If You Where In Public Place And Heard Shots Fired What Would Prefer To Be Armed With

Sorry for the butchered title anyhow.

What would you response to the active shooter be?

 

Not being present.

 

Any response to an active shooter scenario I might make would depend on a large number of variables, including what weapon/s I am carrying (almost always have something), distances, venue, cover, potential vulnerability and number victims, shooter’s weapon/s and possible armor, my potential to react, etc. all that would require both initial and on-going threat/response assessments. Every situation is different. Response can run a range potential strategies from returning fire with an available handgun from a concealed position to pin or delay the shooter until backup arrives, to maneuvering for an effective ambush shot, all the way to retrieving a long barrel weapon (still require some threat assessment and quick assessment response tactics).
I think the more fundamental question is barricade, fight or flight? And even then, every situation is different. But, having something on you with which you have greater options is a first bit of a general strategy.

 

That's an excellent question and adds yet another variable, if you are with someone who is not armed or worse, like too many people, is not even aware of their surroundings, what do you have them do?

I normally avoid malls simply due to the pricing, but I end up in them with my wife, who is only concerned with what is in the show windows.

As such it's my job to notice what is going on around us and where things like exits are and if the store we just entered even has a rear door, believe it or not a lot of smaller mall based stores in Florida do not have rear doors, the only way out is the way you came in.

The way to tell is exit signs, if there is no exit sign by the rear of the store, usually the entrance to the stock room, there is no rear door, for if there was a door the National Fire Code requires a battery backup exit sign to be installed.

In the event of an active shooter the people in those stores are sitting ducks.

Ever considered concealable soft body armor?

Due to the deterioration and general lawlessness of South Florida which I have to visit for business, last year I purchased a concealable Level IIIA vest, now unlike what is commonly believed, getting shot while wearing body armor can be quite disabling, but it beats having a bullet inside of ones body.

I was shot by a armed robber with a 9mm while wearing a vest and it hurt bad real bad, but at least I wasn't bleeding I was able to return fire but missed luckily the guy behind me didn't.

Though I carry all the time I don't wear armor all the time, it's a risk assessment I have chosen to live with, but in Broward I always have one on, if for nothing more than covering my wife, I would much rather take a hit then have her take one.

 

I don’t wear body armor except when dressed as my avatar. But, perhaps because of where I was raised, and perhaps my years owning a pub, I do suspect I have a better situational awareness than most, though it’s Murphy’s law that what you don’t notice is what gets you. I am armed with a gun most of the time, except when I expect to consume alcohol, but even then, I am not completely unarmed and if I were, I tend to see an environment supplied with things that can be used as improvised weapons.
I have a tendency to move toward trouble when it happens and the defense of others, something likely to be my end some day, but, thus far the gods have been kind to me even when the odds should have won (I figure I am living on borrowed time).
Were I to encounter an active shooter situation, I can’t completely predict my actions, I only know what I have done when confronted by threats in the past and know I have some stupid honor thing in me that makes me take stupid risks.

 

If I hear gun shots, I'll go the other way unless I think family may be in harms way. If cornered, I will barricade and use my pistol as a last resort.

I avoid gun free zones. The most common exceptions are when I am working or at my kid's school.

 

Two glock 9mm with four or five extra clips. I would probably try to find some hard cover in a place of advantage and try to take the scumbag down without getting nailed.

 

How does one go about successfully concealing such a setup of equipment, and doing so comfortably?

 

It has to be winter.

 

That's probably quite true, most folks lack the training to react in any other mode other than to flee.

There are however others, maybe one in 30 even if untrained who will counteract, just to stay alive and keep those around them alive, understanding fleeing is a good way to get shot in the back, or as demonstrated at Parkland will use themselves to block others from being shot even, if they know they will get killed doing so.

Then why carry?

If someone is armed and wants to harm you or those around you, does it matter if they just want to rob or kill you, or take out others after they are done with you if you are not willing to engage the present threat.

Tactually maneuvering is a good way to stay alive, running for an exit is a good way to get killed, the shooting in Vegas clearly demonstrated what happens when the herd panics and flees in mass, it would be even more amplified in a mall where fire exits are commonly a single door leading into a hallway, a hallway commonly littered with rubbish waiting to be taken out the Dumpster.

