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Review: Surviving a Mass Killer Rampage by Chris Bird
398 pages, paperback, Privateer Publications, 2016
I met Chris Bird at a Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC). We were sitting next to each other in the front row. It turned out that we had both interviewed Vic Stacy, the hero who made hits at 57 yards at the Peach House gun fight. Stacy shot the insane killer who was shooting at police sergeant Steven Means from behind cover. He made the shots with a 6 inch, stainless .357 magnum Colt Python. Not surprisingly, the stories we got were nearly identical. Chris published his account in one of his books, mine went on Gun Watch. Stacy's story is one of those used in Chris' latest book.
At the 2016 GRPC, I received Surviving a Mass Killer Rampage, published this year. The research that went into the book is outstanding. The book is extremely informative and easy to read. There are details that you will not find elsewhere, unless you follow Chris' steps and gain access to official records and interview participants. The detail makes the book read like an adventure novel. It is hard to put down.
Did you know that at Virginia Tech, Air Force Cadet, Matthew La Porte, in uniform, charged the shooter, only to be shot down? He took eight bullets. La Porte received an Air Force commendation, posthumously.
Chris gives a detailed account of the Faculty Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response (FASTER) course that is wildly popular in Ohio. The course instructs staff to be armed responders, to do triage, set priorities, and use lifesaving first aid after the threat is stopped. It is an intense three day course. A School Resource Officer that attended an advance course made this comment:
“When I came in here, I was adamantly opposed to this. I did not believe in it; I was really, really upset by it. Now I am on board. I thought I could protect them, but now I see that I need help.”
When you read Chris' detailed account of the training, you will understand why the officer's mind was changed.
Chris covers much more than school mass killings.
Chris describes, in detail, the evolution of police tactics on responding to mass killer rampages. Police realize you need to go in immediately, even if you are the only officer on the scene. Seconds are lives in these scenarios.
One officer, Justin Garner, of the Carthage, North Carolina, Police Department, did exactly that. There is no question that he saved lives. He stopped the killing with one shot at the shotgun wielding murderer from a measured 142 feet. He used a Glock .45. Garner was near simultaneously fired upon and survived two relatively minor buckshot wounds.
This is the sort of detail that Chris uses to explain the tactics needed to survive these encounters. If you are caught in a mass killing rampage, or need to respond to one, the information may save you and others.
The book is solid, factual, entertaining and extremely well written. Buy it, read it, pass it around. Give it to a school teacher or administrator who might be interested. If they read it, they will likely be the best informed staff on the subject in their school.
You can order the book directly from Chris at Privateer Publications,
or from Amazon. It is available in paperback for $22.95, or for $18.99 on Kindle.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch
Source: http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2016/10/review-surviving-mass-killer-rampage-by.html
