Blue Brick
Member
Ok bullets are flying....I have a gun...I want to help save lives. I am the first on the scene. How does Mr. Policeman and John Public know I there to help and not a threat? How do you keep from getting shot from friendly fire?
I don't post pictures here.Ok bullets are flying....I have a gun...I want to help save lives. I am the first on the scene. How does Mr. Policeman and John Public know I there to help and not a threat? How do you keep from getting shot from friendly fire?
Swap to commander hammer and yank mag disco. Proly enjoy it way more
Unless the shooter is right there in front of you, you keep your firearm concealed and move away from the threat like everyone else. If the responding officers see you armed you will most likely be shot down.
Sorry but that’s just way it is. There are no secret signs you can flash that says you’re a good guy. The worst thing you can do is display your firearm and head towards the sounds of gunfire. Everyone has a cell phone these days. The first private citizen who sees you will probably call 911 and report you as the shooter or an additional shooter. Now you have officers responding to your location and they think you’re a hostile. That can turn a bad day into a terrible day.
Unless the shooter is right in front of you, the best thing you can do for your own safety and everyone else’s, is to gather up your loved ones if you aren’t alone and move away from the threat. Should you encounter the shooter on the way out you might take action.
Unless the shooter is active right in front of you, there is nothing you and your gun can do to help. You are just going to add more confusion to an already chaotic situation. This goes for off duty officers and private citizens alike. An active shooter call is going to get officers from many agencies responding. Even an off duty officer can’t count on being recognized.
Being misidentified by police is a real problem, and one I have considered. Your appearance is important; if you look like a dirtbag, you're more likely to be shot. Weapon is also an issue, if you're brandishing a Glock in gangsta fashion you're SURE to be shot.
Personally, my carry is a S&W 642, and I'd only expose it briefly to take a shot. My truck rifle is a Winchester 94 lever, and I always have a cowboy hat on hand. I'm also 65 years old and have a beard halfway to my belt. I figure I'm a lot less likely to draw police fire than many.
I'm seeing a lot of "over reacting" on both sides of this issue.
Hopefully no one is going to arm themselves and go hunting an active shooter,
but on the other hand I think many - myself included - would engage an visible and obvious shooter if it would clearly save lives.
I will agree that police in general are extremely trigger-happy, and would certainly advise retreat as the best option in most cases. Any other course would be a calculated risk, but one that I would take under certain circumstances.
If I did engage it would be very quickly, and after such engagement I would immediately secure my weapon, retreat as possible, and raise both hands in the air.
I am former LE, albeit many years ago, with considerable experience.How much police experience and formal training do you have in active shooter response? If you had any idea of what doctrine is for response to an active shooter you would not think anyone was over reacting.
This is an excellent example of what I call "over reacting". In no way, shape or form does the presence of these items suggest I'm ready to go on a "shooter hunt". I seldom stray far from my truck, and in the very unlikely event I was at such a scene, I might easily be in it.Then why mention your cowboy hat, long beard and Winchester 94 in your truck? By mentioning a weapon you clearly would not have on your person you certainly suggested that you were prepared to do just that.
More over reacting, and YMMV. In my experience, our local police are VERY trigger happy and grossly inexperienced. I could tell you some interesting stories, but that's the topic of another time. And again, no officer is likely to "encounter" me; I don't act rashly nor would I enter a building on a "hunt" as you so wrongly assume.The police are not trigger happy. The mission in response to an active shooter is to STOP THE SHOOTER FROM CONTINUING. This makes it different from almost every other response. As officers arrive on the scene they are going to form ad hoc teams, enter the area and begin hunting for the shooter. They will not stop to give aid to anyone, not even a fallen officer. As other officers arrive they will enter and start hunting the shooter. I can pretty much guarantee you that if you are in the act of shooting at the real shooter when one of these teams encounters you, you will be shot down. You will have no awareness of what's happening in the rest of the building, you will have no idea of how many officers have entered the building and where they are. You have no idea of what they have been told by dispatch about the location and description of the real shooter. You also don't know if someone has seen you armed and reported you are either the shooter or a second shooter. It's quite common for reports of multiple shooters to only be debunked hours after the incident is over after a thorough search.
Once again, I NEVER suggested that an armed citizen "go after" an active shooter, in fact, quite the contrary. And as far your your opinion of what does or does not "contribute to the conversation", it's just that: your opinion. We all see posts that we disagree with, and often it's best to just take them at face value and not "challenge" them, particularly not so vehemently.I’m sorry but I cannot permit advise as foolish as an armed citizen going after an active shooter to go unchallenged. You’re “extensive” LE experience should have taught you that advice like “if you’re holding your glock gangsta style will get you shot” doesn’t contribute anything to the conversation not does your suggestion that a cowboy hat and long beard will ID you as a good guy.
There's many ways to approach a problem, particularly one as complicated as this.
It's against my better judgement, but I'll reply for entertainment value only.What’s complicated about this problem? It seems to me it’s pretty simple. Keep your head, get yourself and any loved ones out of the area and only display your weapon if you are directly confronted by the shooter.
Those seem like pretty simple rules to live by.
I’d still like to know what you were suggesting when you posted that responding officers are more likely to think you’re one of the “good guys if you were displaying a SW442 then a Glock carried “gangsta fashion”.
You’ve not defended any of those statements with anything more then “others have different experiences”. Why don’t you tell us why a SW442 is more likely to identify you as a good guy with a gun then a Glock carried gangsta fashion (whatever that means)?
Second, here's a visual aid. You be the judge.
Just what I needed, instructions on how and when to use emoticons. I did use one, guess it wasn't the right one. But no, I wasn't joking.If you posted those things to have fun, you should have used one of the emoticons so that everyone knew you were making a joke. If you had put something like this behind your statements everyone would have known you were making a joke.
I figure I'm a lot less likely to draw police fire than many.
I take particular exception to your removal of the picture I posted. BOTH individuals were white, is this why you removed it? Regardless, it now leaves the appearance that I'm some kind of racist, and that is NOT appreciated.Jeff White said:Your post in the thread Active shooter response was edited. Reason: One could easily find a slime bag of any ethnic group