As long as these mass shooter attacks — like El Paso and Dayton — continue, and politicians merely argue over the proper way to discourage them, individual Americans like you need to find a way to live in safety and sanity and protect your family. Scott Ott presses Bill Whittle on what you can do to survive or stop such an attack, and reduce the number of them.
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As Politicians Argue: What You Can Do to a Survive or Stop a Mass Shooter Attack
As long as these mass shooter attacks — like El Paso and Dayton — continue, and politicians merely argue over the proper way to discourage them, individual Americans like you need to find a way to live in safety and sanity and protect your family. Scott Ott presses Bill Whittle on what you can do to survive or stop such an attack, and reduce the number of them.
25 replies on “As Politicians Argue: What You Can Do to a Survive or Stop a Mass Shooter Attack”
@Bill, I hope you and others have had the chance to watch this hospital-bed interview with El Paso hero Christopher Grant. His actions are exemplary of the kind of sheepdog initiative and concern for others that you rightly praise. Make sure to watch the clip at the above Twitter link (I don’t know why the audio is out of sync), as CNN’s post of this on YouTube curiously omits the first 50 seconds where Christopher laments his usually-armed mother for not having her .38 with her. (Are you remotely surprised?) That’s an important part of the story, and inconvenient to CNN’s preferred narrative, to be sure, but there’s more to the interview than that. This man’s humanity, decency, and bravery remind me who I would hope to be in the face of such calculated brutality. Very much worth watching the whole thing.
I work as a teacher in a prison, and we recently had to go for our “civilian training.” Part of that was training on active shooter situations.
We were told to do what Bill suggested — decide if we would fight, shelter, run, etc. We discussed options.
Now, I am always in the habit of looking for egress, barricade, and weapon-at-hand opportunities whenever I go somewhere. So, when the exercise started and the officers told us to pretend they had been called out for an active shooter and we had to fend for ourselves, I had long before sized up what I would do.
While everyone was running around the tiny, windowless basement room and trying to fit into small spaces (or picking up bits and pieces of things laying around, getting ready to hit an intruder), I calmly walked over to the instructor’s heavy wooden lectern, dragged it to the door (which opened into the room through a little alcove), and laid it down, diagonally wedging it between contact with the door and wall corner on one end and the lip of the alcove on the other. I then calmly walked past a VERY surprised instructor as I went into the back room where there were cctv monitors and locked myself and another civilian in there, also dragging a piece of furniture across the door.
The instructor tried the door I had barred with the lectern, and couldn’t budge it even a quarter inch. She said in all her years of running that workshop, she’d never seen anyone do that, and it was about the most effective way to barricade the room (and done in one simple step).
It’s been my many years as a college and high school teacher that taught me that kind of forethought.
what an absolutely brilliant story!
I learned situational awareness at the ripe old age of 18 the hard way. Luckily I survived by keeping my wits about me, but I trust no one I don’t know and I go nowhere I can’t see what’s coming or if I have to I’m prepared for the worst.
Excellent video! Thanks!
As far as a person who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon not being seen as “fringe” characters, the answer is be discrete. I know several people who conceal and carry at Church every week. Guaranteed many would not like it if they knew, on the other hand if the Church became a target, fewer people would die at the hands of a psychopath.
Thank you for calling them what they are – “psychopath”. I hope more will use this term rather than a generic “mentally ill” which hurts the 99% of us who wouldn’t hurt anyone intentionally.
I called it “people-watching”…prior to all the surveillance cameras today, the retail business taught you to watch everyone who walked in the door…follow their eyes. I carried this over into always observing those on the streets, and today I’m Mr. Paranoid of anything that walks, talks cackles, or crows, or IS suspiciously quiet! And, I mean this in all a positive way, as 98% of the people are GOOD, but it’s that 2% that makes you consider a bazooka, if not some other small arms to protect one’s “kingdom.”
Glad to know I am not the only one who game plays types of scenarios. I work at a large hospital. I am constantly looking for things to throw. Use to be able to use the tops of IV poles but the safety people have taken that weapon away. I will find other ways to secure my patients safety. I cannot count the number of code grays in our institution daily. A code gray is a person acting in an angry aggressive manner. We had a doctor beaten and his jaw broken by a patients son for giving her the news she has cancer. Now security goes to all those visits. Our culture has degraded to a point of barbarism.
Guys, I appreciate what you are doing, but having the guy I’m with be the default position to face the door is not my style. I can face that door just as well.
Furthermore, working in a high risk environment, I’ve become the one to face that door for my students. I even assess my coworkers, to determine what side of the door they are on.
So as I appreciate the spirit of what you’re saying, don’t count all of us women out of the equation.
Friday – I think this comes from years as a teacher. The interaction with new people every year, kids and parents. I see this in my wife. She reads people way better than I do. We opt for a table and sit next to each other so we can both scan rather than across so one has their back to the door.
Added bonus is it is easier to hold hands.
