Some Thoughts about Fort Hood

Right now the blogosphere appears to be buzzing with the revelation that the active shooter at Fort Hood -- Major Malik Nadal Hasan -- was one of those dreaded Muslims.  Jeez!

The problem with Hasan was Hasan.  He was miserable. He wanted to die.  He wanted his fifteen minutes of fame by taking people not responsible for his misery with him.  He was an arsehole.

Howard Nemerov has this to add (First responders at Fort Hood: Fox News gets it wrong)

Ron Borsch is consultant trainer for the Bedford (Ohio) Police Department, specializing in tactically training first-responders (bio in previous article). In an email today, Borsch summarized his up-to-date research into how mass murders are stopped:

My latest stats have not changed much, but CIVILIANS lead aborting rapid mass murder at 71%, and with a SINGLE actor initiating the stoppage, and often completing it at 82% of the total.

When police abort rapid mass murder, it is 29%, and with a "Single Officer Lifesaving Others"(C) SOLO at 75% of the total.

The "POSSE" Theory of rounding up a formation of officers to combat a lone (98%) and suicidal (90%) active killer in the precious 1 to 3 "Golden Minutes"(C) of a perishable opportunity has NO tracking history of success that I can find.

[Note: Borsch defines the active killer as “one who commits rapid mass murder, (4 or more intentionally killed). Active Killers typically do NOT negotiate or take hostages.” He defines rapid mass murder as one that occurs in 20 minutes or less.]

How about that.  Civilians stop 71% of  the mass murder rampages and three quarters of the remainder are stopped by a single officer.  This makes sense since it is generally those "civilians" who are the intended victims.  I'll also wager that those civilians who stop an active shooter are either armed or familiar enough with guns to know when the aggressor is reloading and vulnerable.

See also: L. Neil Smith