Guest column: Is your congregation prepared for an active killer?

Rapid mass murder (RMM) at schools, churches, and workplaces is relatively new, occurring in the past and present century. The tracking history of RMM by active killers, however, reveals it is a growing problem in churches and schools.

It is the height of naivete to believe that we will be protected by laws, rules, sanctuaries, or off-site police, as it denies reality. Generally, only the law-abiding obey laws or rules. However, there is no such compulsion for the unpredictable evildoers or wicked to misuse their own free will.

The unthinkable?

Needed are persons or staff who are responsible for exercising due diligence for the realistic safety, security, and protection of worshippers. By now, heads of houses of worship should know of a serious and deadly threat to their congregations. Just being aware is not enough. When — not if — the wicked come with intent to assassinate worshippers, what tactically effective countermeasures are in place?

My background is in law enforcement and LE training, including police response to RMM. Police officers from 10 states attended my course, “Single Officers Lifesaving Others,” at the Southeast Area Law Enforcement Task Force (SEALE) regional police training academy in Bedford, Ohio. This was probably in response to other experts and me being interviewed by Rachel Fretz of Police1 for her 2007 two-part article, “Stopwatch of Death.”

Racing the 'stopwatch of death'

There is a saying in the recovery communities, and perhaps you have heard of it: “Time takes time." While this might be difficult to initially understand, it is truly factual when you understand the reality and process of the stopwatch of death:

“Emergencies are sudden, acute, unforeseen, extraordinary, dangerous, and require instant action.” Clearly, off-site "first responders" cannot be expected to suddenly appear and save the day. Police can respond only when notified, and notification typically begins about five minutes after the chaotic phenomenon of “freeze, flight, or fight” wears off and a caller feels safe enough to call police. The reporting time varies with how calm the caller is. If the call is made to 911, it may not be answered by the local police department and needs to be transferred. If the local police agency has a regional dispatching system, the dispatcher may not be familiar with your city, so you may be asked, “What city are you calling from?” That's in addition to asking where (facility and/or address) you are calling from and the nature of your emergency. Once the dispatcher finally has that vital information to dispatch patrol cars, the officers will begin to respond. Callers should try to stay connected to furnish further important details. The final response time varies, depending on city, suburb, rural, and traffic conditions.

Coming up: BFA-sponsored Protecting Houses of Worship class slated Jan. 24 in Medina

A 30-second arrival time is rare; three or four minutes is more typical, with possibly even longer arrival times, depending on how far the closest officer has to travel. Then there is the question of relevant RMM response training, dictating whether the first-arriving officer immediately acts and enters solo or waits for backup. In a large facility, even more time is consumed locating the active killer (not active shooter; see below). It is important to understand that the deck of time is stacked against a successful off-site police response.

While most of my data (back to 1975) is from schools, it also includes churches that have been so attacked. Where RMM has often been reported as occurring in six minutes or less, I now prefer to use the documented potential of “one attempted murder every second.” That equates to 1.27 attempts (killed or wounded) per second, or five attempts every four seconds. Typical of this potential was the 2011 shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona. Six were murdered and 13 wounded in 15 seconds. Once notified, police arrived in four minutes.

Those responsible for the safety of worshippers, if they don't fully understand the active killer's rapidity and fail to establish realistic countermeasures, would unwittingly contribute to the potential bloodshed. In the new book “First 30 Seconds,” both in the foreword by expert Massad Ayoob and in the body by expert and author Ed Monk, both credit my research. On another note, one of the armed police security guards at the Veterans Administration in Parma recognized me from having taken my RMM response course, “Single Officer Lifesaving Others,” at the SEALE academy years earlier. He shared that some of the strategy and tactics that he had learned there were incorporated as procedure and training for their Parma facility.

Protection as an obligation

All of the aforementioned is generally applicable to any house of worship. Churches have a moral and religious obligation to protect their flock. Active killers may be cowards at heart, but that’s why they have been known to do research and reconnaissance and plan to generally avoid facilities that have armed and trained guardians. Unfortunately, some churches have not kept pace with the increasing public news and tracking history of murderous attacks on houses of worship. This means that houses of worship either knew or should have known of this serious threat.

Worse, laws and/or church policy may forbid their otherwise legally armed citizens to be armed inside the church. Real-world thinking of a strategy to disarm loyal parishioners is hopelessly misguided and illogical. The mandated disarming of lawful innocents while not providing any realistic active-killer countermeasure protection is a clear case of negligence in which the church knew or should have known about the existence of a potential deadly threat. This is similar to not recommending wearing seat belts — where, even if you are not expecting a traffic crash, you wear the lifesaving seat belt anyway because the potential is always there. How prepared is your church to counter an active-shooter event?

