and since getting into law enforcement and what I will tell you is that no company, school whatever likes to spend the money on security and when the budget gets tight it is the first thing to go because it is looked as being not necessary. We had a local school after Columbine get a security person, made sure entry was being made by the right people, but after the first school budget, that person was let go. There was a local department officer sent to a school as a resource officer, once money got tight they were let go. I worked part time for a company that made medical supplies which utilized a lot of gold and silver being on hand. We would find the safe which housed all the precious metals in it left open all the time, employees hanging out, kids trespassing etc. When I first started there everyone working there were ex or current cops and all was well. Then the budget got cut and the company got cheap and when I left I was the last person who had any real experience. Low and behold problems started including thefts, even by some of the security help who were little more than minimum wage slaves. Eventually they canned them all and the last I heard stuff is disappearing all the time now and the company can't figure out why.
When I worked at a psych hospital which was pretty upscale and most patients were there because they are private pay I found out exactly what happens when money trumps security interests. We had escapes all the time but because of the strict rules after they reached a certain point we were under orders not to follow. One guy got fired simply because a girl was trying to climb a fence and she was going to fall so he reached out and tried to catch her. (this place had children and relatives of state senators and the like) He put a black and blue mark on her arm where he caught her and even though there were witnesses they still tossed him. I left because because I was responsible for the security of the whole hospital while I was working and to save money they added on more jobs like having us collect the garbage from the whole place, all the while being told if an emergency comes up to respond ASAP.
The problem is that most places look at and hire security simply because it lowers their insurance and they fail to look at it from an actual point of stopping anything. Look at your mall cops and places like amusement parks and fairs. One job I had was working armed work collecting money with another employee at an amusement park. It was nothing to collect $30000 or more every night. The company didn't like the complaints it was getting from the public seeing armed guards (I wore a Model 19 and another guy who was a retired LEO who carried a Model 15). Eventually they got rid of us and went to unarmed guards but still people collecting all that money. We were paid well but the new guys were making $6.25 an hour in 1998. Thank God nothing ever happened.
Schools are making a big show of beefing up security right now and towns by having security, cops in every school whatever, but when it comes time to pass the new budgets and the towns and boards see what all that overtime is costing they will drop it, because nothing bad happened there. I don't know what the answer is, banning guns is the first kneejerk reaction as usual and they may get their wish the way some of the NRA backed politicians are already caving. In the end something else will happen and they will demand another law and so on and so forth. Should teachers be armed, I don't know I have seen some of the teachers out there and don't see it. More liberal places like NYC, California and Chicago won't allow that. I think though that people need to get their heads out of their backsides and take security more seriously. They have made the schools this way be their liberal policies and now they need to figure out how to fix them.