I refuse to be dragged into the politics of the various mass and public shootings we have recently had in this country.
What this post is about is Protecting Yourself and anyone who is with you if a shooting happens where you are.
I will map out, simply, what you can do to help insure your survival in a situation such as the Walmart shooting in El Paso or the bar shooting in Dayton.
1) Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Get used to knowing where exits are, or areas of concealment in any public setting you go to.
2) Glance around at other people in the area. If someone looks *sketchy*, casually, but quickly, get out of their area.
3) If shooting starts, your first three thoughts should be CONCEALMENT, EVASION and ESCAPE.
Look for anything, any place that will conceal you from the shooter.
Evade the shooter by moving behind racks of clothing, structural columns, jumping behind a bar or counter, crawling under a restaurant booth, whatever you can find.
If you know where the exits are, get to one as rapidly as possible without getting the shooters attention. Most retail establishments have emergency exits, loading docks, employee exits, etc. located at or near the back of the store.
4) Fighting back.
You may be in a situation where you will HAVE to fight back to save yourself or a loved one.
You may be an experienced shooter, you may be unarmed.
If you are armed, and fairly confident about your skills, do your damnedest to take the shooter out and save lives.
If you are unarmed (as most of us are in these days of stores and other establishments setting themselves up as *gun free* zones), find a weapon.
Fire extinguishers make an excellent weapon. You can spray a shooter and use the extinguisher itself as a blunt force weapon if you can get behind the shooter.
Anything heavy you can throw. Sharp objects you can throw or wield.
5) Distraction and confusion can be your friend in such situations. See a fire alarm? Pull it and set it off! A light switch you can turn off to reduce the shooters visibility? Flip that switch off! Break a window behind the shooter to distract them.
Remember, you are fighting for your life in this situation.
If the shooter is distracted, it gives them less time to concentrate on finding victims and gives others in the area more time to escape.
It is extraordinarily sad that I felt I had to post this, but this is how we live now. Not just in the USA, but in other countries as well.
In the UK and Europe, they have similar happenings. Sometimes guns, but also knife attacks and vehicle attacks.
Prepare for these situations as carefully as many of you approach food storage or homesteading.
Avoid crowded environments. I realize, it is very hard to avoid crowds. You have to limit attendance at concerts (Las Vegas), shopping (El Paso), a night out at pubs (Dayton), etc. It's incredibly unfair to those of us that just want to live our lives.
But, unfortunately, it's the "new normal".
So, continue to go shopping, go to concerts or for a night out, but please, BE MORE AWARE!
