I know mass shootings are a controversial topic, but it’s something we need to talk about, even if it sucks. While the political aspect of this brings up strong feelings and heated debate, it’s also important to ‘think outside the box’. The normal series of “solutions” we see trotted out after a shooting are almost always the same. We always see things like ‘ban all weapons’, ‘common sense’ [insert latest marketing term for gun laws here]’, ‘kids need more Jesus’ and ‘more good guys with guns’.
The debate will continue, in some places laws will be passed, in some places courts will strike (or most) down, and this will happen pretty much the same regardless of what I think or say about it. We all have things we’d like to see happen, but while we’re waiting for that to happen (whatever it is, and maybe forever), we should at least think about things that CAN be done today instead of building on it. political hamster wheel to run.
In that spirit, I want to provide a practical solution that police, event planners, and drone-licensed volunteers can use to launch an attack like we saw recently in Highland Park, Illinois†
Complex environments are difficult to control
To explain how electric aviation can help us protect people during mass gatherings in urban and suburban areas, let me quickly discuss what I’ve gathered about the shooting.
The gunman (whom we won’t name here because these folks thrive on fame) climbed an unsecured ladder, climbed a commercial building along the route of an Independence Day parade. From this second-floor vantage point, he fired about 70 rounds from a rifle, killing at least seven people (at the time of writing) and injuring dozens.
He (assuming these are the correct pronouns, considering the way he blended into the crowd trying to escape) has managed to achieve this because urban and suburban environments can be very complex. There are alleys, little nooks and crannies between buildings, unsecured ladders built into walls, and in most places there are multiple ways in and out. In such an environment, it is practically impossible to place eyeballs everywhere.
If you look at an entire parade route (it can be miles long), there are hundreds or even thousands of places where a terrorist could hide and get a vantage point over a crowd. There are also many places to drop off improvised explosive devices or do other bad things that will hurt a lot of people.
Allocate resources to high-risk, low-frequency events
While we see mass shootings in the news a lot, we must remember that we are talking about a country of 330 million people in thousands of cities, towns and small towns. On a holiday like Independence Day, most places have a parade or other celebration where people gather in droves. Even if all these places have every police officer they all have to keep an eye on the event, it’s impossible for them to see everything from the ground.
Can you get the police from neighboring jurisdictions? In normal times that would be possible. But if everyone has their own event, there would be nothing left to give any small town more than three times the normal police presence. In addition, no jurisdiction has such a reserve police force, so volunteers are generally not an option that could do that.
In other words, you couldn’t get enough good guys with guns to beat every event every time.
Even if you could, the negligible chance of this happening at any given gathering just isn’t enough for most places to want to spend the time and money on armed and trained eyeballs on every alley, roof, hole, drainpipe, tree, and window along an entire parade route. It’s just not realistic.
But that doesn’t mean that high-risk, low-frequency events like these aren’t real. Public safety and emergency personnel should be ready for these types of events, even if they are unlikely to see one in their entire career.
Clean technology can make two people do the work of hundreds
Happy, there is a zero-emission, cheap way to make it very difficult for anyone in your community to carry out such an attack: a small, lightweight drone.
Under FAA rules, you can now legally fly a small drone over a crowded area if you have the right equipment. To keep costs down, you’ll want a Category 1 drone, meaning it should weigh less than 250 grams and have no moving surfaces that could injure a person in the event of an accident. For ‘outdoor assemblies’ you must meet the Remote ID requirements if you want to switch immediately.
Image by Kelly Shores, DJI.
I don’t know about other brands, but I know DJI Mavic Mini (and the newer variants) meets the weight requirement and has been tested for the ability to tear human skin (it’s not possible, and from my own experience, the propeller guards make it more dangerous while going over the weight limit). There should be a firmware update soon for Mavic Mini drones that offer Remote ID capabilities, so until then you don’t have to pass the crowd at parades, but you can be close.
like you download the litchi app and put your phone in it Compatible Google Cardboard VR googles, you can get a first-person view of what the drone is seeing while seeing things clearly enough to see details on rooftops, in alleys, etc. The second person has to act as a visual observer so that the pilot can wear the goggles. You also want whoever isn’t wearing the goggles, or a third person, to act as security and make sure the team doesn’t become an attacker’s first target.
It is also important that the team is in contact with the police so that suspicious matters can be investigated immediately. A person on a roof, a weird character in an alley or anything seen from the sky can be reacted to immediately instead of staying hidden until it’s too late. It’s also a wise idea to monitor the area for a while before the event starts. You should practice this regularly and come up with ways to communicate the location of suspicious people or objects over the radio.
Perhaps more importantly, the deterrent effect of a drone flying around an event can deter an attacker or terrorist from even attempting it. You never know if you’ve chased an attacker away, but that’s a good thing.
Best of all? The whole setup can be put together for under $500 if you shop around. Not only is that much cheaper than a manned helicopter (and more environmentally friendly), but also cheaper than a decent new gun, so it’s well within what even the smallest city’s public safety officials can afford. The work can be done by volunteers, who don’t need sworn law enforcement (but it can’t hurt).
As a result, much better security is within reach almost everywhere.
Featured image: The complex environment where the Highland Park shooting took place. Screenshot from Google Maps.
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