Active Shooter Training in Houghton is Part of the New Reality

HOUGHTON — Wednesday administrators at Aspirus Hospital announced they will be closing a Houghton clinic next week to train staff on active shooter training. It highlights a new reality facing businesses these days.

There have been no credible threats and the public is in no immediate danger. That’s the message police want to get out to the public even though many area institutions are undergoing active shooter training.

Land of the free and home of the brave. Yes, this is a free Democratic society and we enjoy more freedoms than most nations. But, that does come with some costs, namely the amount of guns available in our nation. We do have the right to bear arms but we have more guns on the streets and in homes than any other nation or country. It’s very hard to regulate those guns, especially when they fall into the hands of someone unstable. This is what motivates the recent trends in active shooter training.

Chief John Donnelly is with the Houghton Police Department and says, “Actually nationally the homicide rates have been going down for years but the incidents of active shooters have gone up.”

Workplace shootings and school violence continue to plague our nation. In the past few decades we’ve all seen the facts play out too many times. It’s why Houghton police, Michigan Tech police, and Michigan State officers have all joined forces to teach areas businesses how to react if someone comes in spraying bullets.

The Aspirus clinic in Houghton will close for one day next week to train their staff. Christina Verran is with Aspirus and says, “Our patients and our staff are our number one priority and we want to make sure that we can be ready and available to respond to any emergency and have the best outcome that we can.”

They are not the only ones to follow this trend; it’s just a new reality. The chances of a shooting occurring a low but the impact is great. Police, schools, and hospitals are just trying to be proactive.