THAT I.C.E. SHOOTING IN LOS ANGELES: A reader emails:

I’m an ICE agent in Los Angeles, so DO NOT PUBLISH MY NAME.

I couldn’t help but notice the contrast in the body count between this workplace shooting and the Fort Hood massacre. Workplace shooting sprees don’t last nearly as long when everyone in the office has a gun on their hip. I wonder how many of the Fort Hood victims would be alive if they weren’t prohibited from arming themselves?

Yeah.

UPDATE: A followup:

Like most government agencies and large private corporations, DHS requires its agents to take regular online training sessions on a variety of issues (workplace discrimination, sexual harassment, protecting sensitive or classified information, etc.). Last week we completed an online training module on workplace shootings. In the event of a workplace shooting, we were instructed — and I’m not exaggerating — to immediately evacuate the premises and call 9-1-1. If fleeing isn’t possible, we are counseled to find a secure hiding place and silence our cell phones (so that incoming phone calls don’t alert the shooter to our location). Only as a last resort are we advised to confront the shooter.

There’s something deeply troubling, even sickening, about a law enforcement agency counseling its armed agents to cower in fear when confronted with a deadly threat. I can only hope that the ICE agent (a mid-level manager, BTW) who stopped the shooter isn’t disciplined for failing to barricade himself in his office.

Indeed.