Sergeant Mike Harding told attendees steps to take if they are ever in an active shooter situation.

Most Pacific Palisades would rather talk about anything than an active shooter. But the lessons that Sergeant Mike Harding went over at a July 19 meeting at the Legion Hall could save a life, possibly your own.

Before introducing Harding, Ronald Reagan Legion Post 283 Commander Jim Cragg addressed the packed room.

“Active shooters are a scourge in the country,” Cragg said. “There are people out there that are armed.”

The Legion is apolitical and by its constitution cannot support a political candidate or cause, but Cragg emphasized that teaching people what they can do if they are ever in this situation is something the Legion can do.

“This is what’s here, what’s now,” Cragg said and then introduced Harding, who has spent almost 36 years in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department working with officer survival and active shooter response protocols.

“You have a greater chance of being hit by lightning than by an active shooter,” Harding assured audiences. But he then went through steps that people can take if they are ever in that situation.

He told the audience that the workplace is the number one place that active shooters are found and that the number two location is schools.

Harding said that since 2006, there are about four or more deaths every 2.9 months and that mass shootings take place every year.

“Just like fire drills, making a plan in advance is imperative,” said Harding, who added that most active shooter situations are over in 10 to 15 minutes, which means if you are on the scene, “You are your own first responder.”

Once the police arrive their first priority is to take out the shooter, not to render medical aid.

Depending on the situation, the steps a person should take are RUN. HIDE. FIGHT.

RUN: If someone is in a situation where there is an active shooter, the first thing to do is “Get out,” which might mean going through emergency exits, back doors. Once outside, don’t run to a parking lot because in that location “you are more vulnerable to attack.”

Where do you run to? Harding said he taught his daughters to hop fences to get out of the perimeter, to get into a residential zone and to get “away from the killing zone.”

HIDE: “If you can’t get to an exit, get to a room and secure your location,” but remember bullets can go through drywall.

Once inside, block the doors to the room, staying away from the windows, silencing cell phones and turning out lights.

“If you can’t shelter in place, prepare to defend yourself,” he said.

FIGHT: The last option might be stopping the shooter. He pointed out the nightclub in Florida where a shooter had two guns and killed 49 people was done in a crowd of 350. “The fight option was not even used,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to fight if it raises the level of your survival.

“Who has the power,” Harding said. “Not the shooter, the crowd has the advantage.” He pointed out that the shooter can only fight in one direction.

“Most people don’t do anything. We watch. We freeze.” And that can be deadly.

“About 50 percent of active shooters are stopped by civilians,” Harding said. “There are more and more people willing to challenge a shooter. Are they sometimes killed? Yes, but they have stopped additional deaths.”

Shooters often have mindset after searching on the Internet that “I’m going to kill more people than the last person did. I’ll be famous.”

Harding also describes shooters as “opportunists and cowards.” He said about 40 percent of all active shooters commit suicide. “They would rather commit suicide than fight you.”

He laid down some simple facts. “You have the right to use a reasonable amount of force if you are in that situation. Violence is not a bad thing when you are trying to stop an evil doer.”

Harding said, “I taught my daughters to scratch at the eyes, fight like a cat, claw.” He said that gouging an eye is an effective way of stopping someone.

He showed the audience how to hit the throat, stopping them. “If the person can’t breathe, they can’t fight,” Harding said.

His daughters asked how they, as petite women, could reach a man’s face. “Kick them in the groin,” he said, “Very simple, very efficient, and when they bend over you can reach their face.”

“You need to hurt this individual and break them,” he said. “Break their will.”

The active shooter video, which is disturbing, can be found at click here.

A receptive audience of community and Legion members listened to Mike Harding.

This column of dirt (above left) will be knocked down to prevent it from possibly causing an accident on Pacific Coast Highway.

Santa Monica announced that a portion of the Santa Monica Bluffs, above Pacific Coast Highway, is unstable and needs emergency repairs.

The bluff considered unstable is between the tunnel and the incline. A column of soil has broken away from the main bluff.

And last week, according the City’s engineering department, a large crack appeared in the bluff, which has prompted immediate action.

A large crane will be brought in to knock the dirt column down. The road will be closed because although the area is small, the City Public Works Department said, “we don’t want to take chances.”

Starting Tuesday, July 25, at 11:30 p.m., the Moomat Ahiko Way ramp that allows access to PCH (between Ocean Avenue and PCH) will be closed. The Moomat Ahiko off-ramp to Santa Monica, from PCH, will remain open.

Portions of the westbound I-10 freeway and Pacific Coast Highway will be closed at Lincoln Boulevard to the California Incline on Wednesday, July 26, starting at 2 a.m. All routes are expected to reopen by noon on July 26.

Drivers can exit at Lincoln and take a detour through Santa Monica, accessing PCH via the California Incline.

Southbound PCH and eastbound I-10 will remain open.

The Reynolds Family’s Cancer Fund of America, Children’s Cancer Fund of America, Cancer Support Services and the Breast Cancer Society came under the attention of the Federal Trade Commission after a joint report from the Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting listed them in 2013 under “America’s Worst Charities.”

