Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

In a Mass Shooting, Wait and Die? Or Fight Back?
PJ Media ^ | June 17, 2016 | Michael Walsh

Posted on 06/17/2016 6:03:46 PM PDT by Kaslin

Regarding the Orlando shooting, notice how quickly the media pivoted from the culpability of a sexually repressed Muslim Afghan registered Democrat mass murderer to an assault on firearms? Forget Islam and jihad and the Obama administration's resolute determination to fundamentally change the nature of the United States by importing as many Muslims from alien, anti-Christian and anti-Western cultures as possible. The real problem, in their view, is gun violence:

The mass shootings that have terrorized America have led to a new focus on how to survive them. Though far from an exact science, these efforts are based on a disturbing amount of data – including case studies, the body counts from these tragedies and the personal narratives of people who somehow got out alive.

A number of private companies now train office workers in how to respond in an active-shooter event. The experts agree: Following a few simple rules can help boost a person’s chance of survival. Being mentally prepared to take action in a crisis — or simply knowing where a building’s exits are — can make the difference.

“When you go somewhere, you don’t want to put yourself in a situation where if you get found, you don’t have any options,” said J. Pete Blair, executive director of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center, based at Texas State University. Blair co-authored “Active Shooter: Events and Response,” which includes guidance for civilians. The book’s mantra is “Avoid, Deny and Defend.”

The piece goes on to list possible strategies for not becoming part of the body count, including flight, barricading yourself, and (as a last resort) defending yourself as best you can -- without a gun:

Blair’s book warns against people with concealed handguns trying to engage a killer except as a last resort:

“The last thing you want to do in an active shooter event is to pull your gun out and go hunting for the shooter. If there are other concealed gun carriers in the attack location, they may shoot you. If the police show up and you are running around with a gun, they will probably shoot you. Remember that no one knows who you are. The responders are looking for someone with a gun and you match that description.”

That assumes the police arrive in a timely manner. But in Orlando, they -- out of an abundance of caution -- spent hours outside the club while the shooter preened, phoned, texted and checked Facebook. Who knows how many of the wounded died in the interim?

In the end, fighting back is always an option, as Blair notes:

Research suggests that there is little hope of reasoning with a mass killer, Blair said. The better move, if there’s no way to flee or find protective cover, is for multiple people to swarm the attacker. They should use whatever they have at hand as a weapon — coffee cups, car keys, anything.

“In general, this person has already shown a desire to murder people. To murder a lot of people,” Blair said. “Is there a chance you might be able to talk him down? There might be a chance. That chance is probably small. We just don’t see it happen in these cases. But we do know that in about 1 out of 5 cases we’ve seen people successfully stop the attacker.”

Those odds might rapidly improve should the nation adopt constitutional carry. As Al Capone famously noted (apocryphally, alas) of his own Brooklyn neighborhood, you get farther with a kind word and a gun than with just a kind word. No real Americans, legally armed, would let the possibility of getting shot by the cops stop a chance to halt a mass murder in progress, even at the cost of their own lives.

The Untouchables (1/10) Movie CLIP - A Kind Word and a Gun (1987) HD

There was a time in America when something like the St. Valentine's Day massacre shocked and outraged the nation, setting off a war against the ethnic gangsters in America's largest cities. In response, state and federal authorities did three things: they effectively banned certain automatic weapons via a crippling tax and strict licensing requirements without unduly infringing the Second Amendment; they cracked down hard on the Irish, Italian and Jewish gangs behind most of the Prohibition mayhem throughout the Roaring Twenties and into the Thirties; and they repealed Prohibition itself. That's what a comprehensive attack on the root causes of crime back then looked like.

Everybody understood that the gangs were the real problem, the types of firearms only a symptom. Do we have the same courage and national determination today to name the enemy and deal with him accordingly?


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: alcoholism; banglist; drugs; feminism; guns; islam; sodomy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-74 last
To: HiTech RedNeck

We are back to my post #32, aren’t we?

Each active shooter situation is certainly different; situational awareness and the ability to think fast and clearly, whether armed or unarmed, seems to me to be of great importance.


61 posted on 06/18/2016 7:04:39 AM PDT by Taxman ((H. L. Mencken correctly observed: Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Do we have the courage to repeal the prohibition on drugs? Nope. Too many careers at stake fighting the war on drugs, too much power to be ceded.


