Less than two weeks ago, Ryan Giroux went on a rampage in Mesa. His actions killed one person and wounded five others in a spree that shut down parts of the city. What is even more frightening about his actions is that they took place in a part of town that I regularly traverse. The locations of the shootings, the cross streets, and local landmarks are well known to me.

The part of Mesa where these crimes took place is a part of the city where there are a lot of transients and a slightly higher crime rate. That said, there are a lot of businesses in the area including the new Cubs spring training facility just north of where some of the shootings took place. There is a small Vietnamese community just south of where the Valley Metro Light Rail ends along with several really good Asian restaurants. The gym where I trained at for six years was a mile from one of the crime scenes and one of the few remaining Popeye’s fried chicken locations is just down the road from where it all began.

So I know this area well…

It got me thinking about some things and highlighted some shortcomings in my own preparations. First, I haven’t gone through the first aid kit in my car for a while but I know I need to make some changes. I have items for scrapes and cuts, but nothing for blowout or other traumatic injury. Another shortcoming is I haven’t taken the first aid classes that I need to or brushed up on my CPR yet. While I was able to follow unfolding events on Twitter, I still only carry a knife for self-defense. That compact pistol, CCW training, and time at the range…well…I need to address that too.

You see, its easy to get complacent or overly busy with other things. This year has been full of work at the office and I am glad to be gainfully employed, but what I realize now is I have allowed gaps to remain open when I should be working to close them. Most of my focus has been on hardening my home and stockpiling items, what I need to do instead is obtain the skills and tools I need when bad things happen while I am on the road. As Kevin is fond of saying, you need to be your own first responder because crime sprees can happen anytime, anywhere.

Now I have taken some steps to correct this. I am in the midst of completing my One More Day bag from items I have already purchased. There are still a few items on the list but I am 90% there as of today. Once I get this built I will write a post about it so you can see what I put in mine. Two months ago, I joined an indoor gun range but haven’t gone yet. That will change soon because I want to evaluate pistols for concealed-carry before I purchase one. After I do that, I will obtain the pistol and schedule time for the CCW classes. After I purchased my new car two months ago, I reviewed my car kit and everything is all set there so I don’t have to worry about that. The missing pieces are a handful of items, some skills, and time to practice.

See, everybody can learn from events and use them as motivation to improve.