Homeland Security Watch

Comment by Michael Brady

August 7, 2012 @ 8:50 am

FEMA offers an online course called “Active Shooter: What You Can Do.” It takes about 45 minutes to complete the course, according to the website.

The FEMA course offers simple and sensible advice for folks who are interested in best practices should they encounter this rare event.

Likewise DHS offers a free pamphlet in PDF form titled, Active Shooter: How To Respond at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/active_shooter_booklet.pdf

If you live in Oregon and you want a license to carry a concealed handgun, you can take your certification test online (at this link). The website describes the simple three step process

They forget Step 4: Fantasize about being prepared to engage a heavily armed and armored bad guy in a packed movie theater in low light with tear gas in your eyes and gunshots ringing in your ears.

Comment by Christopher Bellavita

August 7, 2012 @ 12:03 pm

From Slashdot (at http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/07/29/1627203/facebook-abstainers-could-be-labeled-suspicious)

bs0d3 writes
“According to this article printed in tagesspiegel.de, not having a Facebook account could be the first sign that you are a mass murderer.(German) As examples they use Norwegian shooter Anders Breivik, who used MySpace instead of Facebook and the newer Aurora shooter who used adultfriendfinder instead of Facebook. They already consider those with Facebook accounts, who lack friends to be suspicious, but now they are suggesting that anyone who abstains from Facebook altogether may be even more suspicious.”

Comment by William R. Cumming

August 9, 2012 @ 1:53 am

Recommend DRIVEN TO DEATH–Psychological and Social Aspects of Suicide Terrorism–Oxford press 2010–Ariel Merari!

Comment by Ed Welch

August 11, 2012 @ 7:36 am

Police officers who receive a considerable amount of firearms and tactics training are often inadequately prepared to respond effectively to dangerous situations. Intense stress, confusion and fear are inherent in violent confrontations. Physiologically, rapidly increased heart rates and shallow breathing make clear thinking and deliberate decision making difficult(Diaz 2001a). Not surprisingly police officers make serious mistakes in these situations, individuals without training are likely to do much worse [1].
Although protection and self defense are the main justifications for gun ownership there is little evidence of any net public health benefit. No credible evidence exists for a deterent effect for firearms and gun use in self defense is extremely rare. Using a gun in self defense is no more likely to reduce the risk of injury or death than other types of protective actions (Run, Hide, Fight)[2].

Between 1965 and 2000, 60,000 Americans died from unintentional gun shot wounds. Young people are the primary victims with more than half of the unintentional victims under 25 and by far 15 to 19 years old have the highest rate of unintentional fatalities. Children under 15 in the United States are 9 times more likely to die as the result of a fatal gun accident than children the same age anywhere else in the world.[3]

Gun policy in America is driven rhetoric and fantasy… not scientific evidence.

1. David Hemenway, Private Guns, Public Health, The University of Michigan Press, 2004.
2. Ibid p 78
3. Ibid p 28.

Comment by antiglobalJoel

January 31, 2013 @ 8:01 pm

Well as long as were talking about unfortunate deaths, 262 MILLION innocent people died in the last century. They died as a result of democide. Yet well meaning idiots like yourselves suggest that I should trust government with having a monopoly on firepower. I guess people think that once the government has eradicated the second amendment that they will be magnanimous and “let us keep” the rest of our freedoms. HAHA!