A Letter to Tom Sullivan...

Today I was coming back from an appointment and happened to catch part of Tom Sullivan's radio show on KFBK. There were a lot of calls coming in about the shooting in Aurora, Colorado. I felt the need to pitch in my two-bits worth but couldn't call the show. I sent him this email when I had a few minutes to sit down...

Tom,

I was able to listen to part of your show today and some of the comments made by various callers. I am a 29-year law enforcement veteran, still working at a sheriff’s office in N. California and originally coming from a large sheriff’s office in S. California. I currently work as the lead lethal force instructor/trainer for my agency.

A couple of points:

Some of the callers wanted to talk about ballistics and bullets and so on. The bottom line is this… in one of these situations, what will save the day is if there is someone in the crowd who has the warrior mindset and heart (read: courage) to attack the shooter. Since the Columbine massacre law enforcement has learned some hard lessons and we have adjusted our tactics and training accordingly. I train my people to attack and draw the shooter’s attention off of his intended victims. Whether they will or not depends on a lot on the circumstances and the individual officer involved. It could likely be an armed or even unarmed citizen that stops or at least slows down the attack. At Virginia Tech one of the teachers saved many lives by blocking his classroom door, ultimately with his body, thereby denying entry to Cho.

In one recent law enforcement study done on active shooter events, it was calculated that once the shooter begins his killing rampage, a victim is injured or killed approximately every eight seconds. Even with Aurora PD being as close as they were, and with their rapid, outstanding response,  there was still enough time for the killer to amass an awful body count. And as is so typical with these cowards who would make war on innocents who cannot fight back, he surrendered to law enforcement instead of taking on the guys with guns. (They generally surrender or kill themselves when law enforcement arrives on scene.)

We have become an almost Godless society. Until we, as a nation and a society, stop feeding our kids a steady diet of murder and violence in the various media, these incidents will continue. As each of these horrific events occurs, it appears the more well-planned attacks are designed to outdo the prior murder spree with an even bigger body count. Until our society puts real deterrents in place, these attacks will continue. If the attacker is captured alive, their trial should be speedy and fair. If found guilty, one speedy appeal. If their conviction is upheld, their lives are forfeit and they should be immediately destroyed.

The politicians will wring their hands and clamor for more gun control, instead of working to enforce the overwhelming number of laws we already have in place. The pundits will blather on and our nation slips further into the abyss because our political correctness and lack of courage has hamstrung our resolve to do the right thing.

And every warrior I know was thinking this morning “If only, if only I could have been there… maybe I could have made a difference.”

I am sick at heart for the victims, their families, and our Country.

Thank you for your time, Tom. Please keep up the good work!