How To Avoid Becoming A Mass Shooting Victim

by Joe Blundo, Columbus Dispatch, 10/5/17.

Despite the fact that we live in a country awash in guns, there’s no need to panic. Keep things in perspective.

Here are a few simple steps you can take to avoid becoming the victim of a mass shooting:

Be informed about where mass shootings have occurred. Those locations include schools, churches, workplaces, hospitals, public transportation, city streets, private homes, theaters, concert venues, restaurants, military bases, nursing homes and other locations too numerous to list.

Avoid those places, and you should be fine.

Study the groups that have been targeted in the past. Those who seem particularly vulnerable include elementary-school students, middle-school students, high-school students, college students, concertgoers, churchgoers, moviegoers, employees, families at home, drivers, pedestrians, those sitting down and people doing nothing in particular.

Exercise extra caution if the list describes you or anyone you care about.

Educate yourself about firearms. Sniper rifles that can kill you from 2 miles away are legal. So try to stay 3 miles away from them.

Heed our leaders. You can’t expect politicians to intervene in the regular slaughter of citizens when they have so much fundraising to do. But they are rock-solid supporters of the idea that you’re on your own.

Hence the “active-shooter” suggestion to run, hide and fight.

If you decide to run, keep in mind that the average bullet travels about 1,700 mph. And if you decide to hide, make sure you do so in an armored personnel carrier because bullets can pierce construction materials. And if you decide to fight, make sure you have good aim. Because nothing scares a heavily armed, suicidal gunman in body armor like having a stapler thrown at him.

Remember the NRA mantra: The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. But let’s modify it slightly: The only thing that can stop a bad guy from firing automatic weapons on a crowd from the 32^nd floor of a hotel is a good guy with automatic weapons in the room next to him. Maybe next time the good guy will be there.

Move to another country. It might sound extreme, but if you find yourself just too upset by gun violence, you could relocate to safer countries. They aren’t hard to find.

Vote out of office every state legislator and member of Congress too spineless to address the issue of gun violence. I mean, in the unlikely event that, after a gunman killed 59 and wounded more than 500 in Las Vegas this week, you’re starting to think that government has a duty to, you know, govern.

Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist.

jblundo@dispatch.com

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P.S.  I sent a congratulatory email to the columnist, and he sent me this prompt reply:

Blundo, Joe	12:49 PM (1 hour ago)
to me

Thanks! By failing to act, our government is essentially saying that not enough of us have been killed in mass shootings to warrant its help. I don't see how that attitude can continue for much longer, but I thought the same thing after Sandy Hook.

Joe Blundo