A decade ago today, I was on the West Coast, teaching at the Firearms Academy of Seattle, when word reached us of the horror that was happening at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. The incident left not just a deep scar on the collective American psyche, but a festering wound that has never quite healed. It’s a wound that became infected, and the infection still flares up again occasionally, with fatal results.

The initial wound was caused by two young monsters named Harris and Klebold. The recurring infections were other hate-filled losers who followed in their footsteps. I was at the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association conference outside Chicago when the twisted Cho murdered 32 helpless victims at Virginia Tech two years ago this week. Cho and other punks who did the same elsewhere in the US and in Europe cited Klebold and Harris’ rampage as their role model in the sick rants they left behind.

I was on the ground in Littleton only a few days after Columbine, to study the police response. I learned a lot of things about what happened, some of which have never been made public.

Some lessons have been learned. Armed with a 9mm carbine among other weapons they illegally possessed, the teen butchers were able to stand off the first responding police – the school resource officer and a motorcycle cop, both armed only with handguns – from a distance of some 70 yards. The third responding officer, however, was armed with an AR15 rifle, and when he started beating them at their own game, the young cowards retreated. The cops who had risked their lives pitting pistols against a long gun had tied the killers up long enough to allow countless potential victims to escape, yet would be excoriated as cowards by the clueless. Lesson: cops need patrol rifles. They’ve been widely adopted throughout American police service in the years since.

While it’s true that formal SWAT entry was made late – it takes a while for the troops to arrive and assemble – the fact is that an ad hoc team of SWAT cops from different departments had entered the building within minutes. They were hampered by many things: deafening fire alarms were blaring, they had incompatible radio frequencies, and the sprinkler system was going like an indoor monsoon. All this interrupted their communications. Incorrect reports from terrified students that the killers were exchanging clothing with victims to hide their identities, and were booby-trapping hallways full of dropped backpacks and turning them into IEDs, naturally slowed the team’s progress.

Today’s protocol is “active shooter response” by the first few arriving officers. My friend and colleague Ron Borsch created a storm of controversy in the police training field when he recommended sending the first officer in alone under some circumstances to hunt down the gunmen, but his tactic worked great a few weeks ago at the old folks home in the Carolinas. A single 25-year-old cop made his way into the building and, though he was shot in the leg himself, this young hero cop felled the gunman with a single pistol bullet to the chest and stopped the killing. Lessons have been learned here, too.

A few days after Columbine, I was on a national morning news show recommending an armed teachers’ program like the one that had and has worked so well in Israel since the Maalot school massacre so long before. (And in the Philippines, and in Peru, for that matter.) That recommendation has, for the most part, fallen on deaf ears. A shame. You’ll notice that no megalomaniacal murderer has ever been stupid enough to open fire in an armed environment such as Firearms Academy of Seattle or an ILEETA conference. Predators seek prey, and steer clear of sheepdogs. Unfortunately, by their nature, the sheep can’t distinguish between wolves and sheepdogs and seem to fear any creature with canine teeth, even those that are there to protect them.

There had been ample warnings that the two crazy young “trenchcoat Mafioso” were about to explode, but they were ignored by parents and schoolmates, by school authorities and others. Schools around the nation quietly instituted programs urging students to confidentially report such aberrant behavior warning signs, and this has nipped countless mass murder plots in the bud. This life-saving lesson got little publicity, but has saved untold lives.

The most important lesson was lost on the media. For weeks, even months after the shooting, the dead punks were all over the news, their faces on the covers of TIME and NEWSWEEK. It happened again two years ago after Virginia Tech. To this day, the media sends the message to every thwarted loser that all they have to do to become famous is get their hands on a gun and murder a few helpless schoolmates. But instead of looking its own culpability in the face, Big Media insists on demonizing law-abiding private citizens who own guns, instead.

Why are the most important lessons the ones that are the hardest to learn?

