Anti-gun rights campaigners dismiss the notion of armed self-defense during a terrorist attack. They claim an “untrained” armed civilian will shoot the wrong person (by accident). Puh-lease. Anyone with half a brain knows it’s better to shoot at someone killing people en masse than not, even if you kill some innocents in the process. That said, this gun blogger can’t recall ANY examples of an armed civilian killing a bystander whilst trying to shoot a bad guy. In contrast, there are plenty of examples of armed police shooting the “wrong” person. Yes, there is that . . .
Since the Columbine school killing, the police no longer try to establish a perimeter at an “active shooter” event and proceed with caution. Negotiation? Ha! If there are innocents in the vicinity – and maybe if there aren’t – the police rush in and shoot anyone holding a gun. The rules of engagement used by our armed forces don’t apply. It’s point and shoot.
Clearly, you don’t want to be collateral damage in the police’s entirely understandable effort to end an active shooter or shooters’ killing spree. If you’re holding a gun when the cops arrive – BAM BAM BAM – you’re toast. So . . . don’t be holding a gun. The moment you see a cop enter the killing zone, drop it like it’s hot.
Unless that’s a bad idea. I mean, the bad guy could kill the responding officer or officers and then what? Maybe it’s best to reholster and conceal your gun. Or just kinda hide it. Or maybe drop it somewhere where you can pick it up again if needs be. I dunno, the situation sucks, really.
Especially when you consider that you’re likely to be suffering from tunnel vision: the natural tendency to focus on a single threat in a life-or-death situation, to the complete exclusion of everything else around you. In other words, you may be so zeroed-in on the bad guy or guy that you don’t see responding law enforcement until you’re already well on the way to being dead.
If there is a rule of thumb, it’s that you have at least a minute before the cops arrive; time you can use to engage the active shooter or shooters without fear of being perforated by the police. OK, sure, the Parisians trapped in the concert hall with Islamic terrorists had an hour before les flics entered. And you could have less than a minute before a cop responds to an active shooting event, depending on your location.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: IF you engage an active shooter, be aware that you only have so much time to kill, wound or pin-down the bastard before the police will come looking to kill you. Not you per se. You holding the gun. It’s a situation where you MUST scan for multiple threats, and understand that responding cops will kill you just as soon as look at you – if you’re holding a gun. Never mind pointing it.