N.J. Residents Take Part In Active Shooter Defense Class
WOODLAND PARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – In a world where mass shootings in public places have become all too familiar, many are enrolling in classes to learn how to defend themselves in an active shooter scenario.
As CBS 2's Christine Sloan reported Monday, the "Guns for Hire" course in Woodland Park, N.J. teaches its students how to survive a scenario similar to the shooting at the Garden State Plaza Mall.
Guns for Hire student Joann Margherita, who lost her niece in the Virginia Tech massacre, told Sloan "I feel like we had something taken away from us. I said you know what; I am not going to let this happen again. If it happens again I am going down trying to help myself and as many people around me."
The instructors, a New Jersey state trooper and a police officer, not only teach their students how to properly defend themselves with a gun, but also how to prepare for when they don't have their gun on them.
The instructors urge their pupils to pull up maps of malls and stadiums before heading out of the house, to know where the exits are and to try and sit near an aisle if possible.
According to the instructors, active shooter incidents take between four and nine minutes, Sloan reported. And the more you know and the faster you can react, the better chance you have of getting out alive.
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