Lately there have been people who get their hands on guns and proceed to kill innocent people for political or personal reasons. This is a huge threat today with the rise of Islamic extremism and radical beliefs both foreign and domestically. People in general still don’t grasp the reality that no place is safe from this reality. No amount of security or legislation is going to prevent these people from killing many people. This is most evident in gun-free zones where no one is allowed the basic liberty of being armed in order to defend against an active shooter. This leads to easy pickings for those that want to go on a killing rampage. Even the UK, who has a complete ban on all firearms, has a lot of issues with shootings. Amazing how criminals find a way around the laws to commit armed crimes anyways, huh? This also was evident in Paris with the massive casualties that resulted from the well-coordinated attacks that could have been prevented if France wasn’t so afraid of offending people.

We have seen that the only way to respond and stop an active shooter is to shoot back. This has been shown in such events as in the Oregon mall where a man went into the mall and started shooting at people before someone with a concealed firearm confronted the man and returned fire. This effectively ended the shooting and caused the shooter to not only flee, but to take his own life once he realized his act of terrorism was over. The people that are aware of these threats are trying to arm themselves with training and gear that can help them respond effectively to an active shooter situation. This is a very good thing to see, but we must be wise about how we are preparing. Sometimes people take things out of hand and have fantasies about how they are going to save the day as a lone operator like Bruce Willis in Die Hard. They carry a ridiculous amount of little pocket things like they are about to go to war with the town. They will be carrying things like three pistols, ten magazines, two knives, 550 cord, flashlights, etc.

bugout

If you are serious about remaining prepared to confront an active shooter, there are a few things that you must be aware of. First thing is that we must remain aware of the reality of what can happen during an active shooting. The response by law enforcement is most likely going to be immediate and very aggressive with cordons and active armed responses to those they see with firearms. There are a lot of people that are carrying full loads of body armor with hundreds of rifle rounds in molle pouches and have a rifle ready in their vehicle to respond. They also are stashing full trauma kits in their vehicles and other gear that you would only see in a SWAT officer cruiser, who must be ready to be called up at any moment in time.

This kind of preparation is unnecessary and the idea of having time to gear up for an active shooter and rush to the rescue is foolhardy at best. The idea of running around in body armor and a fully loaded rifle through a mall will undoubtedly get you engaged by law enforcement or a person who is carrying. You will look like the active shooter, and unless you are screaming and shouting, and making yourself a target yourself, you may end up getting shot in the process. Then there is the variable of taking the time to get geared up. Firstly, people I hear talking about this are under the impression that they will have time to run back to their vehicle, get geared up, and come back to be a hero of the masses. If you flee the scene and then return, you are asking for trouble and it is just irresponsible to think that is practical. The time it will take will just end up with more people dead while you’re gearing up like a weekend operator.

 

 

The next thing is the idea that they will drive up to a place where an active shooting is taking place and then get geared up for a fight. Again you run the risk of taking friendly fire in the process of responding. Even if all you do is grab a six magazine bandoleer and a rifle or shotgun to respond, you are still going to look like the active shooter who came geared up with the purpose of shooting a lot of rounds. This can cause law enforcement to be very suspicious of your actions and rightfully so. And again you’re using up valuable time that counts. Seconds count in these situations and it isn’t going to help people to show up late in all your gear.