I’m like you. I hate to have my back to the door. I love my hubby but he’s often not observant enough. I also do not like to sit close to the door and will often go elsewhere if that’s the only option.
It truly is the sheep vs sheepdog mindset. Paralysis instead of acting. Waiting for somebody to lead or save everybody instead of analyzing and acting
Is this video for members only? This is something I would live to share on social media. Everyone needs to see this!
Nope, you can send the youtube link.
I agree, Scott. Open the gates and let the Kraken out to all!
The YouTube video is accessible to the public. You may share it. The only ones that are not are the Backstage episodes of Right Angle.
The World Trade Center showed that people who reacted immediately and got out fast tended to survive, while the people who stayed and waited for “official” notifications or permission tended to stay and die. Don’t wait for someone else to tell you what to do. It’s your life.
That sounds a lot like personal responsibility and you are 100% correct.
You are responsible for your own(family) safety. Situational awareness is key and you MUST get this into your everyday habits. Have a plan. When seconds count, the police are minutes away. With that said, you need to alter habits. For example, your favorite restaurant has a “no gun” sign, sadly you no longer patronize that place. Over 90% of shootings happen in no gun zones because the cowards know that no one can fight back. As a conceal carry holder, this does not give you license to defend yourself. You may only under a very fine line be justified to use deadly force. First, you MUST prove that you felt fear for your life, yes PROVE it. Second, even the smallest action on your part can negate that proof. The laws protect the criminals, NOT you. It is insane and goes beyond common sense. Lets say you are walking down the street and a armed robber confronts you. You ARE in fear for your life and do whatever you can to de-escalate the situation. Lets say this confrontation is being captured on some video and it clearly shows who started the act. Out of fear for your life and the situation presented itself, you were able to draw your pistol and stop the threat. Happy ending? Maybe not. If the video showed you took one step forward, the prosecutor can show that YOU are now the aggressor and easily charge you for murder, you can be ruined financially with legal defense. Insane? Yes. Even justified and innocent, your minimum cost for defense is 45,000-$55,000 which does not include the family of the scum bag suing you in civil court. Plenty of books on the subject and the legal ramifications. Remember, every bullet has a lawyer behind it. It is not that simple and each jurisdiction/prosecutor will be different. I suggest reading Straight Talk on Armed Defense by Massad Ayoub. Talk about a depressing yet eye opener. Sorry, no intent to be a Debbie downer but geez.
Very well thought out. The childhood play as preparing for life with relatively small consequences is on the money. I learned a great deal in woods near my childhood home on risks, and interactions with people, animals, and even plants like poison ivy, and what to avoid. It also provided an appreciation for nature with all its ups and downs, and a good foundation with dealing with life.
Growing up one particular family had a great yard for whiffle ball, football, etc. One time when the whiffle ball got stuck fairly high up in a tree, my friend started climbing. He got to it, but on the way down, slipped and fell a fairly long distance. It knocked the wind out of him along with a good assortment of scrapes and bruises. Nothing broken.
He mom was panicked. His dad busted his butt for doing something stupid. When his dad asked if he learned anything, he smirked and said; I learned that I could climb way higher than I thought.
His dad laughed pretty hard.
We were 9.
Play teaches. Most of us learn from making mistakes. Either learn or don’t live long.
I agree sadly I rarely see kids doing any type of unstructured play these days. I was lucky enough to play in trees, build forts, etc when I was growing up.
“Run, hide, fight” has not been my modus operandi for as long as I can remember. In fact, it has been the reverse, “fight, run, hide,” because if a situation has escalated to the point where I must react instead of evade, then it’s already too late to do anything but fight in order to either stun or eliminate the threat so evacuation may occur. As Bill and Scott have made abundantly clear, situational awareness is a skill that must be practiced continually so that it happens habitually and without conscious thought. Muscle memory also applies to one’s mind.
Be ever-vigilant and watch the doors.
Excellent. When I was a young woman, I lost my keys in a mall in Atlanta, and called a locksmith. Two young men showed up in a white van and went to work. It was obvious that they were taking much longer than necessary, and their demeanor was strange. As the skies darkened and the parking lot emptied, I knew the odds were remote, but I made a deliberate decision that if they pulled a gun and told me to get in the van that I would run. I decided I would rather die from a fatal gunshot than to die after being tortured and raped. I also knew what you said, Bill, that most shots miss, and that all shots aren’t fatal. I rehearsed it in my head multiple times so that if it happened I would run without even having to decide. Interesting that I did exactly what you described, Bill.
It all ended well. It turns out they were just making me nervous and scared so that I would pay when they overcharged me, which I did, happily, so their strategy worked.
I also learned from it, that if something like that ever happened again, I would insist that mall security accompany me to my car.
And as to your airplane highjack scenario, I will always be in awe of those brave people on board the flight that was aimed at Washington. Heroes are among us.
BRAVO! One of very best posts out of a plethora of outstanding posts you do every day gentlemen. Situational awareness plus a plan will always trump situational ethics and waiting for someone else with a plan. Well done. Thanks for everything you say and do.