It was a horrific weekend in California, with no less than three separate active shooter incidents across three days.
The first shooting struck the predominantly Asian-American community of Monterey Park as they celebrated the Lunar New Year last Saturday. Eleven people were killed and nine more injured when a 72-year-old gunman opened fire in a dance studio.
Two more shootings followed on Monday, with seven farmworkers dying in a rampage at two mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay and one fatality and several injured in a shooting in Oakland.
Shootings On The Rise
This is tragic and frightening. Our hearts go out to these communities and to the victims and their families. As safety experts, we are frustrated and despondent when we see these shootings occur.
Even worse, these incidents are becoming more and more common. We are well aware that the number and severity of mass shootings are rising with each passing year. ABC News pointed out that there have been more mass shootings in the United States than days in the year so far, with 40 through January 25, when we sat down to record this video.
Learning How To Protect
There have been plenty of articles written and opinions shared about gun culture in America over the past few days. We’re not here to take a side on that.
Instead, we want to discuss the need to prepare to protect those in our charge. We specialize in active shooter training for our clients, including a wealth of school districts. We are seeing many clients reach out to us for better training on active shooter incidents.
You don’t have to agree or disagree with one side or another on the divisive topic of guns to understand that this is a problem of the here and now. If you are responsible for protecting coworkers or students, you need to know how to keep them safe.
Watch our video above as Matt and I speak about how vital active shooter training is.