By Jordan Richart For The Republic
It’s a scene that has become all too familiar of late.
A gunman opens fire in a public space, leaving behind victims and carnage and physical and emotional scars.
We have seen it in places of worship, stores, movie theaters, public spaces and schools.
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Grieving parents, loved ones, friends and advocates prompt discussions about what can be done about active-shooter situations, opening broad conversations about gun control, gun deregulation, mental health legislation, law enforcement, security and more.
A Seymour business owner hopes he can help provide one solution: Preparing the public for numerous active-shooter situations.
Andy Rumph, owner of Woodlawn Family Funeral Centre, recently started B Safe Tactical Training to prepare clients for active-shooter scenarios.
“All you have to do is look at the television and see there’s a need for something like this,” he said, adding multiple conversations with churches and other organizations about safety also prompted him to explore the business.
Rumph, a former police officer and county coroner, tapped Seymour Police Department Capt. Carl Lamb to serve as training manager to help organize and implement training events.
The business provides training that simulates active-shooter scenarios at churches, schools, businesses and police departments. It also trains clients in tactical training, basic and advanced firearms training, threat assessments, personal safety, situational awareness and police training.
The business hosted its first training session at The Point church in Seymour, training 24 church members and staff in nine scenarios that could likely apply to a church.
The scenarios included robbery, domestic situations involving an estranged parent abducting a child, personal-conflict situations involving church staff and a random shooter.
He said B Safe will meet with clients prior to training to get a sense of what scenarios will apply to them so training sessions can be tailored to their needs.
What makes the business different is how real the scenarios are because they use real people, not video simulations.
The business is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for participants to interact with each other. The equipment, Stress Vest, was a $70,000 investment and includes 12 laser handguns, two laser rifles, two laser knives, 12 vests, two tablets, a drone, a sound system, an arm sleeve, hats and more.
The firearms are non-projectile.
Participants wear the vests with front, back and side panels that serve as laser receptors. The vest is then connected to a belt the user wears on the lower abdomen.
Multiple participants each have guns that shoot signals, and when one connects with the vest, an electrical current is sent through the belt to shock the user to simulate being shot.
The idea is for participants to remember the encounter and improve if the scenario was to occur.
“The whole idea is to make it as real as possible,” Rumph said.
There also are human factors the business tries to educate clients about.
“We also want to replicate the stress levels,” he said. “People are unpredictable in these situations, and we want people to think about what they would do.”
Sound equipment is used and projects loud alarms, screaming and other noises often heard during such incidents.
“It’s going to be chaos, and it’s going to be loud with people being disoriented, and we’re going to try to simulate that the best we can,” Lamb said.
The equipment is the most advanced and impressive he has seen in his 30-year law enforcement career, he said.
“Right now, the only places in the country that have this equipment are large police departments in New York, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service,” he said.
“We want to train the mindset,” Lamb said. “Just because someone comes in and they’re a threat, an intruder or active shooter, we want clients to have the mindset of, ‘You can win this confrontation,’ and every scenario we’re giving them is winnable.”
