As I stood across the street from the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church, the bodies still on the floor and slumped in the pews where they fell, a reporter from one of the local Fox News affiliates turned and asked me a question. “Mr. Acosta, when will this insanity end?”  Her question was sincere, and the hurt look on her face told me this was a hard story for her to cover.  I have been asked this question so many times in the past that the answer now spills from my mouth almost as an involuntary reaction. “Mass shootings will stop in this country when they are no longer productive.” It’s a cultural issue. Right now, across the country we believe that the bad guy with the gun has all the power. We need to change that culture. We have done it post 9-11. I don’t care what weapon you have in your hand, you will not kick in a cockpit door on an airplane again! We will tackle you, fight you and crush the life out of you with our bare hands before we let you crash another airplane into any building in the United States. As a culture we have taken responsibility for our own safety in the air.

 

Most schools, government buildings, churches and corporate settings have adopted the “Run, Hide, Fight” response to an active shooter incident. I personally believe this is a good starting place for a conversation about a solid, relevant and effective response plan to an active shooter incident. The concepts of “Run and Hide” are virtually self-explanatory. However, the “Fight” portion of the plan is vague and open for interpretation.  No one really knows what that means. Without guidance or an established protocol this becomes very subjective. Enter YouTactical and our FIGHT BACK program. We have trained over 7,000 teachers and hundreds of corporate clients how to FIGHT BACK and win. We teach you how to make a decisive plan and execute an attack on the attacker before he knows what is happening. Do nothing (in a closed environment) and die. Jump into action and fight for your life and you have a significant chance of not only surviving, but winning! This was recently proven by the Waffle House hero, James Shaw who tackled and disarmed the active shooter. In a split second he made a decision and acted on it.  No “What Ifs”, just action! Our training is consistently summed up by students in one word; EMPOWERING!

You are your own First Responder. Train to be the solution!