gigag04 wrote:I think most CHL holders, and people in general will act if pushed into a corner and armed with nearly anything. Whether or not a person, regardless of profession or attire, will run towards the sound of screams and gunshots is an individual decision that is up to them. I wouldn't dare push my convictions on anyone in this arena...
Even in our line of work, our initial response is to form up in AT LEAST a team of 2, if not 3 or 4 for an entry team. If other people are minutes out, and shots are ringing out from a school, I've decided that FOR ME, I should go in. Again, even from our side of the active shooter equation, that is an individual situation. Action is faster than reaction, and if you find yourself in an active shooter situation, you are at an extreme tactical disadvantage. If you are not responding LE, than you don't have a vest, a radio, a flashlight (most likely), cuffs, and you are most likely equipped with a CCW friendly weapon. When I go in, I'm bringing a rifle, 4 mags, and a AS bag (w/ prepacked trauma bags consisting of quikclot, Kerlix, Coban, and gloves).
Also - if the gunfire stops, you have to be able to change up your response, even if you're in the middle of the hallway - you change your pace from moving as fast as you can accurately shoot, to a more methodical, and tactically superior building search. If shooting resumes, you make concessions on tactics and safety to try and save that next victim.
If I get caught up in one OFF DUTY, depending on my "load" that day, I'll most likely take a more defensive posture.
From a historical perspective, entry teams do not successfully resolve active shooter incidents because there aren't enough officers on scene in time to form and use them.
The national record for most officers in a team entry is 3 officers in the Luby's cafeteria shooting in Killeen. They were not 3 on duty officers called to the scene - they were 3 officers attending a training session in a neighboring hotel who formed an impromptu entry team.
A prominent active shooter researcher (Ron Borsch, Southeast Area Law Enforcement Academy, Ohio) has put out an international call for any incident where an organized tactical team using a multi officer formation successfully intervened to end an active shooting in progress. As of the last time I checked (a few months ago) none had been identified. It is something of a mystery to me why a large number of law enforcement agencies still have policies and procedures that require a response that has never worked.
Most of the very few active shooter incidents ended by direct police action were by single officers who were either already on site for a different reason, or who happened to be close enough to respond within the 8 minute time window of the average post Columbine AS incident. Gigag's individual officer planning is on solid ground here and is historically the most successful police response pattern. Ron Borsch's research has found a further refinement - if two officers are available, the best option is to enter and search different areas simultaneously (if there are no immediate indicators of the shooter's location) or approach the same area (if there are indicators - e.g., gunshots, fresh witness statements, etc.) from different directions while maintaining communication with each other. This doubles the speed of the search and drives a shooter attempting to avoid one officer into the other officer's field of fire.
As of today, most AS incidents that are ended through other than the shooter's decisions are ended by citizens (e.g. the case in Littleton, CO where a teacher tackled a rifle armed shooter outside a school, or the New Life Church incident in Colorado Springs where a citizen successfully engaged a rifle armed shooter with her handgun). The reason is that these folks are present when the incident starts and before police are notified, and immediate action is their only option for emerging alive.
Gigag's concise list of time, distance, cover, and speed is excellent advice for anyone who has at least 15 feet of initial distance from the shooter and a clear exit path. If you find yourself without that favorable circumstance (e.g.,6 feet away from the shooter, or in classroom or office with the shooter between you and the exit door), I would add a ferocious, fully committed counterattack with whatever you have available as the best remaining viable option.
If you're armed with a capable CCW that you are quick and effective with, you're not invincible but you've got a good chance of coming out on top with good tactics. If you've gone the mousegun route for your CCW, good luck deploying your Ruger LCP against a Glock 9mm.
Counterattack is by no means a guarantee you will emerge unscathed. You very likely will not. However, at that point I believe it's more survivable than cowering in a corner or under a desk waiting to be shot. The other remaining options are to fall to the floor in a group of people who have actually been shot and hope your uninjured status won't be noticed, or if you are out of the shooter's view and can conceal yourself in a place he's unlikely to look (e.g. atop the middle of boxes on the highest shelf of a warehouse storage rack or above a hung ceiling in a rest room). This has worked for a very small handful of folks in that situation, but I wouldn't count on it as my plan A in most situations either.
