Active Shooter - Cover

The last few days I have had repeated discussions with people about active shooter situations. We have discussed the situation in overview and a little in depth. One thing I noticed when talking to people is most "regular" folks do not understand what stops a bullet. Staying with our concept of RUN, HIDE, FIGHT we need to understand COVER more than most people do.

There are two things which matter when bullets start flying, COVER and CONCEALMENT. If you are running or hiding both of these things matter and need to be taken into account. Running into an open field and just standing there is not as good as running and putting COVER between you and the bad guy. For this post we are going to focus on COVER.

"In military combat, the concept of cover refers to anything which is capable of physically protecting an individual from enemy fire. This differentiates it from the similar concept of concealment, in that an object or area of concealment only affords the benefit of stealth, not actual protection from small arms fire or artillery fragments. An example of "cover vs. concealment" would be sandbags vs. tall grass. Cover may be a naturally-occurring feature, such as a rock or a tree stump, or it may be a constructed feature, such as a foxhole or a trench." Wikikpedia

If you haven't watched this video please do! This is a good video and explains the concept of RUN, HIDE, FIGHT. Sorry you have to copy and paste, I do not know how to add the link right..........

https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cirg/active-shooter-and-mass-casualty-incidents/run-hide-fight-video

Here is another version of the same information.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/dept-of-homeland-security-releases-shooting-scenario-video

In both of these videos they show people hiding, barricading doors and they use the word COVER. Problem is they do not tell people the desk people are hiding under in most cases won't stop a bullet. The door they are barricading won't stop a bullet. Most desk are no longer made of solid wood or metal thick enough to stop even a stray round. What they are showing is concealment. Again, think of a bullet as a trash truck coming at you, what would stop a truck from running you over?

A cement wall, building, three or four inside walls, thick steel, you get the idea. More is better! If you are running put as many things between you and the bad guy as you can! Items which do not count as "things"........ Your press board desk. The door to your office. Inside walls. Glass of any kind!

You have to have some understanding of what it takes to stop a bullet. Look at these photos of military folks using sandbags. Look at the photos and study how thick the COVER is between them and the direction they expect to be shot at from. This is the minimum amount of protection soldiers are putting between themselves and the bad guys. You need to have some understanding of what is needed to stop a bullet!

Remember, concealment is good. If the bad guy can not see you the odds of you being shot goes down.You want cover! Even if the bad guy knows where you are but can't shoot through your COVER you live!!! Now the best situation is if you have COVER and concealment!!! The bad guy can't see you and if they fire wildly they can't hit you!!!!! Reality is not like the movies, bullets go through most things. More is better, thicker is better, mass is better, heavy is better, more heavy-thick things between you and the bad guy is better!!!

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!!

Active Shooter Incidents

As sad as this is to say we have discussed what we can do during a shooting several times since I started posted ideas or thoughts here. Again there has been an incident, again innocent people have died and others have been wounded. I could be writing about other things but I feel this is very important and will spend some time on this subject. Honestly I can not write anything new, we have kind of covered the subject to many times already. I have tried to post links to the other articles on here about the subject and I hope people take the time to read or re-read what is there.

Over the last few days I have been involved in several conversations about the shooting in San Bernardino. There really is nothing new to add.... If you are caught in one of these situations you have three choices;

RUN - get out of the area
HIDE - find a location and conceal/barricade yourself
FIGHT - take out the threat



Here is an except from a prior posting;

"If you are not directly threatened by the gunman, leave. Just leave the area! Do not try to see what is going on, take pictures or otherwise put yourself or others in harm's way. Leave!! This should be your first reaction if you can. Let someone else have the story to tell about how cool or scary the situation was at the next party. You just take your butt home and be safe!!"

I can not stress this enough RUN, JUST RUN! GET OUT OF THE AREA! Leave and live to fight another day! Do not be there and they can not harm you!


"Should you not be able to leave and you are in danger from the gunman seek "COVER"! What is cover? Cover is anything which will stop a bullet. What will stop a bullet? Not what you see on TV or in the movies!! Think more along the lines of what would stop a garbage truck from running you over. Better yet, think what you would want between your loved ones and a runaway truck!

"Glass, car doors, plants, internal walls, filing cabinets, pressboard desk, computer screens and almost everything you see stop bullets on TV DOES NOT STOP BULLETS in real life. Lightly constructed buildings do not stop bullets. Bullets will go through all of these things.

"Cement, bricks, thick steel, boulders, large thick trees and other dense objects stop or deflect bullets. When soldiers build sandbag walls they are at least three sandbags deep, this is about 2 -3 feet wide. Try to find something thick enough to stop a truck.

"The more items between you and the gunman the better. If the gunman has to fire through a door, through a filing cabinet and a desk before you can be hit this increases your chances of survival. In this case some "cover" is better than none."

Bullets do not act they way you see them act on TV or the movies. When they hit things they also cause pieces of what they hit to fly. Bullets bounce, come apart and these pieces can hurt you.

"Concealment is your next option. Anything which keeps the gunman from seeing you is concealment. Remember, concealment is not cover!! Just because the gunman can not see you does not mean you can not be shot!! Bullets go through most things people will try to hide behind. Ideally you want to find a position of cover and concealment. Cover comes first!!!

"If you barricade yourself somewhere let someone know you are there. Call 911, wave out a window or maybe hang something out the window. Letting the authorities know where you are will help them to help you. Remember if you barricade a door bullets can still come through the door!"

Please take a moment and read the prior post, share the posts because you never know who might read them and if the information might help them some day..............












As Always,

Stay Safe!!!