[Double Naught Spy]

Lately, I am becoming more concerned about so called "soft target" terrorist attacks in the U.S. and, in particular, my home area. I live in a small town with a large university.

First the good news. You live in a small town. Even with the large university, you aren't likely to be subjected to a terrorist attack.

Lessons are surely learned by terrorists from incidents such as Virginia Tech, where one lone gunman killed 32 innocents and wounded many others before killing himself. Note, he was not taken out by LE so the carnage could have been much worse.

No doubt terrorists are learning lessons. They have been learning them for a long time. So have the good guys.

It seems as though LE supervisors are reluctant to aggressively advance on the shooter(s) and, as was the case in a mass shooting in Binghamton, NY, would rather secure the area and wait for the perp to either run out of ammo, kill himself, or give up.

Interesting that you picked a non-school based incident in New York to reflect on your school-based concerns brought up in Virginia when you live in Alabama. Have you checked with your school and local law enforcement to determine if they have active shooter programs in place?

Many colleges and universities, such as the one in my town, do not allow students to carry concealed weapons on campus. This does nothing more than create "free fire zones" for BG's or terrorists.

And because terrorists have learned so much from these incidents, they are attacking unarmed US college campuses left and right? As for most of the BGs in these situations, if you take a look at the folks involved, they are not strangers to campus coming onto campus to reek havoc. Same with non-robbery workplace shootings.

So you are concerned. Very good. What have you done to help your current situation? Since you can't have firearms, what sort of other self defense activities have you engaged in such that if there is a crisis that you may be able to respond in the best manner possible given the situation?

When you went to the campus and local police departments, what insights did they give you? Do they have active shooter programs?

What is your college's position on active shooters? How about fire or other catastrophe. After all, your campus buildings and occupants are more likely to be in a fire than a terrorist attack, though terrorist around the world often use fire in their attacks.

Do you have a plan worked out with peers on how you will respond to such an attack, either in fighting back or evacuating to safety?

Look, just because you can't have a gun on campus doesn't mean that you are helpless or cannot be an active participant in stopping the opposition or in saving lives. It just means you won't have a gun at the start of the incident, maybe not at all. You know this already. So you need to have plans and options in place before something goes wrong, not afterwards.

Of course as noted, if you can't carry on campus and want to, then you need to be an active participant in working toward that goal in your state and on your campus.

Beslan was a trial run.

It will be replicated.

You think Ingush and Chechen rebels will attack another school in North Ossetia? That was 6 years ago. When do you think they will make another attack based on the trial run?