By the last night of our just-concluded Security Operations Summit, we had wrapped up many sessions of great presentations. Our speaker lineup this year, their topics and presentations were home runs. Saturday morning, 7/30/22 would start with our annual Meeting of the Members then concluding presentations. Board members had worked to confirm that critical annual meeting would go without a flaw. It was going to be complicated. About 100 voting members live in the audience plus many more on Zoom. With motions allowed from the floor, 2 of 4 votes would have to be written on the fly. Technology was a challenge. We had to have a way of hearing those on Zoom, them hearing us, and everyone being able to vote. Timing was critical. We had to start at 07:30, be wrapped up by 08:45 and doors open for non-members at the conference for closing morning presentations. The first…
2022 July
Most violence against persons or groups is hate based. To define only crimes against certain lifestyles or cultures as hate-based is not solution driven. The most violent attack in a U. S. school was the bombing of the Bath, Michigan Consolidated School on May 18th, 1927. School Board member Andrew Kehoe was enraged over property tax issues and the pending foreclosure of his own property. He rigged explosives into the school that killed 45 (most were children 7-12 years old). By today’s definition of a hate crime, that attack would not qualify. Nor does much of the violence directed against the Christian Faith. The killer that came to our church in 2007 hated the name given him by his parents because it (Matthew) was a Christian name. In at least one of his suicide diatribes, he summarized his spite for Christianity by declaring, “Christian America, this is your Columbine.” By…
Now that the actual videos of the Uvalde School attack are circulating, the atrocities of that attack rekindle our anger. Everything about a brutal attack angers us, but a botched response strikes a distinct nerve. Would you do any better if an attack unfolded in front of you? When a killer, in a room full of horrified and doomed children, shoots through the walls and door at you as a responder, will you press in through the deadly barrage to stop him or will you run away? Is it courage or suicide to run into the gunfire when you can’t see the killer? That question won’t really be answered until it happens. Training is critical, but it takes more than training (ability). One must be present (ready) and mentally prepared (willing). This is why the FBSN focuses efforts on three words; ready, willing and able. Those three words drive our…