1 COMMENT

  1. The antigun media is the biggest problem we have. Got to have that scoop. got to talk it to death. That’s what sells, got to milk it for every buck they can. No shame, no morals.

  2. the sheep will continue to fear the sheepdog as Dave Grossman describes. These varmints hunt baited fields with gun free zones. they are smart. The politicians are dumb and getting dumber

  3. Thank you Mas, for another well written, highly informative article.

    Even with my propensity for following law enforcement trends and events, I was unaware until now of the first responders being pinned down by long gun fire. I guess the media was too busy glorifying the little monsters to be bothered reporting the facts.

    Without any explicit or implicit support from Mr. Ayoob, I want to take this opportunity to suggest to all responsible and capable CCW people out there who are teachers or students at Universities, to consider the possible ramifications of obeying or disobeying what amounts to a bad law (the law against carrying concealed on University campuses in the many parts of the country where it is illegal to carry concealed on a school campus). I am not suggesting that anyone should disobey these laws. I am suggesting that everybody should consider the pros and cons of both obeying these laws, and disobeying these laws.

    There are some states where concealed-carry on college and university campuses by CCW-licensed citizens is allowed, and that’s a good start. But for the vast majority of the country’s students, the current laws force everybody – sheep and sheepdog alike, to be sheep (with the exception of off-duty and retired police officers in most places).

    What a difference it would make if ALL law-abiding citizens who are competent with a handgun could and would carry on campus, and all other public places. As we all know, this rash of school and public shootings would immediately cease, or at least, would quickly cease after one or two properly-publicized attempted mass shootings that end with the monster(s) being shot dead by a citizen or citizens with CCW Permit(s) and gun(s).

    I don’t wish harm on anybody, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to turn on the news and see an attempted mass shooting in a school classroom stopped cold by 2 or 3 students, and/or the teacher, all of whom possessed CCWs and weapons, with no loss of life, and if any casualty at all, that being the perpetrator?

    Sincerely,

    .45StayAlive

  4. I’m a graduate student at the University of Missouri and a CCW permit holder. Unfortunately our state laws and university rules do not permit weapons on campus. There is currently a bill in our state legislature to permit concealed carry on campus, but its outcome is not certain. Our university president and police department are on record as opposing the bill. My attempts to discuss the issue with my colleagues have been unproductive because they refuse to believe that anyone who carries a gun can be a positive good for our community. The university has an electronic notification system in place and expects that that alone will be an adequate defense in the event of an active shooter. They won’t even acknowledge the system’s purpose, insisting that it is for a “campus wide emergency.” There is no other information presented to the community about what they might do in the event of an active shooter. Do a google search for “active shooter” and see what the various schools offer. Some are good – UCLA is especially so, as is Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL – but many, including Missouri, simply ignore the possibility of an active shooter. For many schools, and their faculty and administrations, it is a matter of denial rather than preparation. There is a generation of people who have been taught that a gun-free zone is an impenetrable barrier, and that guns are only for evil purposes. This thinking guarantees that events such as took place at Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University and Columbine High School will continue to happen. The blame will continue to be heaped on the NRA, gun owners and our supporters.

    For myself, I signed up for a free course offered through the state emergency management agency designed for such an event. I was the only person attending from my campus. The university did not participate. I plan to survive because I prepared. I guess I’m just crazy that way.

  5. I’m actually kind of curious on people’s opinion of a tangent on the discussion.

    Does the media reporting so heavily on these shootings make further shootings even more probable?

    So, the Virginia Tech shooter; did he want his week of worldwide fame, at the cost of his life? If there wasn’t fame in that sort of death, might he have not done it?

  6. I agree it’s time to get rid of this farce called ‘gun free school zones’ and allow teachers, adminisrators and students (legally of the correct age and training) to arm themsleves if they so desire. Will they stop a gunman from a killing spree? No, but then again would 32 people have died at VT if one student, one professor, one adminisrator had been able to legally fight back and possibly stop his assault.