62 posted on 06/18/2016 7:08:55 AM PDT by FreedomNotSafety
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Be aware of exits
Be aware of those around you
Do not fight on the shooters terms. Scoot to safety and plan a counter attack.
Wait to fight when the situation turns to your advantage.

Also, found out about HEMA, historic europe martial arts.
This group studies all the written records concerning armed combat, before the gun era.
Hand to hand combat, swords, daggers, even stuff like wooden rods, etc


63 posted on 06/18/2016 7:14:39 AM PDT by Steven Tyler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: vetvetdoug

Good on you! I remember the case and was amazed at your bravery.

My son who is ex-US Army tier 1 is convinced that active closer on the shooter is the answer in most cases. He was in many gun fights in the Sandbox and he is no cowboy just a very effective soldier. We practice it every time we drill. He has had armed terrorists turn and run when active closer is employed.


64 posted on 06/18/2016 7:17:03 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: ThunderSleeps

Not only reload, he was texting his wife during the attack.


65 posted on 06/18/2016 7:34:06 AM PDT by Cvengr ( Adversity in life & death is inevitable; Stress is optional through faith in Christ.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: exDemMom

I’ve posted on here before - the weapons are all in my head. The rest is just hardware.


66 posted on 06/18/2016 8:35:49 AM PDT by Hardastarboard (Better Call Saul (Alinsky). "Make them live by their own rules")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
I'm no hero, and dead heroes don't do their families a bit of good. If I thought I had a chance to get out alive, I'd be high tailing it out of the situation as fast as my little legs could carry me..........

If I thought there was little or no chance of escape, then I'd have to attack and hope I had some help. It's amazing how adrenaline can help in a fight back situation.

67 posted on 06/18/2016 8:44:58 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (My only regret in life is being too young to get to know my grandfathers before they died)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hardastarboard

Exactly.

The only way you can disarm someone is by putting him/her in a padded cell. And even then, I’m not so certain they are really disarmed.


68 posted on 06/18/2016 8:52:51 AM PDT by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: vetvetdoug

Thank you for your service and your prompt, life saving reaction. I pray I would do the same. God bless you and your family.


69 posted on 06/18/2016 10:57:19 AM PDT by Tudorfly (All things are possible within the will of God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: GregoTX

You have a wise perspective on life. God bless you and your family.


70 posted on 06/18/2016 10:58:41 AM PDT by Tudorfly (All things are possible within the will of God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Vermont Lt

I was somewhat in evolved in one, the ghetto dwellers robbed the cashier at my friends family run car wash i worked summers there

one of the gentle giants made the mistake of running my way i was armed with one of the steam guns stuck it in his chest neck and face he went down in a whimper cops were there in minutes no one hurt but burnt boy


71 posted on 06/18/2016 12:25:25 PM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom yes I know john 3:16)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Obviously, if caught in a situation like this, the thing to do is try to make your way to the door. Remove the “No Guns Allowed” sign from the window. Take the sign back inside with you and confront the shooter with it. Trust me, he’ll be mortified by his foolish mistake.


72 posted on 06/18/2016 5:42:47 PM PDT by Jaxter (Si vis pacem para bellum.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Secret Agent Man

True. But too many snowflakes today have never been in a true crisis situation and their “Do Something, Even if It’s Wrong” is to cower in a corner and wait for someone to come to their rescue.

I’m definitely no hero and don’t want to die before God decides it’s my time and I may be a oldster and blond, but just to stand there or cower in a corner is just not in my playbook.


73 posted on 06/19/2016 3:16:28 PM PDT by Grams A (The Sun will rise in the East in the morning and God is still on his throne.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: al baby
“Don’t know why a bunch of able bodied like minded men did not storm the guy .......”

Perhaps the fact was that they were queers just might have something to do with their being ‘gun averse’, so they were not armed.

IIRC, in the queer community, violence is acceptable in a sexual context. Real life violence as in taking a chance of getting shot while attacking a murderer - not so much, evidently.

However, the real cause of the Pulse massacre is Islam, because Islam requires Muslims to use violence to subjugate unbelievers.

My tagline summarizes the situation.

74 posted on 06/20/2016 2:42:58 AM PDT by GladesGuru (Islam Delenda Est. Because of what Islam is - and because of what Muslims do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-74 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson