This occurred yesterday. I was just across the street at work when this happened. What if's keep playing through my mind.
It's interesting when it happens to others, but when it's this close to home...you take it more seriously. BTW, there were a lot of kids in our store at that time. Food for thought.

http://news.yahoo.com/florida-police-1-dead-2-injured-mall-shooting-173918969.html

The only way I can think to prepare for this is stay low, try to look inconspicuous/dead, and try to figure out what's going on before taking off running. I'm OK with in open/concealed carry, but playing hero in a situation like this would only cause more problems.

If I heard gunshots in a mall, I would never guess the facts here. This is a jealous husband who went crazy. It's a domestic violence incident. I am willing to bet that the other guy who got killed was the wife's lover, and thus nobody randomly got hurt.

Head on a swivel, pay attention and look around. I make an effort to always check out the layout of a public place; where are the exits? This is important for any kind of emergency, be it a fire or an active shooter. If I was in a mall and heard gunfire I'd move to cover such as I could find and make my way towards an exit. But I wouldn't draw unless I saw the shooter and was forced to engage.

Yes, I CCW everywhere it's legal (and in my state it's legal everywhere with a few exceptions). My sidearm is for my own protection, not for me to try to be a superhero. If I can very clearly see what's going on and there's a clear-cut bad guy involved I may engage if I can do from a position of tactical advantage.

To me the scarier situation would something like the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris. In that scenario the shooters were trained, armed with AK-47s (and according to one report, an RPG!) and may have been wearing armor. Me and my HK P30 are not an even match for two bad guys with rifles. Discretion would be the better part of valor in that situation. But if I were cornered and had to fight or die where I stood then I'd rather go down fighting.

Charlie Hebdo aside, even the Aurora situation would have been hard to respond to. Well-armed guy walks into a dark theater, throws a smoke grenade, starts firing into the crowd with a rifle. Let's say you don't die right away. You hide behind the seats, which probably can't stop bullets, ready to shoot the bad guy with your little pistol. Can you see through the smoke, can you see in the dark? While people are screaming and running, can you get a clear shot? Some theaters are big. Can you reliably make a shot at that distance? Will a well-intentioned CCW carrier mistake you for the bad guy and shoot you?

If the room is entirely dark, I hope you've brought your flashlight. And I hope you have practiced the FBI hold, because as soon as you turn on that light, you are *the* target.

Here are a couple of resources on active shooter situations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKyLxDv9C9U (good video other than the very poor use of cover shown between about 4:05 and 4:30)

http://emilms.fema.gov/IS907/

As Phaedrus says, situational awareness is crucial.

Like with many other potential emergencies, physical fitness can really pay off if something like this happens where you are.

If you do carry concealed please remember to train and practice. Concealed carriers should plan to be at the range at least monthly, if not more often, and should budget for a class at least annually. Competition can be really helpful, especially for a bit of simulated stress combined with drawing, movement, using cover, clearing malfunctions, and reloads. Those skills are perishable and hard to maintain from inside a range booth.



I respectfully disagree. There have been a number of active shooter situations in the USA that have been stopped by civilians carrying concealed. Also, "playing hero" is not how I would phrase it. I think I would say something closer to "saving lives."

If someone is intent on killing people, and you are present, you resist or die like the rest. The crime of passion being a different scenario, as it is targeted toward an individual. The more people that resist the less that will die.

Some peoples only defense plan is to make mocking and dismissive comments against those who might actually have a plan and training, and then go running around screaming if something happens. My priority is my family. If I can help a runner/screamer/mocker/dismisser while saving my family, I will do so. But my goal is not to play hero with my little pistol that I'm not sure about and save those people. If I do, it will only be incidental.

Yeah, the theater shooting is a very bad situation. I think of the theater I frequent. There are emergency exits but they're at the front, close to the regular exit. It would be pretty easy for a shooter to cover the whole theater and block egress. Smoke could work in my favor; if I can't see he can't either. Theater chairs are no cover at all but they are concealment, and could provide a rest to steady a pistol. In Aurora the shooter had an M&P15, and going against an AR in the hands of a skilled user with a sidearm is not a good situation, at all! Worse yet he had body armor that capable of defeating pistol rounds.

Every time I'm at my local multiplex I have a Surefire E1B and a handgun, usually my HK P30S or HK VP9, and both wear tritium night sights. With either of those guns I'm probably going have a very high percentage chance of a head shot within 50 feet and I regularly practice out to 25 yards with them.

IMOHO the only kind of fight you can't win is the one where you give up. Confronting an adversary armed with a powerful rifle isn't easy but it's not impossible. A ways back a USAF bike MP engaged an active shooter armed with an AK-47; the shooter had already killed a few people when the officer reached him. He engaged at a distance of 60 yards, firing four rounds from his Beretta M9, killing the perp. Very recently a Canadian RCMP officer killed an active shooter with one shot from his handgun at a distance of 105 yards, while holding the reins of some horses in the other hand!

When the moment comes you have to be as prepared at you can be. Just like Doug says of the PSP, if it's not on you it can't save you. If you don't regularly CCW and your gun isn't on you that's an issue (and I do understand it's not possible to legally carry everywhere and I don't advocate breaking the law). The first rule of gunfighting is have a gun! Once #1 is taken care of then hopefully that gun is adequate to the task since all you've got is what you brung. You make a good point about little pistols; we carry small guns because they're easy to carry, not because they're effective or easy to shoot. CCW is a numbers game. Your odds of needing a gun are low. If you ever need to draw it you may not need to fire. If you need to fire then odds are good that they're retreat. It's like the old saying- in a bacon, egg and cheese sandwhich the chicken and the cow are involved but the pig is committed! Predators seldom fight to the death.

But of course, the most unlikely thing will still happen eventually. The Aurora shooter and the Charlie Hebdo terrorists goal was to kill. And unlike most such attacks they weren't suicide attacks; they all planned to survive.

While you almost always have some chance, albeit a slim one, some situations are pretty much like the "Kobayashi Maru". There might not be a solution that allows you to "win" every time. Victory may have to be redefined. Can you alter the shooter's plan, saving others? Kill or disable at least one of them potentially lowering the body count? Hard to say.

I think one needs to be aware when planning their day. I try avoid crowded places due to not liking crowds but if you look at a place like an active shooter would then some places appear to be tempting targets. Those are places to avoid if you can. If you can't then be aware of your surroundings.

If you're into guns or at least open to the idea of them, consider CCW. Train as much as you can.

The good new as I see it is that, despite the media circus, events like this are still pretty rare. And I don't expect mass terror attacks on US soil to become commonplace overnight. Prepared and equipped to survive is good, paranoid is not!

Phaedrus... nice write up

re: high output LED lights... if you haven't ever been accidentally flashed with a 250+ lumen light, and I don't suggest it... it will pretty seriously disorient you... your shooter could get off random shots, but an accident with my Surefire/Malkoff module left me pretty seriously disoriented for 3 to 5 minutes

Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. 'Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That's just the way it is.

The Outlaw Josie Wales

I am not a fan of taking wisdom from Hollywood, but this one is right on. You lose 100% of the fights you give up on. In an active shooter situation, or an airline hijacking these days, if you can't get out, you are likely to die anyway. Take the chance on removing the threat.

As for the shooting a pistol at range, it just takes practice. I can consistently hit a man sized target at 100 meters from the draw, on double action, with a pistol. Yes, I have had considerable training. But it takes practice. If you are carrying a weapon, and you don't practice with it, you might as well not carry it. Whether it is a stick, a knife or a gun. Or even your hands and feet. If you don't train, you will not react well if the situation arises.