Active Shooter Response
64 individuals killed by active shooters in all of the most horrific recent tragedies. In the years leading up to the Columbine shootings there were little to no training for the response forces to combat active shooter scenarios. Now that the nation has had more tragedies such as the theater shooting in Colorado, the New Haven, Connecticut massacre and most specifically is the shooting by an active duty US Army Major in Fort Hood, Texas. An active shooter is an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people, most often in populated areas. As these events in human history happen, leaders find a way to try and make life safer for the population. Although tragic in nature the shootings in columbine taught law enforcement that they had no plan of attack for active shooter scenarios. When the unfortunate events at Fort Hood took place, the military population specifically the Military Police had no idea how to respond (McCloskey, 2009). Now since the Fort Hood shooting there have been two more high profile cases where active shooter has taken lives in the civilian world. These most recent events the first, a shooting in a crowded theater in Colorado and the most tragic of all the shootings where 20 young elementary school students lost their lives at an elementary school in New Haven, Connecticut (Tuccitto & Sullo, 2012). Now that these events happened although tragic military leaders decided it was important to put together a response plan and perfect the response for such events. According to the Air Force Manual 31-201 Volume 4, active shooter incidents are incredibly dangerous and difficult because there is no criminal objective (robbery, hostage taking) involved other than violence (2011). Often, the shooter has no regard for their life, and may be planning to die. These factors leave responding forces no other recourse but to locate and stop the shooter as quickly as possible. As a result, installation commanders must ensure proper planning and exercises are conducted. Close coordination between all tasked agencies and the civilian populace is essential to mitigate the threat and minimize the loss of life in an Active Shooter incident. In addition to awareness training on behavioral indicators, it is important that the populace knows what actions to take upon notification that an Active Shooter incident is occurring at their location or elsewhere. This awareness training should be developed locally and contain a brief historical review of past incidents, but primarily focus on what actions airmen and civilians should take to protect themselves and assist responding forces. Special care should be taken to not divulge specific tactics, techniques, or procedures of responding forces. In summary, although all of the tragedies that have happened in the past have been crazy to deal with in day to day life they do have sum what of an upside. The vital lessons learned from these events sharpen our local law enforcements ability to deal with any active shooter response with the confidence in themselves and with the peace of mind of all of the people they serve and protect on a daily basis.

References
McCloskey, M. (2009, November 8). Civilian police officer acted quickly to help subdue alleged gunman. Stars and Stripes.
Tuccitto, M., & Sullo, J. S. (2012, December 14). Connecticut mourns after Newtown massacre. New Haven Register.
United States Air Force. (2011, November 17). Air Force Manual 31-201, Volume 4. High-Risk Response . Lackland AFB, TX, USA: United States Air Force.