Honestly, I find it disturbing that anyone even thinks there
is a need for an armed Church Safety Team to begin with. Yet, this course was conducted within a few
weeks of an armed intrusion of a Mass in Minneapolis that resulted in the
killing of two children. A quick Grok3
search reveals that between 2020 and 2024 there were over 1,200 arson, gun
related, bomb events aimed at the Christian community. While looking at the deaths that resulted
from these acts – and including Minneapolis in the mix – we’re looking at
nearly 10 deaths in 5 years – not including injuries and the added effects of
raw fear. As I said . . . it’s
disturbing.
That said, simply ignoring the violence will only lead to
more tragedies – and that is simply unacceptable. At the same time, church members simply
strapping on a gun is no guarantee profoundly bad things won’t happen
either. What is needed is a “holistic”
approach and that is exactly what Armed Missouri’s course approach was.
At the highest level the overall area of responsibility was
defined. That typically means that area
within the property line of the church.
It also focused on addressing potential threats before they entered the
church – or containing it to a gathering space but stopping it before it
entered the sanctuary. It also included
evaluating threats from tripping, slipping, fire, electrical hazards, natural
disasters (especially things like tornados and floods in the Midwest) and a
host of general hazards. A security team’s
responsibilities extend to all threats to the wellbeing of the parishioners.
I first met Chris Schofner in September of 2012 while going
through the NRA Training Counselor Course in Kansas City, Missouri. We just seemed to click and kept in contact
from then on. Eventually we became
disenchanted with some of the NRA coursework and together with others established
NAPSI and developed a specific set of coursework focused solely on personal
defense. We’ve maintained a close
friendship and a good working relationship that remains strong today. What I really like about Chris is his
attention to detail, his willingness to truly go the extra mile and his
consistent performance in the classroom as an instructor and on the range as a
shooting instructor.
Chris Brooks was drawn into the NAPSI group and brought firsthand
experience as a law enforcement officer and a medic as well. His ability to bring this experience into the
classroom has added a great deal to the coursework he teaches.
So, how does a single course introduce a team member to all
the things that need to be touched on.
The answer . . . just plain hard work that, for this iteration of the
course, took about 22 hours of range time and 12 hours of classroom time. It was three days of very focused work that
provided a good starting template for an armed safety team to return to their
parish and take on the hard work of putting everything they learned into a SOP –
Standard Operating Procedures booklet for their parish. In other words, this course is simply the
beginning of the work . . . it is a beginning and not the final
destination. So let’s start our review
with the range work.
To pass this portion of the course you must shoot an 80% on
the FBI Qualification Course of Fire. It
begins at 3 yards and ends at 25 yards.
Both a single hand grip and the use of both hands is covered. It is a 50-round course of fire broken down
into 3-yard, 5-yard, 7-yards, 15-yards and 25-yard elements.
The range work the first day began around 7:30AM and ended
about 5:30PM and broke your engagement into micro-elements to begin with and
worked through starting at the high compressed ready and ended with a complete
draw from the holsters. All distances
from 3-yards through 15-yards were worked on.
There are just no shortcuts to the range part of the course. All shooters were at different levels of competency. That said, it is a tribute to the coursework
that by the end of day two all 12 had successfully passed the FBI Qualification
Course of Fire.
You would think after a solid 10-ish hours at the range it
was quitting time . . . but you’d be wrong.
In stead it was time for the classroom and going through lesson 1 – The Areas
of responsibilities of a Safety Team along with the multiple hazards that can
be contained within that AOR and ways to mitigate them. That added a couple more hours of time to the
day with day one ending around 8PM.
The concept of data through a day-long firehose entered here
. . . and remained for the rest of the course!
Day two again began on the range. We spent more time at the various distances, especially
the 15 and 25-yard lines. And we worked
on use of cover and concealment. We
worked on elements of room entry and room clearing and finished up with
entering an area and working through various shoot/no shoot scenarios. Once all things were rehashed, opportunities
for questions were completed, it was time for the actual FBI qualification
shoot. This was done stage by stage with
all shooters on the range. We started at
3-yards, then 5-yards, then 7 -yards, then 15-yards and finally 25 yards. My only problem with 25 yards is that after 2
hip replacements in the past year, my ability to kneel on one knee is simply
not there yet. The alternative was to
shoot the two elements of this distance standing with ½ on the left side of my
land and the other on the right. I had
20 seconds to complete the COF . . . I took 19.97 seconds. Chris called it a “good management of time!”
Final grading of all targets followed with again everyone
passing the best score were a couple 100% scores and there was one 80% on the
nose. My score was 90%.
Again, you’d think at with the time being 5:30-ish o’clock it’s
time to pack it in . . . but you’d be wrong!
Back to the classroom for lesson block on Conflict Avoidance and
De-escalation.
Day three – the final day was classroom time only beginning
at 7:30 AM with a lesson on Equipment Selection, OC Spray and Responding to
Medical Emergencies. A great deal of
time was spent on a second-by-second analysis of the West Freeway Church of
Christ shooting that occurred on December 29, 2019. It was used to evaluate the use of all the
skills we had learned and practiced during the previous two days.
OC Spray was covered in depth. Both methods and tools for practice as well
as a recommended product for daily carry.
The symptoms of a person’s response to being sprayed were – let’s just
say dramatic and would definitely impede a pending threat.
Once the classroom portion on the OC spray was completed, it
was off to the range to practice individually with encountering a threat (Chris
with a protective mask) and working through deploying the OC spray TRAINER from
its concealment in a front pocket and using it to “paint” Chris’s face. That took some time, but the experience and
watching others as well was invaluable.
This was followed by the response to a Medical Emergency
including typical elements of a Stop the Bleed course including wound packing,
equipment choices and the use and application of a CAT Tourniquet.
Next was a review of some of the legal issues regarding use
of force, use of deadly force, definitions of the Reasonable Man Standard,
different types of encounters, disparity of force, the duty to retreat and the displaying
and brandishing of weapons. These follow closely the teachings of Massad Ayoob. It covered some elements of speaking with
police as well as use of an attorney.
And that was that . . . on to the final 25 question test.
The test was taken, corrected and percentages were given. I received a 100%.
So, at 3:30 PM on Sunday, it was done. Man, honestly I was really beat! But what a great way to spend a 3-day
weekend.
A few take-aways . . .
The joining of an ARMED Safety Team for your church should
be taken with a great deal of soul searching and seeking out solid and CERTIFIED
training. Should you ever be involved in
an actual response with fatalities that might occur at your hand . . . you and
you alone are responsible for the bullet that left your gun. You will need to convince a court you did
everything you could do to be up to such an incident. You also owe it to yourself to be well
trained as well. And none of that is
easy or inexpensive. Good training, good
firearms and continual range training on your own is expensive but very
necessary. And, if you are looking for a
good place to start, I cannot recommend this course highly enough. It is well thought out, exceptionally complete
and very well taught.
Chris . . . and Chris . . . thanks for your hard work, it
was tough, exhausting and exceptional!
Thank you!
Bill Keller
President, Eastern Iowa Firearms Training
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