After a recent high-school graduate killed two people and then killed himself at Columbia Mall in suburban Maryland on Saturday, The Washington Post added to its mall-shooting package at its PostTV site with the focus on advice: “Protecting yourself in a shooting event.”
Utterly left out was the idea of protecting yourself with a gun. Instead, the Post suggested all the sensible get-away scenarios – move to safety, take cover, look for an exit. In a video repurposed from 2013, Post reporter Nia-Malika Henderson interviewed former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam for a minute and disputed the notion that anyone should fight a shooter with a gun or anything else:
HENDERSON: The advice here is run, hide, and even fight. And it’s the fight part that I’m surprised by, and want you to talk about that scenario.
MAASDAM: So the run-hide-fight concept is a public service announcement by the Department of Homeland Security, and I love the saying, but it should be like 97 percent run, two percent hide, and one percent fight. There are scenarios where there’s no other option. And if that’s the case, you should grab a fire extinguisher off a wall, or something heavy from your desk, you know, and when that person comes through the door, you do your best to ruin their day. But you should try to get out of the room first, you try to hide first.
