Penn. Company Gives Civilians Life-Like Active Shooter Training

A gunman breaks into a home, tries to carjack someone or goes to shoot up a place where multiple people are gathered.

That gunman starts firing away at the homeowner, vehicle owner or crowd.

If legally armed with his/her own gun, how should the property owner, the civilian in the crowd or the security officer respond? Under such intense pressure, how can they make quick, clear-headed decisions that won't get them arrested or sued?

How can teachers and students keep themselves safe with an active shooter about to burst into their classroom? How can a civilian help someone shot in the chest until ambulance personnel arrive?

These questions are answered in active-threat simulation training offered by Threat Assessment and Tactical Solutions (TATS), a business Brandon Kehr started in July 2017 and operates on North Third Street.

"We teach responsible gun owners how to be more confident with their firearms when protecting themselves at home or away from home," said Kehr, a native of Pittsburgh where a gunman fatally shot 11 people and injured seven others at a synagogue in October.

"What distinguishes us from (National Rifle Association) classes or gun range training is that we use actual live people, as opposed to paper or steel targets, in roles simulating active-shooter scenarios," said Kehr, an 18-year U.S. Air National Guard veteran who started TATS after being medically discharged from federal air marshal service last year. "The guns we use are real, but are designed to fire projectiles at a non-lethal rate of speed at which they don't penetrate the skin. We want to make these simulated scenarios as realistic as possible without putting participants' safety at risk.

"The most important thing we want people to experience is the mental and physiological pressure of these situations so that they can learn how to function most effectively under that type of stress," he said. "I'm offering this unique type of training out of a concern that many law-abiding gun owners want to do the right thing, but won't make good decisions when confronted with an active threat. I'm trained and can handle myself in a situation, but I don't want to have to worry more about the law-abiding gun owners than about the threat.

Kehr compares being in an active-threat confrontation with being punched in the face for the very first time.

"If something like that has never happened to you before, when it does, you're like, 'What the heck just happened?,'" he said. "That's not a reaction you want to have when an armed criminal is on the attack. You want to be able to use your wits and end the day with no holes in your body other than the ones you were born with. And you definitely don't want to end the day in handcuffs because you reacted how you 'thought' you should have."

TATS offers a two-hour introductory basics course involving safety and proper use and maintenance for first-time and prospective gun owners. The cost is $75 per person.

"The advanced course is a series of sessions involving simulation training on what to do when a gunman attacks and your gun malfunctions or you have to reload," Kehr said. "There's training for when a gunman attacks in an environment with poor lighting, in a parking lot, in your home or your vehicle, in a road rage situation or when there are multiple aggressors. It teaches how to strengthen your situational awareness."

The cost for the advanced course is $100 per person per session.

TATS can host seminars at its location or at schools, businesses, places of worship or wherever else such education is requested.

TATS hasn't held any courses yet, but did have a recent introductory seminar with East Stroudsburg University representatives and hopes to have another with Stroudsburg School District teachers.

"We're not here to show school teachers or college professors how to use guns in their classrooms, so there are no guns involved," Kehr said. "However, we do want to do first aid, CPR and trauma care training, which is valuable for people to have in situations where ambulance personnel can't get to an active-threat scene right away. Also, we want to have discussions like what things in a classroom can be converted into weapons to use against an active threat. The more aware of us the community becomes, the more we hope to spread this important knowledge."

TATS is still in the process of building up its website, www.tatstraining.com. Brandon Kehr can be reached at (484) 998-8287 or brandon@tatstraining.com.