"If there’s a shooting, I’ll just run out to my car and get my gun"

Does that statement sound familiar?  Is it your plan too?  I’ve heard people say that before, when they discuss the possibility of a shooting at their workplace, where they are not permitted to carry a firearm inside of the facility.  Many companies have policies that prohibit firearms in the building.  Some of them allow (or are unable to legally prohibit) the storage of firearms in your vehicle though.  That will vary from state to state and the type of organization that you work for.  For example, if you work for a government entity, they may be able to prohibit it anywhere on the property including parking areas.  There was a big court case in the state of Utah with a major corporation (which I won’t name here) that originally prohibited firearms in vehicles in the parking area.  The corporation was sued and the court ultimately sided with the employees and ruled that companies within the state cannot enact such a policy.  So now, employees of that organization and any other organization in that state are permitted to store guns in their vehicles.  But again, this will vary depending on a number of factors and you must know the law and seek professional legal guidance from a qualified person (which I am not).  I’m not an attorney and am not qualified to give you legal advice, so get it from somebody who is.  And here’s a hint… it’s not anybody on an Internet discussion forum.

But let’s get past all of that for a minute.  Let’s assume for a minute that you are legally permitted to have a firearm in your vehicle, even though you are not allowed to have it in your office.  That’s somewhat common.  I’ve had discussions with people about active shooter response tactics and I often hear people say that when the “shit hits the fan”, they plan to retrieve their gun from their car and subsequently engage the attacker(s).  In fact, a good friend of mine who is a highly qualified shooter told me exactly that just yesterday.  Well I’m here to tell you why I believe that’s a plan that is unrealistic and likely to fail if you are even able to attempt it.

First let me say that it is NOT my plan to comment on every single idea that people have about active shooter incidents.  I don’t like to nitpick and I don’t mean to criticize.  The tactics and methods that my organization teaches in our active shooter trainings are one approach, but there are certainly other things that may work in certain circumstances.  I'd also like to say that I'm not faulting people who have this idea.  These guys aren't wanna-be bad asses.  They are regular guys like you and me who just want to help.  They are compliant with laws and their corporate policies and are trying their hardest to come up with a way to adhere to those parameters and still aid their fellow man in a time of need.  On this particular point though, I think their plan has some holes and I'd like to bring them to light.

The Breakdown:

• You’re pre-assuming that you’ll even be able to make your way to an exit.  How can you guarantee that without knowing the nature of the attack, the position of the shooter, etc.?
• You’re wasting extremely valuable time.  In the amount of time that it takes you to run to your vehicle (you did remember to grab your keys first, right?), retrieve a firearm, and return to the scene, the shooter has killed another 15 people.  If you had taken more appropriate action that would have neutralized the threat, some of those lives may not have been lost.  That’s not to imply that you are responsible for those lives lost.  I wouldn’t impose that burden on you.  I’m just saying that there are other, more appropriate actions that you could be taking.
• Once you’re out, you’re out.  You’ve left the hot zone and your life is no longer in immediately danger.  Does it make sense, and can you guarantee, that under the stress & fear of the event that you’d go back into the hot zone?  You’ve just saved your life.  You have a wife & kids at home.  You aren’t a cop and you are under no obligation as required by your job to function as an emergency responder.  Turning around and heading back in may be something that you’re not quite prepared to do.  Many conditioned and hardened soldiers have abandoned the battle field once they faced the realities of combat.  And those guys were prepped for it ahead of time.

And by the way… do you know if your state has a duty to retreat if you’re able?  What that means is: Are you required by law to avoid the application of force if you are able to take another, safer (for you AND the aggressor) course of action and avoid the use of force.  This concept is called preclusion and our prisons are filled with people who failed to gain an understanding of it before they took a course of action that included the use of force.  Now I know... a duty to retreat probably wouldn't apply here because other people are at risk of death or serious bodily injury.  But each state has subtle differences in laws that define the justification of deadly force.  And there's always some lawyer out there who's gunning (pardon the pun) against guys like us and looking for some way to prosecute people who take action to save themselves & others.  And I wouldn't put it past one of these slime buckets to use a technicality like the duty to retreat in a situation like this.  I know what you're thinking: "surely there wouldn't be an attorney who would stick up for an active shooter!".  Well, you're wrong.  In fact just last week, hours after the San Bernardino, CA terrorist shootings, two attorneys (who were apparently on retainer?) crawled out of the gutter and started making excuses for the murderers.  It's disgusting, I know.

