Agents took a FEMA administered course called “IS-907 – Active Shooter: What You Can Do,” a 45-minute computer course telling the employees to either evacuate, hide out, or take action only if they need to.
Border Patrol agents in Arizona are not happy. The members of Tucson Local 2544/National Border Patrol Council think it is downright insulting to tell armed law enforcement agents to do the exact same thing as civilians. Only as a last resort are the agents even allowed to throw objects at the shooter.
“We are then advised to 'call law enforcement' and wait for their arrival (presumably, while more innocent victims are slaughtered),” the council writes on its website. “Shooting incidents cited in the course are Columbine, the Giffords shooting and the Virginia Tech shooting.”
The site continues, “Telling law enforcement officers that in all instances they are to run away and hide from some thug while innocent victims are butchered is simply inexcusable and pathetic.”
Tucson agents argued that anyone with a gun in those situations above could have stopped the carnage right away, including the Fort Hood shooting. If one person had a gun, the shooter could have been taken out immediately, saving who knows how many lives.
A DHS employee told FOX News the instruction cards were handed out two months ago, but he also though it was for the civilian employees within the Border Patrol, not the armed officers.
The Border Patrol agents are supposed to keep the public safe, and now they’re being told not to do their job. If they decide to take action they could be punished. How backwards is that?
The union's website summarizes:
It is always comforting to know that for those of us who carry a weapon when we are off-duty, if we should encounter such a situation, stop a shooter and save countless lives, we can look forward to being disciplined or fired by the Border Patrol because we should have run away to hide and then maybe thrown objects at the deranged killer instead of taking action and stopping him with a firearm.
This madness from the government brings to mind the saying: an armed society is a polite society.