Ex-special forces operative offers active shooter safety seminar at El Paso gun range
Sportsman’s Elite will host an active shooter response seminar on Saturday, August 17th from 4 to 6 p.m. at their location on 4520 Doniphan Drive in El Paso.
The event will cost $15 and is being taught by former special forces operative Tom Buchino, the founder and president of Covenant Special Projects, or CSP. Buchino has been training law enforcement and the public for a decade on how to respond to an active shooter.
“We want to give the protocols that allow responsible citizens to respond appropriately based on proven techniques tactics and procedures,” Buchino says. “Columbine happened in 1999, prior to that the term active shooter was not in the American vocabulary, but now every American knows the term active shooter or mass shooter. They’re not going to go away, we can’t legislate it away we can’t politically pundit it away so what do we do? We educate our community to best respond and best prepare for a situation that may occur.”
Members of Sportsman’s Elite are planning on taking advantage of the course. Mike Ryan has attended several seminars with CSP and says they have changed the way he thinks about everyday situations. When asked if he was surprised the WalMart shooter wasn’t engaged by another permitted gun owner, he said that’s not what the training tells them to do.
“If it was me and I was in that situation and I was a hundred yards away, well I would be looking for an exit – but more importantly I would be trying to identify where the guy was,” Ryan says. “If he did come near me or I saw him where I could get a shot then I may engage assuming there aren’t 50 people between him and me, so it’s not as simple as ‘hey there’s a guy with a gun take him down.'”
Ryan went on to say the training is more focused on how individuals can keep themselves safe. He added, “I realized that it just wasn’t about the gun or being skilled to be able to two-second draw and hit someone two times in the chest. Yes, if you can develop these skills it’s great, but what’s more important is understanding what danger looks like, what threats look like, and how to avoid them.”