•  This next one is where it really falls part.  This is where it becomes obvious that people with this plan have probably never done any realistic tactical training.  And that’s perfectly fine.  You’re not a cop and nobody expects you to have that training.  It’s not a criticism.  But… any cop will tell you that there’s no way in hell they’re going to enter a structure without an entry team or at the bare minimum, another officer to provide backup.  Active shooter incidents are extremely dynamic.  The state of the scene when you left is very likely to have changed dramatically in the time that you were gone.  Assuming that the shooter is exactly where he was when you left, is a dangerous calculation.  You may be re-entering through a point that you assumed was safe but is now his area of focus.  The scenes are so dynamic that law enforcement has even transitioned away from a previously-used tactic that involved taking your eyes off of the scene for a mere second or two.  They used to peek into a room (maybe shine a light if necessary), and pull themselves away from the door so that they aren't seen.  Then, based on what they saw during their glance, they'd enter the room and assume that the bad guy was where they saw him a few seconds ago.  The problem with that approach is that in those two seconds, the bad guy has likely moved and what the cop saw two seconds ago is no longer valid.  So if those two seconds are deemed too dangerous for the police, how dangerous was your two-minute absence?  How much more has the scene changed in that time?

This particular point warrants a little more discussion… working an area (engaging a threat) that you are already in is entirely different than making entry into an area.  There’s a reason why law enforcement spends so much time training to enter & clear rooms.  It’s not as simple as opening the door and strolling in.  You can certainly do it that way, if you want to get killed.  But the method of entry and the movements that are made to secure an area (not even talking about actually shooting) are so critical that it takes extensive training and a tight integration of the entry team so that everybody knows their assigned tasks.  When these guys enter, they know exactly who’s going where based on their position in the line.  They do it with what’s called “violence of action” that allows them to dominate and control the scene, and they know how to adapt their plan based on the dynamics of the scene.  They don’t know what’s on the other side of that door either.  They don’t know where furniture is, how many people they’ll encounter, etc. until they bust through the door and it takes countless hours of training to learn how to do that.  If you go in, as a single unit, without having that training, no matter which way you turn, you are exposing your back to a zone that you have not yet cleared.  A single person cannot clear every direction horizontally and vertically simultaneously.  There simply is no way to do this safely.

I can’t stress this point enough.  I could write another 15 paragraphs on this particular point alone.  When we train civilians to work their way through a building, it’s with the mindset of getting you OUT of the building or getting you to your kids & safe room - and only if staying where you are is more dangerous than moving.  It is never with the intent of attempting to train you to clear a building.  We provide that training to law enforcement professionals only because they have the resources to devote to development of the skillset and they work with teams that support the concept.  You do not.

Have I driven that point home yet?  OK, moving on…

•  Let’s say that somehow you’re able to guarantee that you can enter the building safely (again… impossible) and you’ve now got your gun from the car and are making your way through the parking lot towards the building.  Meanwhile, 20 people have called 911 and here comes the cavalry – 15 police cars from 3 responding municipalities and 30 cops all raring to go.  They’re in SWAT gear, they have an AR strapped to their body and a Glock on their hip.  But that’s not all they have.  Now they have YOU in their sights.  They just arrived at an active shooter scene and you’re the first guy they see, running like a maniac with a gun in your hand towards the the people that they’re trying to save.  You have no vest on that says “POLICE” on the back (don't even think about it, it's illegal to impersonate an officer).  You are conducting yourself in a non-professional manner and they have never seen you before.  Guess what you look like to them?  I would give you three guesses, but you’re already dead and now your name & face are already on every news station being labeled as somebody associated with the attack. 

I’m sure I could add another 5 or 10 items to the list above, but you get the point and I’m often told that my writings are too long-winded anyway.  I hope that with this perspective, I’ve dissuaded you from your ill-conceived plan to run to your car, then return to the scene.  This ties in with my post yesterday about investing the resources to get good, quality active shooter response training.  Don’t cook up a plan yourself, I guarantee you it’s doomed to fail.

At the end of the day, realistically, you are going to fight with what you have readily available.  So your plan must be based on that.  Anything else is a useless fantasy.  You should always be thinking about your plans and tweaking them.  But let's also not forget the old and accurate saying that "no plan survives first contact".  In other words, having a plan is essential.  But don't expect anything to go according to your plan and make sure you develop the skills necessary to adapt & overcome.



Related article:
How To Get Yourself Killed In An Active Shooter Incident