A Florida sheriff is warning residents that running and hiding might not be enough in a mass shooting or terrorist attack. Sometimes, citizens will need to fight back.
“You have to fight and you have to be armed and you have to be prepared,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd explained to WFTS ABC.
“If you’re not afraid of a gun, get one,” Judd continued. “Become proficient. Get a concealed firearms license and carry it. And if you need to shoot somebody, shoot ‘em a lot.”
Sheriff Judd’s comments echo those made earlier this month by Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, another Florida law enforcement officer, who advised citizens not to run or hide if they or others are in danger.
“A team of citizens working together to attack the suspect back, have much greater chance of survival than allowing the suspect to operate unimpeded,” Ivey said in a six-minute video that was shared widely on Facebook.
Both Florida sheriffs are part of a larger, ongoing discussion within the law enforcement and self-defense community about the best way to respond to a mass shooting or terrorist attack.
Conventional wisdom has thus far advised those involved in a mass shooting to get away from the scene if at all possible. If getting away poses too great a risk, potential victims have been advised to hide from the shooter by barricading doors and turning off lights.
Only when running and hiding become too dangerous have experts advised citizens to fight back. While Sheriffs Judd and Ivey’s advice does not necessarily depart from that sequence, they emphasize the last option in an attempt to remind people that they need not be victims.
“You can either stand there as we’ve seen many times before and be a victim or you can fight back,” Judd said.
“The armed assailant doesn’t plan on you fighting back,” he said. “He plans on having a gun, doing all the shooting, and you’re just the sitting duck. Well, the ducks need to shoot back.”
Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of armed self-defense in an active shooter scenario.
“That’s ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous,” Polk resident, Mary Dailey told WFTS. “I’m all for your right to own a gun if you are a responsible person, but you should have to prove it,” Dailey added.
For individuals like Dailey, Ivey recommends that people arm themselves with any kind of weapon with which they feel comfortable. In his video, he recommends Tasers or items in the immediate surrounding area, such as chairs, knives, or fire extinguishers.
Carrying a gun in the USA is fine if you’re “White”. Police tend to shoot brown and black people on sight, when they see they have a gun. Even if they are registered gun owners and have met all requirements to legally carry one. I’m sure there isn’t a situation that would prevent this from happening.
OMG black guy gun BANG
Oops he had a permit, o well….
He was probably up to something.
Good for this Sheriff! Unlike a libtarded democrap, I refuse to be a victim. I conceal carry whenever I leave the house and wherever it is legal to carry. There is always a pistol in my vehicle and anywhere in my house, I am no more than 5ft from one that’s hidden. I don’t feel powerful at all for all the guns I own, I feel safe. I aim to protect myself and my family
“… if you are a responsible person, you should have to prove it.” Mary Dailey
Since when do I – a responsible, trained, experienced gun owner (with a natural and Constitutionally-guaranteed RIGHT to own and carry a firearm) – have to “prove” or “justify” ANYTHING? Especially to a snivelling, hoplphobic, irrational little snit who childishly and illegally demands HER way??? Instead, I cheerfully invite her to go engage in an act of auto-eroticism!
Sheriff’s Grady Judd and Wayne Ivey are deeply concerned about the health and welfare of their citizens. But there is one LEO in Florida, that disagrees with them. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gaultieri says that a legally arm citizen in his jurisdiction, may be shot by his deputies, if they draw a weapon at the scene of a crime involving an active shooter. I carry a neck lanyard to attach my concealed carry permit, making it visible for all to see. Just in case that type of issue should arise.
That sounds like a simple statement of fact and not a warning against concealed carry. Scenario, there’s an active shooter situation and multiple people have been shot, the sheriffs department rolls on scene and there’s a person with a handgun admidst the bodies of the dead and wounded. Do you suppose they would get the benefit of a doubt about wether or not they are the perpetrator or a defendant or would the sheriffs department treat them as a potential threat?
I have a CC permit and use it. I am hesitant to think that the LEO would be able to pick me out of a gun fight and NOT shoot me, but that is folly. When an officer shows up after hearing shots fired, he or she is looking to put the shooter down. I don’t want to be that person. If I am with others (my family doesn’t carry), I will sequester them if possible and return fire from a defensive position, but only as necessary to deter an attack. Too many LEOs out there who think that they are Wyatt Earp.
I don’t bring a fire extinguisher to a gun fight…Dailey you go ahead. Lemme know how it works out for you.
Amen, Brother!
Sheriff Grady Judd, has won my admiration and respect. finally someone in law enforcement is telling us not to just sit there and be a victim but to arm yourself and defend yourself and family.
living in Florida and having that right is a privilege, wish we had that right in California, crime wouldn’t be up 24% here and states with that right there’s is down 23%, YEE I wonder why ?
Murders in California have decreased since the peak year in 1993 – almost 25 years ago! – along with other violent crime. Check your statistics.
When the psycho started shooting fellow employees at the UPS facility in San Francisco recently, one did run out of the building. The bad news was that the shooter followed and got him anyway. When you can’t defend yourself in public, your only option is to run, and sadly some do not run fast enough. Arm up and stand up people, as the life you save may be your own. If you think you do not need to be prepared for emergencies, then also remove the spare tire from your car, as you will never need it in your perfect world.
Your example ignores an employers right to restrict firearms on their property. It’s possible that one or more of the victims of the UPS facility shooting owned firearms or even a possessed a concealed carry permit but the employer/employee contract prohibits them from carrying a firearm on company property.