Articles with training

Here’s What Your Church Safety Team Needs to Do Sunday Morning

Here is a list of killings that have happened at USA churches since 2012:

December 29, 2019: A killer murdered two people during the morning service at West Freeway Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas, before he was fatally shot by a volunteer member of the church security team.

November 5, 2017: A killer opened fire at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 26 people and wounding about 20 others. No church security team was in place to stop it.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Majority of Protestant Churches Plan for Security ]

September 24, 2017: A man killed a woman and wounded six other people at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee.

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How to Develop the Situational Awareness of Jason Bourne

Situational awareness is the ability to observe your surroundings and make detailed assessments about your environment. One aspect of SemperVerus living is learning to hone your powers of observation in all areas of your life.

Situational awareness is another word for mindfulness: being more cognizant of what’s going on around you and being more present in your daily activities, which in turn helps you make better decisions all around.

Observe + Orient = Situational Awareness

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Church Shooting Analysis Reports

A killer murdered two people during the morning service at West Freeway Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas December 29, 2019. He was about to kill a third person and probably more congregants when he was fatally shot in the skilled self-defense maneuver by Jack Wilson, a volunteer member of the church security team who undoubtedly saved many lives. The murderer’s six-second terror spree and the armed civilian’s rescue were video recorded. Here is a collection of links to resources examining the event to arrive at lessons learned for future self-defense and church security planning:

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The 5 Elements of Self-Defense Law

Attorney Andrew Branca has distilled the self-defense laws in all USA 50 states. He says, “There are at most 5 elements to any self-defense case (and often not even that many). That’s true in every one of the 50 states, and all US territories.”

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of the SELF-DEFENSE ]

Be sure you adhere to them if you believe you are honestly and reasonably confronted by a situation where you need to prevent an immediate, otherwise unavoidable danger of death, great bodily harm (generally considered a crippling or disfiguring injury), or, in some states, sexual assault to yourself or another innocent person you have the right to protect.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, The 4 Basic Rules of Gun Safety ]

Buy the book The Law of Self Defense, 3rd Edition through this affiliate link with Amazon

 

The 5 Elements of Self-Defense Law are:

  • Innocence
  • Imminence (ability, opportunity, jeopardy [manifest intent])
  • Proportionality
  • Avoidance
  • Reasonableness (subjective and objective)

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Situational Awareness Skills: Teaching Kids Observation Skills

On The Women’s Outdoor News website, this article suggests using games to help teach children to be aware of their surroundings.

These games take place when were out-and-about, especially when traveling. My boys are 21- and 22-years-old, and we still partake in them from time-to-time.

  • Soon after being seated on an airplane, I ask my boys to close their eyes. I then ask them to tell me where the nearest exit is, and how many other exits there are.
  • Part way through dinner at a restaurant we’ve never visited, I ask them to look down at the table. Then I ask where the nearest exit is – besides the one we came in through. I also ask them to describe some of the people sitting around us.

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