Yesterday’s unthinkable tragedy inflicted against
innocent victims in an environment where learning, love, and laughter were
supposed to prevail has shaken the confidence and core of the American
psyche. This is the essence of terrorism and all of its companion
effects. Undoubtedly the public discourse and debate regarding school
security and gun control will rise again to the surface of our preoccupation,
with many an expert spouting facts, figures, recommendations, and remedies to
free this nation from the grip of homegrown criminal terror.
Unfortunately, with all of the opinion and expertise circling about, only a few
will focus the narrative on some basic realities of our time.
Americans are weak. We abdicate our
individual responsibility as free, self-reliant people to live by a code of
humble and confident preparedness. We expect others to assume the
obligation for our security and that of our families and loved ones. We
roll through life with our heads buried in our technology while the sick and
evil among us watch with anticipation, knowing full well their day of infamy
will come. We are oblivious to this reality because our sense of
perpetual entitlement extends to one of our most fundamental individual
mandates, self-protection.
The most common misperception with regard to
security confidence is that physical and procedural security will
either prevent or mitigate all unwanted events. While they have their
place, they cannot and should not be considered as completely sufficient
countermeasures. The best locks, cameras, access controls, physical
deterrents, policies, and procedures are no match for a determined
adversary. Keep in mind one truth; what can be seen can be
defeated. The mistake we make is assuming that because we see or know
these measures exist we are now entitled to some guarantee of safety. A
bad-guy sees these things as speed bumps along the pathway to the desired
end-state. A few minor adjustments and minimal planning and all of the
time, money, and resources expended can be made to look insufficient in a
minute.
What truly is needed are a major mindset shift
and the corresponding assumption of personal responsibility. If physical
and procedural security efforts can be detected and ascertained by an adversary,
then we individually and collectively need to beef up the more important
countermeasures that are not visible to the naked eye. Imagine a nation
of prepared and capable citizens who refuse to allow perpetrators to ever have
any victims. In a sense, it’s time to start victimizing the perps with
heightened intellect and physical capability. If every man and woman with
the physical and mental capacity to learn and develop basic skills would step
up to the plate and embrace self-reliant personal security expertise, then the
collective result will be communities of powerful and legitimate deterrents to
terror. Think back to the cold war theme of mutual assured destruction
and the deterring power of placing adversaries in check by forcing them to consider
their own potential demise as a result of their intent to create yours.
Planting even a minor seed of doubt in the mind of a bad-guy yields huge
dividends as they explore options for carrying out their plan.
And even this approach is insufficient.
Additionally, each individual must have the hard conversation as to their
personal threshold or redline that would cause them to be willing to take
homicidal action against another while knowing their own mortality would be
forfeited. What about your life is worth fighting and dying for?
What has to happen for you to get prepared and/or be engaged? Would you
take a life to protect another? Are you willing to die or watch your
loved ones die at the hands of a madman? Having this self-inquiry during
an event is the wrong time and will result in hesitation leading to
failure. Consider yourself now and then do something about it.
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