Austin-Travis County EMS and firefighters explained how to help save a life during mass casualty situations through the "Stop The Bleed" course on Monday.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, last year, the U.S. saw more mass shootings than days, with 647 occurrences. Its data also shows this year we've seen nearly 40 mass shooting before January is over.
"So there's been quite an uptick in gun violence, in particular downtown, just in the last couple of years," said Austin-Travis County EMS clinical specialist Courtney Meyer.
Meyer and Cpt. Shannon Koesterer said they can not stop gun violence but they can stop survivable deaths.
"I run a shooting every single weekend," said Meyer. "I ran one just Sunday morning. It's pretty prevalent, and because we have so much foot traffic downtown and we have all these major festivals and all these people, we really want to force multiply."