Think a rush hour traffic jam where people turned into animals, run over those who are slower and trample them, mostly mothers with children, and the elderly.

It's not bravery, it's assessing the risk and being in a condition to try to survive it, I cannot understand why someone outside of law enforcement would carry multiple firearms, but having a extra mag or two is a good idea, and wearing concealable body armor, if working in an area known to be prone to violence is a decent way to protect a loved one by having them be behind you when it hits the fan.

I never want to be shot again, but of it came down to me or my wife, I want it to be me.

 

Partly because I'm an ex-cop and and mostly because I'm 85 years old - wtf, I'd go straight to him with my .380.

 

Congratulations for making it to 85, I hope you will add a few more decades to that lifetime.

That stated and this is really none of my business, but if you want to answer it I would appreciate that.

What is it in your attitude that would cause you to go toward the, fire versus fleeing it?

Most people would never do that, but I personally know a number of people who have and would do it again, even though it is no longer their job.

 

A mass shooting is the same thing, when it's your turn it's one on one,and what about those around you?

It's not chasing bad guys down, it's about protecting yourself and those around you.

Not by law, but morally if you can you should.

I fully understand that.

That matches what I posted as to the ratios.

Agreed.

 

Having been a cop in another life time would have some influence on my thinking but the biggest factor in my thinking is my age. I'm 85. I've lived longer than I ever thought my genes would allow me. I've done everything I've wanted to do. I do have my share of physical problems; none of the overwhelming. However I've become very aware that the longer I live the more of these 'little things' will pop up unexpectedly and contribute to making getting old less enjoyable. I don't want to sound corny but I've done it all and consider I've got nothing to loose.

 

Thank you.

 

I am not sure anyone truly know what they will do until the situation occurs. I’ve seen some pretty amazing bravery from those where it might have been unexpected and freezing and panic from those at the other end of the spectrum. In my life and my observation I have seen a difference in response when people a faced with a personal threat over that where family, friends or others are threatened, with the latter situation more likely resulting in people doing extraordinary things in the protection of others, the equivalent of facing certain death in such situations. Lots of hero’s out there that don’t know it and would deny they are after demonstrating the fact. Funny, adrenaline can cut both ways... which way is always unpredictable.

 

"If You Where In Public Place And Heard Shots Fired What Would Prefer To Be Armed With"

not an ar-15 that is for sure, just never see a reason to walk around with an ar-15 all day long doing my day to day business

if everyone walked around with ar-15's all day, there would be many more killings as people snapped and flew off the handle

 

fight or flight is a natural response, most cops have experience that and know how they would respond, i would like to think I know what I would do, but never having had such an experience, hard to tell

 

How many times is that song , “There will be blood on the streets”, going to be played? It’s been played every time the concealed carry has been introduced by a state and every time a state has gone Constitutional carry, and whenever National reciprocity is proposed yet those predictions haven’t materialized. In my state, given the number CCLs, anywhere you are in public, there are likely people carrying guns. Yet, it isn’t your average citizen snapping and going off killing people, but those already involved in a criminal lifestyle, that ignore the law anyway, that are more likely to use weapons as tools of the trade.
I’ve been where everyone around is carrying an M4 or some similar ordnance and people aren’t snapping and shooting those around them.
My state has always been an open carry (which includes an AR15 if you so chose) state by law. Despite that, virtually no one has walked around carrying an AR15 or walks around openly strapped. Given the state is now a must issue CCL state, there are many that do carry, but do so concealed. Yet, “blood isn’t running in the streets” any more than before the state went must issue CCLs. And, considering even minor infractions of the law can result in either suspension or revocations of licenses, the annual future show less than a fraction of a percent of licenses suspended or revoked, much less those licensed being arrested for criminal use of their weapons.
So, I call bs.... bs on the likelihood people would walk around carrying ARs or any long gun and bs on the “blood in the streets” calls of the anti gun advocates.

 

Well, like you say when sitting calmly pondering, you don’t know. And, when hit with that rush of adrenaline where your mind is on hyper speed, you may not know until it happened (past tense intentional) and then wonder what was going through your mind when you did what you did.
I still have a few instances where I can’t explain what I did or what the mental process was I went through, only know the result.