Family Forum / Marriage / Marriage / February 2008

Interesting thread on that here:

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/009689.html

Everything Jim Macdonald writes on survival, first aid, disaster
preparation, etc. is well worth reading.

Interesting bits from Jim and various commenters:

"Now some advice: If you hear gunshots in a public place and they're
nearby, seek cover and concealment. Stay there until uniformed police
officers tell you it's safe to move. If they're distant, get moving in
the opposite direction, provided you can do so safely.
Oh, yes: If someone you don't know calls you by name, make yourself one
with the pavement.
Definitions:
Cover: something that bullets won't penetrate. Solid walls, sandbags,
engine blocks.
Concealment: Bullets will go through them, but they hide you from view.
Interior walls, bushes, auto doors."

"If you have to move under fire, it's up, three running steps, and drop
to the next good cover. You're not going deep for a pass into the
endzone. Three is the magic number. Four is pushing it. Five is straight
out. If you're up and someone's shooting towards your vicinity (but not
waiting for you to jack in the box into your next move), by the count of
three, you'll drop and hear bullets whiz over your head. You might make
four if your lucky. Five voids all warranties.
Oh, and before you get up, figure out where you're going to go to next.
Then start running and start counting.
The cadence in your head will be: up, one, two, three, drop. ... up,
one, two, three, drop. If you get into a groove, you'll start looking
ahead to the second point of cover while you're up and running to your
first."

"According to my recent research, the FBI's current recommendation in
school shootings is *against* shelter-in-place, FWIW.
The word from the Bureau these days is get the hell out, any way you
can. They call them "sitting ducks" for a reason."

"Shartly after the Virginia Tech shootings, I ran across a thread where
people were posting ideas for what to do if you were in such a
situation. For example, it turned out that one professor had barricaded
the door when he heard the shots— he and his students survived simply
because the shooter turned to easier targets. A couple of ideas that
came out of the thread were:
1) Arm yourself with whatever you can. Even a text book can be a
missile.
2) Shooters tend to display some of the automatic assumptions that
everyone makes— if you stand in front of the door, he may shoot through
the door, but if you stand next to the door, he probably won't shoot
through the wall. (Weird little data point discussion surrounding that
one.)
3. Shooters lead with the gun— stand by the door, armed with a
broomstick, and the moment the gun comes through, whack it down.
IOW, if you are in a trapped situation where flight is not applicable,
start thinking fight because it's your best chance. Flight is usually
the better option."

Since I was at one point a female engineering student, my thinking on
the subject was formed when that guy in Canada went on the rampage in
the engineering school.  People did hide behind and under desks.  This
guy walked around and killed all the women he found.  So I am of the
"don't be a sitting duck" persuasion.  I'd try to run or fight.  But you
can only guess and play the odds, because you don't know what your
shooter will do.  Final word on the subject:

"It's a hideous tactical situation. You don't know anything. The person
shooting could be trying to make a ruckus and get killed (suicide by
cop), in which case he'll be more likely to shoot at random than aiming
carefully at people; or he could be trying to kill as many people as
possible, in which case he'll shoot anybody he sees; or he could be
after one or a few specific people, in which case he'll shoot them plus
probably anybody who seems like a threat.
In addition to specific aimed shots, there's the question of where the
random shots and the misses go.
"Cover" is always best, since it protects you in both cases.
"Concealment" generally prevents his aiming shots at you, but does
nothing against the random shots and misses.
Standing behind a pillar can be better than lying on the floor, in that
less of you is visible especially from medium to far distances.
Looking out from your cover obviously renders your eye (and hence much
of your head) vulnerable, plus it's movement (which draws the eye). Not
knowing what's going on can be fatal. As I say, it's a really horrid
tactical situation.
Getting out has a lot to recommend it."