Border Patrol Agents to Duck and Cover if Shot At

When I first stumbled on this over at Weasel Zippers, I was sure Fox News had been punked by The Onion, but it looks to be legitimate. According to Fox, new guidelines from the Department of Homeland Security require that all employees, whether sworn law enforcement officers or civilians:

• Evacuate: If there is an accessible escape path, attempt to evacuate the premises.
• Hide out: If evacuation is not possible, find a place to hide where the active shooter is less likely to find you.
• Take action: As a last resort, and only when your life is in imminent danger, attempt to disrupt and/or incapacitate the active shooter.

 At first I thought this was only for civilian employees, but no, the DHS has doubled down on the stupid by saying their course was intended for all employees, civilian and law-enforcement officers alike.



Is this really the way we want to go with this? The mission of the Border Patrol is, as listed on their recruitment web page:

"[P]reventing terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States; detecting and preventing the smuggling and unlawful entry of undocumented aliens into the United States; and apprehending those people found to be in violation of the immigration laws."

I guess the caveat "unless they shoot at you" will be added in there at the next update.  Border Patrol Agents are trained law enforcement officers who carry weapons. They even go to FLETC and have shiny badges and spiffy uniforms and everything! That was sarcasm, BTW. I have the utmost respect for the Border Patrol, having known a Customs Agent in my youth. Also, they haven't done anything stupid to tarnish their reputation like some other Federal agencies which I won't name, but whose initials are FBI and ATF.

The union representing the Border Patrol Agents sums it up nicely (and it takes a ton of stupidity on the part of management to make me say nice things about a union, dang it):

“It is always comforting to know that for those of us who carry a weapon when we are off-duty, if we should encounter such a situation, stop a shooter and save countless lives, we can look forward to being disciplined or fired by the Border Patrol because we should have run away to hide and then maybe thrown objects at the deranged killer instead of taking action and stopping him with a firearm.”

Wow, I hope if I'm ever in a situation where I need the protection that any Agents in question decide it's worth getting fired over to defend themselves and those around them.