    But instead we do what we do best, pass ineffective laws. In the name of the ‘children.’ I think I’d rather have my Ruger than a TXT message telling me there’s a emergency

  7. I read an article last year about a school district in Texas that is allowing teachers to carry. I forwarded that article to our county commisioners and the members of the school board. The silence has been deafening.

  8. I’m not so sure if our biggest problem is anti-gun media, or if it is fellow citizens who fail to think things through. We seem to have a recurring theme in this country of citizens not working a problem in a logical and rational manor through to conclusion. This leads many votors to make choices based on emotion and herding instinct. I believe failure to take interest and research civic issues is a failure in citizenship.

    Those of us that have taken the time to contemplate “what I would do” in confrontations involving a weapon assault usually reach the same conclusions. We realize that, based on statistics, a passive response does not often yield favorable results.

    The real problem, in my opinion, is convincing citizens to take responsible action (yes I said that with a straight face). Working through the problem, arriving at your own logical conclusion, arming yourself (if desired), and (most importantly) get training. After that, who really cares what the media think. They don’t have as big a following as they think they do. April 15th was a good example.

  9. Mas, I had no idea that the first responders attempted entry and exchanged fire with the two armed students. Recenlty while watching coverage of the mass shooting in Binghamton NY, I said to myself “why do we always see cops hiding behind cars while people are getting slaughtered inside”. Is what we are seeing on the news the actual story or are first responders at a mass shooting restricted from entering due to liability and potental litigation? What ‘s the real story here? Does a single officer have the “go ahead” to make entry and engage a shooter?

  10. NPR hashed it over pretty good today, I’d guess the tv did too, just incase some wacko forgot it was his turn.

  11. I have a friend who is an elementary school teacher who upon being instructed in the ’emergency’ scenarios for an armed school invasion was absolutely infuriated. Another school I know of plans on responding to a bomb-or-similar threat to the school by escorting all the children to a field near the school – completely out in the open for “safety’s sake”…of course that might be the exact desired response by someone who then won’t have to go room to room to do something unspeakable. I myself was evacuated from a bomb-shelter-quality federal building to a large park on The Hill in D.C. when a single-prop plane flew into restricted air space. From a well-protected place to a park OUTSIDE in the open?…,when a PLANE is the “threat”?….The comparison to sheep is quite apt. If I were a parent, I would really inquire into exactly what the plans are the school has – and then under expert advice, counsel my kids in necessary amendments to said plans…including having old cellphones to give to teachers who might ‘collect’ them from students (instead of their real ones).

  13. Mas,

    How can I convince you to run for office? We need people with good sense, like yourself, in public office!

  14. I have a friend who works at the NC nursing home where the shootings occurred. Thats a “gun free zone”. He wasnt harmed thankfully! The next day, it wasnt a gun free zone. His supervisor and many others were packing..and dang the consequences. Too bad no one was able to stop that nut. Mas..you are awesome. Love your podcast too!

  15. Apparently, according to my cop nephew, you’re a legend amoung police forces but you wrong on Columbine. Your “them and us” attitude is showing.
    Three cops pinned down by 2 kids? Doubt it.
    That’s a very large school with numerous entrances all over the building The plain fact is an armed Jefco deputy stationed at the school failed to enter the school and protect his charges because he feared for his own safety. Failure to do your duty because you fear for your life is the definition of cowardice. All additional police also failed to enter and instead waited for SWAT to show up. All the while these 2 punks systematically executed more kids.
    What I and any parent expects from police in a situation like this is they put their life on the line.
    Go in there and be a man – period.

  16. Not wrong on Columbine, Loren.

    We agree that swift and positive entry by police should be the protocol in situations such as these.

    It wasn’t “three cops pinned down by 2 kids.” It was 2 cops with pistols pinned down by carbine fire at 70-some yards — and returning fire with their handguns instead of retreating — until the third cop, with a carbine of his own, reached that piece of the complicated incident and tilted the balance.