Building Defenders for Our Schools and Churches

Ask someone if they can shoot a gun and you are sure to get memorable answers. You hear about their relatives or their family friends who taught them. Ask them if they passed any shooting qualification tests and you’ll find that most have not, at least not recently. Last week I watched a group of volunteer defenders in Arizona train and test to become the emergency first responders for their schools and churches. They learned to stop the threat and treat the injured victims until police and EMTs arrive. These volunteers are not your average Joe or your average Jane.

It is true that almost half of us live with a gun in our home. About 17 million of us go on to get a concealed carry permit and carry a personal firearm in public. Fewer of us learn armed defense and practice the required skills so our responses are subconscious. Said another way, few people drive their gun as automatically as they drive their car.

Like driving a car, we are describing both mental and physical skills. Frequent review lets you easily recognize a lethal threat when you see it. Making those physical skills feel routine lets you present your firearm without looking for your holster. Just like driving your car, everyone thinks they shoot well until we actually measure their performance.

The defenders in this class looked to refine every movement with their firearm. Rather than saying, “But that is the way I’ve always done it,” they had the humility and willingness to learn. They asked how to improve time after time. They showed an inspiring eagerness to change and grow.

It helps to know your limits. How accurately can you shoot if accuracy is all that matters? How fast can you go before you become erratic? It takes both speed and precision to be a good defender. They need both without sacrificing too much of either. These volunteer first responders learned better techniques in a day, but it takes patient practice to make those new refinements smooth, consistent, and routine.

These volunteers went on to refine their skills at reloading and clearing a firearm malfunction. All that work is dedicated to consistently hitting a man-sized target at a distance between 3 and 25 yards.. under the pressure of the clock. Some of that shooting is done using your left or right hand. Now, shoot for time after you’ve taken a step to the side. That is the broad outline of their shooting qualification test.

The students were struggling to optimize their techniques. The course instructors adjusted the level of frustration on the range so that students learned the most. There is a time to press forward and a time to consolidate and review the skills you’ve mastered. That comfort of reviewing old material only lasts a few minutes because there is much more to learn.

The students moved on to fighting their way through and around a building. Stopping the attacker comes first, but it is barely the beginning of what needs to be done after an attack. The defenders practiced getting people to safety and treating the injured. Yes, there are more efficient and less efficient ways to put on a tourniquet. Everybody I saw was working hard.

These trained volunteers brought a willingness to learn and an eagerness to serve. They will go armed at church and at school. They will probably never need their gun. They will have a trauma kit nearby and seldom use it. Even an accident in the parking lot is easier to manage after you’ve practiced. When needed at all, these first responders will probably use more Band-Aids than bullets.

A critical point and a nice compliment came from one of the law enforcement officers in the class. When describing the church and school volunteers, they said, “I’d gladly work with them. I want them saving lives until the rest of us get there.” That says a lot.

The essential virtue that these volunteers have is that they will be where they are needed when they are needed. They will be saving lives for the ten minutes it takes for the police to get there. These volunteers will begin trauma care in minutes rather than hours.

An imperfect volunteer who is where we need them
is better then the perfect professional who arrives too late.

These volunteers look like ordinary people, but they are extraordinary. They were willing to be tested and criticized in order to become the first responders they need to be. Many of us might be able to do that. These volunteers did it.

Most of us would risk our lives to defend our family. Would you defend the people in your school, in your church, or in your office? Think about that decision because in an emergency, your life could be at risk if you say “yes.” Your heart could be at risk if you say “no” and something happens for which you were unprepared.

As they said in the class, it is better to have the knowledge, skills, and materials and not need them, than to need them and not have them. That is true for volunteer first responders. It is true for the rest of us as well. If you would volunteer, or if you would not, it is important to know that there are wonderful men and women like this in our churches and schools. We need more like them.