It's All Larp Until It Isn't. In the last three months, two armed citizens have demonstrated exactly why we train. Both intervened in mass shootings. Both helped save lives. You can dismiss preparedness as larping, but these incidents should make one thing abundantly clear: If you haven't started training, you should. The Twin Falls shooter in August was thwarted by three men: an off duty officer, a former officer, and most importantly, a citizen. The citizen, Jordan Salinas, pulled out his concealed carry pistol, and through effective fire, drove the perpetrator to exit the restaurant. After exiting, the perpetrator exited this world with his own weapon. Jordan spoke at length in an interview with the local news wherein he discussed having undergone extensive shooting training following another mass shooting event. Had Jordan not acted, it is very likely that even more people would have been claimed that day. But this isn't an isolated incident. Just this past week we have another story out of Bend, Oregon. Kaylub Giamanco, witnessed a man with a shotgun fire into a vehicle near the Silver Rail Elementary School. Kaylub witnessed the man enter the school and he withdrew a .40 caliber pistol (stay mad .40 haters), entered the building, and proceeded to add multiple center-mass holes to the attacker. These are just the two most recent examples, if we look back in just the last few years, we see a pattern emerge: Citizens being heroes Nobody wants to be in a terror attack. Nobody wishes that they will have to draw on someone. Nobody wants to face their own mortality while going about their daily life. But it happens. There are no signs that these stochastic events are stopping, especially as the social fabric of this nation continues to unwind. It is your duty to be prepared. You should be training. Go to the range. Take classes. Become proficient with your chosen handgun. Take a stop the bleed course. Keep an emergency medkit in your car. You cannot and should not rely on the state to save you and others. When seconds matter, help is minutes away. It's all larp until it isn't.