Americans donated a record $471 billion to charities in 2020, according to Giving USA. But, it does make a difference to whom you donate.

The Daily Mail in a June 25 story (The WORST Charities in America? These Are the Organizations Giving over 90 PERCENT of Donations to Their FatCat Executives – While Ignoring their Causes”) said that the 50 worst charities gave less than four percent of donations to their advertised recipients from 2003 to  2013.

Unfortunately, there are grifters taking the money and not helping the intended victims, such as children, cancer research or firefighters. Instead, the money is going to the charity’s CEOs instead.

As a rule, Charity watchdog organizations say no more than 35% of donations should go to fundraising costs. But some charities spend 90 percent of what they collect on lawyers, fundraisers and salaries.

Some con artists purposely choose a name for a charity that sounds like one already in existence, to confuse people.

For example, the Make a Wish Foundation, spends the majority of donations on children and should not be confused with the Kids Wish Network. Make a Wish is highly rated, the latter, Kids Wish only spends three cents of every dollar on kids.

It is possible to check the status of a nonprofit at GuideStar.org or on CharityNavigator.org (where one can also view the 990 IRS form). The Better Business Bureau also provides information, but some charities, such as Black Lives Matter Foundation did not respond to the BBB’s request for information.

The Daily Mails selection of worst charities starts with Cancer Fund of America run by James T. Reynolds. That charity gave less than one percent of its funds to the cause according to a study by the Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative reporting.

Reynolds has been accused by the FEC as running one of the largest charity fraud cases ever. He also launched since-shuttered charities: Cancer Support Services, Children’s Cancer Fund of America and the Breast Cancer Society. His children spearhead several charities, and each takes home a six-figure salary.

Cancer Fund of America took in more than $7.7 million in its first year in 1984. “Less than 10 percent went to actual cancer patients, while the rest was dished out to the fundraisers and Reynolds’ family’s salaries, according to the Tampa BayTimes. “From 2003 to 2013, the charity spent just 0.9 percent of its funds on direct cash aid.”

More than $80 million was spent for-profit fundraisers and the family was paid nearly $5 million. Only about $890,000 was spent on cancer patients.

Kids Wish Network spent 2.5 percent of its funds on kids, but $109 million went to fundraisers and $4.8 million to the charity’s founder. It earned zero out of a four-star rating from Charity Navigator.

Former staffer Rhonda Erlo told the Tampa Bay Times that “people should look elsewhere when donating. ‘I realized this was more of a money, money, money business than a children’s organization,’ she said.”

Black Lives Matter (BLM), was co-founded by Patrisse Cullors in 2013. She stepped down in 2021, but was also featured prominently in the Daily Mail story as a charity to take a second look at before contributing.

Patrisse Cullors at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in 2019.                                          Taylor Jewell / Invision/AP file

The story noted that millions poured in from across the world as issues of racism were brought to people’s attention.

But many initial donors were upset at the use of the money, as stories about salaries and real estate purchases surfaced, and donations went from $77 million in 2021-2022 to $9.3 million in the more recent financial year.

The Mail reported “’While Patrisse Cullors was forced to resign due to charges of using BLM’s funds for her personal use, it looks like she’s still keeping it all in the family,’ said Paul Kamenar, an attorney for the National Legal and Policy Center watchdog group.”

Black Lives Matter spent more than $12 million on luxury properties in Los Angeles and in Toronto in May 2022, including a $6.3 million 10,000-square-foot property in Canada that was purchased as part of a $8 million ‘out of country grant.’

The Mail said, “The Toronto property was bought with grant money that was meant for ‘activities to educate and support black communities, and to purchase and renovate property for charitable use.’”

On Charity Navigator it tells possible donors to BLM to  “Proceed with Caution.” And lists the following items:

On December 2, 2019, Cease and Desist reported that Black Lives Matter Foundation is the subject of an active investigation by The Office of the Attorney General of California.

On June 15, 2020, Buzzfeed News published an article titled, “The Black Lives Matter Foundation” Raised Millions. It’s Not Affiliated with The Black Lives Matter Movement.” For more information, see the Buzzfeed News article click here.

On July 7, 2020, NBC 4 New York published an article titled, “NY Attorney General Orders Black Lives Matter Foundation to Stop Soliciting Donations.” For more information, please see the NBC 4 New York click here.

BLM has blamed the media for ‘inflammatory and speculative’ reports that probed the group’s financials.

Finally, what could be wrong with the Firefighters Charitable Foundation, which also received a zero-star rating from Charity Navigator?

It was launched in 1991 to help families affected by fires and natural disasters. The money raised doesn’t go to the intended victims.

It took $54 million of donor money over the decade, but gave just 8.4 percent of that money to actual fire victims, the Times/CRI study found.

If you want your money to help local firefighters, visit: click here.

Before you donate, check to see how much of your money is actually going to the intended victims, versus the CEO’s and lawyers associated with the organization.

When CTN wrote a story on Teen Cancer America, In. and one of the first things the editor did was go to the Charity Navigator. Teen Cancer gives the charity a 94 percent, four-star rating, meaning that money is going to intended victims and for research.