First Responders

Everyone has it bass-ackwards

Almost every day we see or hear the term "First Responders" used incorrectly.  The media, the government and even most people use the term completely wrong.  Actually, the term is the product of the bureaucratic mind.

The term Certified First Responder means someone with advanced emergency medical training.  Someone who is more trained than just the basic Red Cross First Aid & CPR programs, but who is not an EMT or physician.  Even here, the media and often the government forget to use the qualifier "certified" in daily talk.

The true first responder to any crisis, disaster or life-threatening event is you. It will be you who first responds when a man or woman collapses in the mall.  It will be you who responds when a child starts choking on a happy meal.  You, the ordinary citizen will be first on the scene long before some government paid, bureaucratically anointed citizen arrives. 

In terms of crime, you will be the first responder if you're the victim of a crime or you are at the scene when the crime goes down before your eyes.  It will be you who decides what to do next. In this context, you hold your own fate in your hands, or the fate of others.  Will you decide properly?

Our response to stressful incidents almost always falls back to our training.  If we have no training, our response is likely to be undisciplined, chaotic and unfocused.  If we have some form of training, it may take a moment to kick in.  The more training we have that is similar to the event, the more likely our response will be swift and sure.

Do you know CPR?  Why not?  It is a relatively easy life-saving technique that can be applied by almost anyone. It could save the life of your spouse, parents or children just as readily as that of a stranger.  It may not guarantee survival of a heart attack victim, but it gives them a fighting chance to survive.

Do you know how to use a gun?  Why not?  The same arguments apply here as for CPR.  In the event of a life-threatening crime, like robbery, rape, kidnapping, murder, mayhem, knowing how to respond quickly and effectively can make the difference between life and death.  That gun, like CPR, could save the life of your spouse, parents or children just as readily as that of a stranger being attacked. 

You can't easily give yourself CPR, but you as the first person on the scene can save a life.  During a crime against a person, there is always a first responder present.  The police call them a victim.  How they respond can make a huge difference, not only in the outcome of that crime, but of all crime. 

Imagine for a moment that we have managed to rid ourselves of idiotic school administrators possessing the bureaucratic "zero tolerance policy" mentality towards small knives. Little pocket knives with blades under three inches.  Now imagine the child molester who tried to grab little Suzie Sweetness off the sidewalk while she's walking home. If Suzie is prepared, taught by her parents, she uses that little knife, along with kicking and screaming to get away from the child molester.  Repeat this a few hundred times and child molesters will have to become wary.  They'll have to spend more time selecting the time, place and child.  That makes them vulnerable to detection, interdiction and arrest. 

You are the first responder.  The governmental agencies all respond after the crime has occurred.  They aren't there to protect you. They are there to document what they think happened.  They'll collect evidence, leave fingerprint powder and crime scene tape and go find the perpetrators.  They owe you nothing.  Not protection, not security, nothing.

Any time a victim can disrupt the criminal's plans and thwart a crime, it is a victory for society.  The little girl who stabs her abductor in the wrist or the armed citizen who isn't harmed because he drew his firearm reduces crime. Instead of a kidnapping and a robbery, we have attempted crimes.  Crimes without victims suffering or dying in terror. 

The next time you renew your CCW, consider taking or updating your CPR skills. That way you'll have two ways to save lives.