Active killers, not active shooters

In plain language active shooters are those who practice by shooting frequently, such as our military, police, and anyone who shoots recreationally or competitively — all honorable activities. However, the anti-gun media have decided to push this false and misleading term in connection with murderous killers, and it should be quite offensive to our military, police, and hobbyist civilian firearm competitors. The term active killer is more correct and descriptive.

It is important to remember that God has given all of us free will. Unfortunately, it is the wicked or sick criminals among us who choose to use their free will to harm the innocent. They will rarely be deterred by mere laws and rules. They are far more likely to be deterred by known armed resistance by parishioners or a formal protection team.

Therefore, to be realistic and informed, one needs to understand that to protect congregations, we must have trained and armed watchmen, guardians, or a young “shepherd David” (armed with a stone and sling against the giant warrior Goliath), as a moral obligation. The congregation should be aware and comforted that they are protected by these watchmen and guardians with an appropriate announcement.

Free 'Protecting Houses of Worship' training

In exchange for your Ohio church hosting a Buckeye Firearms Association-sponsored "Protecting Houses of Worship" course, your entire congregation could reap the benefit of getting some of your own volunteers trained and certified, tuition-free. Depending on how many tuition-paying parishioners from other churches register and attend, you get so many courtesy training slots. In Ohio, appropriate "Protecting Houses of Worship" training is available through BFA (BuckeyeFirearms.org), an Ohio gun rights and education organization. Email executive director Dean Riek at [email protected] or call administrative assistant Angela Armstrong at 614-715-4867.

Related article: BFA-sponsored Protecting Houses of Worship class earns participants' praise

As a retired police officer and police trainer, consultant, and hobby writer, I was invited to sit in on a course Nov. 1, when 39 students representing numerous houses of worship attended. The talented and dedicated instructorial staff of several was led by Armstrong and Forrest Sonewald. Training included the history of active-killing events, a classroom PowerPoint presentation, and video of current tragedies, as well as medical tourniquet application training, special strategy tactics, and hands-on reality-based simulated active-killer-response scenarios. Reality-based training engages users in real-life scenarios that they are likely to experience on the job. "Reality-based" means grounded in actual facts, events, or situations, rather than imagination or fiction to prepare individuals to become competent and ethical practitioners. While there is no live fire during this class, it includes training with provided safe, laser training pistols, which are realistic replicas of commonly used carry guns that allow participants to safely practice effective response tactics in a real congregational setting.

Stepping out in faith and stepping up

The only truly effective RMM response has to be on-site trusted worshippers, who are both trained and armed. Every day, our God may be looking for someone to say, "Here I am Lord; send me," (Isaiah 6:8) and mean it. An on-site church team of specially selected, trusted parishioner-volunteers armed and trained is an excellent example of the Biblical watchmen and guardians. If your house of worship is small with few able-bodied volunteers to make up an organized team, you may still consider allowing your trusted parishioners, already firearm-trained, to carry concealed in your church. Getting basic certified "Protecting Houses of Worship" training would be a bonus, especially if your house of worship were to host a course, thereby allowing you to practice and rehearse under expert supervision in your own facility.

The bottom line

Safety and security are best with concentric circles of protection. Because some church shootings have started in the parking lot, an early-warning watchman/guardian could and should be stationed as an observer there, (with radio contact with the inside team). This position of advantage could also identify any suspicious persons outside to warn the inside team.

Additionally, I recommend that your church post signs or notices at all entrances, welcoming worshippers and informing them of armed staff. Some sort of sign advertising this fact is of key importance because the tracking history of active killers is that they both research and reconnoiter potential targets to avoid facilities that are armed. Appropriate notice is fair warning (see this 2-minute video example).

Ron Borsch is a Vietnam veteran, (1965-66 U.S. Army paratrooper, 101st Airborne) and is retired from two careers, 30 years as a police officer, including SWAT, and 17 years as a police trainer. Supported by seven SEALE chiefs of police, he founded, managed, and was the chief trainer for SEALE in Bedford Ohio, which was attended by officers from 10 other states. He has also presented before international law enforcement trainer audiences in several states and two countries. For the past several years, he has served on two expert panels at annual ILEETA international conferences. Ron does pro-bono presentations for local civic groups, schools, and churches.