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I watched a few snippets of interviews of the survivors at Orlando. Within the space of a few minutes both said, “I never thought this would happen to me.”
I saw a video of a lady, who was later killed, catching the first few shots on tape. There was no recognition of what was happening by anyone in her group.
I heard reports that the killer was scouting other locations, like Disney, a couple months ago. Disney supposedly reported this to law enforcement. The killer’s wife reportedly knew about the plan and helped case locations. She did not report this.
First, everyone should accept by now that this absolutely can happen to you. Your very survival depends on that awareness. The first few seconds where you are trying to figure out what is going on are probably the most valuable moments you have to set something in action to save yourself and others. In order to make the most of those seconds you need to always be aware of your surroundings and who is with you in those areas. Notice things. Anything or anyone out of place? Where are the escape routes? What are possible weapons? What would you do if something happened right now? There is no time to think about it when it does happen, so have a plan beforehand.
The primary element in establishing this mindset is first to recognize that threats exist. Ignorance or denial of a threat make a person’s chances of quickly recognizing an emerging threat and avoiding it highly unlikely. Bad things do happen. Apathy, denial and complacency can be deadly. From: A Practical Guide to Situational Awareness – republished with permission of Stratfor.
Second, there are people right now, RIGHT NOW, casing locations to attack. They might be friends with this killer, or they might just be admirers, but don’t fool yourself. One person managing to kill 49 people, wow – that’s pretty impressive, and inspiring, to those who would do us harm. Put any politically correct consequences aside. You must come forward if you have information. Law enforcement can only do so much and they aren’t perfect either. It is up to you to fill the gap.
Law enforcement is not round the clock security. There will be another gap before they can get to you if something happens. So it’s up to you to be the first responders. The first action you should take is to try to get away. If you can’t get away, you should hide. If that fails, fight for all you are worth. Use anything at your disposal to take that evil down. You may die. But you may live, and others may live because of what you do. You do not have to carry concealed in order to foil or mitigate these actions.
There are ways to prevent or reduce the damage from these incidents. So much depends on thinking through right now, RIGHT NOW, your plan of action. There is a common denominator throughout many of these attacks – people are caught unaware, they panic, they freeze, they lose precious time, they lose options. Let’s change that expectation. Have a plan. Make yourself hard to kill. Make these killers have second thoughts about the ease of their operations.
The last thing I want to convey is that we should live in fear. If we do that, the killers win without firing a shot, wielding a knife, hijacking a plane, or setting off a bomb. But I also want them to lose in every other way possible. It doesn’t take a combat mindset to contribute to that goal, but it does require acceptance, awareness, and willingness to act. I deeply believe that if our mindset is proactive, and not reactive, that will serve as hefty deterrence all by itself. We can stop this, but we have to show strength.
Fight back. Fight back. Fight back.
GWB says: The first action you should take is to try to get away. If you can’t get away, you should hide. If that fails, fight for all you are worth.
For some of us, that is reversed. For the sheepdogs, it’s fight first, go to ground second (in order to ambush later, perhaps), and retreat last.
No, it’s not how everyone will or should react. But, it sure would be nice if some of the retreaters (not you ladies, but the disarmament goobers) didn’t insist on dragging us with them.
It doesn’t take a combat mindset to contribute to that goal
No, but it does take a mindset that realizes we are at war, whether we want to be or not.
BTW, I speculated on Monday that there must not have been alternative exits, to create such a high body count. Well, here we go.
This guy evidently decided he didn’t need to outrun the bear, just everyone else running.
Jenny North says: I saw that too – the club may have some problems with lack of alternative routes of evacuation.
I think the biggest problem is that so many people refuse to accept reality, and will only believe that taking away the guns is the solution.
GWB says: Yes, they believe the answer is to eliminate all the threats in the world. It’s a First World conceit that such a thing can be done.
(It sounds like the club had the alternative routes – they just didn’t count on a patron barring the door behind them.)
GWB says: BTW, another point on taking responsibility for your own (and others’) safety: THREE armed persons, one off-duty cop (security at the club) and two SWAT officers, engaged the terrorist outside the club, before he entered. NONE of them achieved an effectual shot on the man. Not. A. Single. One.
Those folks who want the cops to protect them, who want to give up their arms to an “elite” of “well-trained” personnel – you might want to think again. Police officers – unless they are also ‘gun bunnies’ outside the job – are notorious for being BAD shots, having BAD tactical capabilities, and ENDANGERING the folks around them. Remember the Amadou Diallo shooting in NYC (41 shots, 19 hits, range close)? Remember the poor newspaper ladies in CA (~100 shots, no hits, multiple ranges)? The Cleveland cops that shot the folks in the car (130 rds, unknown hits, close range)? The Empire State Building shooting (16 shots, 9 bystanders shot, medium range)?
Whether the shoots were justified or not, the propensity of a police officer is to NOT be adequately trained to use his firearm effectively. He doesn’t get any real range time, nor does he get “tactical training” where he learns to shoot (or not shoot) in high-stress environments and situations. There’s neither time nor money in the budget for it.
If you want someone to engage a threat accurately, in a tactically sound manner, minimizing the threat to bystanders, you really want a CCW around.
(BTW, I think it’s hilarious – in a really unfunny way – that some states require more training for their CCW holders than they do for the people to whom the State issues a firearm.)
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