2. The public must assume a role in their own defense.
I’ve written about what I call the “third generation” of active shooter response, and this tragedy underscores my points. Regardless of where you are in the world, whether it be a synagogue in Pennsylvania, a church in Texas, or a mosque in New Zealand, the police will almost always be absent when the attacker strikes. Faith-based organizations, schools, workplaces and public venues must take an active role in their own security, and leave behind the fiction that the police will be able to protect them from evil during the initial minutes of an attack. The public must embrace target hardening, security protocols, emergency response training, security teams, medical training, emergency communications and armed defense preparations to ensure they can discourage attacks, deny access and defeat attackers prior to police response. In the live-streamed attack on the Masjid Al Noor Mosque, the attacker was on site for six minutes killing innocents and was able to escape and take his attack mobile, several minutes before police responded. Time is a precious commodity in attacks like these, and the killing is often done before the police have arrived. It’s no longer acceptable for the public to outsource their security to the police – they must take an active role in their own defense and defense preparations.

Rapid Response: 7 key takeaways from the New Zealand mosque attacks

We are laughed at all the time about “Good Guy” with a Gun and “When seconds count,  police is minutes away” but I think it is finally starting to set in the idea you are the only one responsible for your own safety.

Although Parkland hit us bad, specially in Florida, the total screw up of Broward’s Sheriffs Office, learning about No Duty to Protect and the report of the shooting pointing out the amazing failures by those who were supposed to have the welfare of children as priority made a lot of people realize how naked they really are out there. It is not like we have tons of people rushing to buy AR15s and take classes in First Aid, but I do detect a bit more of interest than usual. Nothing concrete, just a gut thing.

The landscape has changed and some are desperately clinging to the past in both expectations and laws. They are still in enough numbers to hurt us legislatively but we cannot let them win so be ready for the killers and those who would wants us to remain easy to victimize.