Fox News Just Gave the Most Terrible Advice to Kids for Surviving a Mass Shooting

Yesterday morning on Fox and Friends, Elisabeth Hasselbeck hosted a segment about what kids should do if there was an active shooter at their school. The segment included safety and self-defense experts, and basically posited that in an active shooter situation kids can protect themselves by running AT THE GUNMAN and doing some Krav Maga that they learned on a TV morning show, I guess? Even the Chyron is ridiculous. Look up at that top photo again. "How to teach your kids to fight back." Really? You think it's a good idea for children (CHILDREN) to try to fight an active shooter? This segment has to be seen to be believed.

Now, is there value in kids learning self-defense? Of course there is. But the problem here is that the actual steps you're supposed to take in an active shooter situation aren't discussed. All that's discussed are the ways you, a child, could potentially decide to leave a hiding place in an attempt to disarm a man with a gun. According to Media Matters, which first noticed the segment, the Department of Homeland Security has a three-step plan for people to follow in active shooter situations.

Step one: Evacuate if possible. This is not mentioned at all in the clip of the segment that claims to be teaching children how to stay safe in the most dangerous of situations.

Well this is a bad idea.

This morning on Fox and Friends, Elisabeth Hasselbeck hosted a segment about what kids should do if there was an active shooter at their school. The segment included safety and self-defense experts, and basically posited that in an active shooter situation kids can protect themselves by running AT THE GUNMAN and doing some Krav Maga that they learned on a TV morning show, I guess? Even the Chyron is ridiculous. Look up at that top photo again. "How to teach your kids to fight back." Really? You think it's a good idea for children (CHILDREN) to try to fight an active shooter? This segment has to be seen to be believed.

Now, is there value in kids learning self-defense? Of course there is. But the problem here is that the actual steps you're supposed to take in an active shooter situation aren't discussed. All that's discussed are the ways you, a child, could potentially decide to leave a hiding place in an attempt to disarm a man with a gun. According to Media Matters, which first noticed the segment, the Department of Homeland Security has a three-step plan for people to follow in active shooter situations.

Step one: Evacuate if possible. This is not mentioned at all in the clip of the segment that claims to be teaching children how to stay safe in the most dangerous of situations.

Step two: Hide. This is mentioned only in passing in the segment, and never offered as a directive that children should follow.

Step three: Is to take action against the shooter, but it very clearly says that this should only be done as a last resort.

Now, had the messaging of the segment followed the basic DHS plan and offered Krav Maga as only a last resort, then I think this might have been something of value. There's no harm in kids having the peace of mind that comes with feeling like they can protect themselves. But offering this kind of lesson without mentioning what you should actually do in that situation is irresponsible. And furthermore, Krav Maga is something that kids would need to learn in an actual class, so not making it clear that they should actually study this form of self-defense before employing the advice of the segment seems downright dangerous. So, kids, if you find yourself in the awful, terrible position of being in an active shooter situation, try to run away. If you can't, then you should hide. You should not try to attack the shooter unless it's an absolute last resort. See, Fox? That took three sentences. Would that have been so hard to say?

GQ