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Friday, July 20, 2012

Speaking of Situational Awareness...

...Do you have a plan for things like the Aurora movie theater shooting?

Yesterday, I talked about not avoiding bad situations, or not escalating them.  But what do you do when a bad situation comes to you like it did last night?


Before I get to that, though...I have to get something off of my chest.  What is wrong with parents?  If they had kept their kids at home or not allowed them out for the opening of the movie, we'd have a lot fewer injured children.  Why the hell were there infants and elementary-aged kids at a movie at midnight?  Don't you people believe in bedtimes?  Really?!


Back to our regularly scheduled post:

What do you do when the situation comes to you?  That was the question.

The movie theaters in Colorado, as a general rule, are gun-free zones.  Most CCW-permit holders I know are law- and rule-abiding citizens - if they weren't they wouldn't be issued a CCW.  Essentially what happened early this morning was a perfect example of what disarming citizens will do to our country.  The law-abiding will not have guns, the bad guys will.  Who wins?

We must have a way to protect ourselves from the wolves in society.  The theater was full of sheep (now, remember, being sheep isn't necessarily a bad thing according to Lt. Col. Grossman, but it's their choice to be sheep) and left without the protection of a Sheepdog, because the Sheepdog was stripped of his/her tools to properly execute the job.  When the wolf came a'calling, the Sheepdog couldn't match force.

So...you're a law-abiding citizen going for a nice premier of a movie, and though you usually carry, you're following the rules and left your gun in the car or at home.  A bad situation comes to you.  What now?

First - make sure you know where all of the emergency exits are so you can get out and direct people how to get out. In this instance, the bad guy came in the emergency exit.  How?  I don't know.  He might have bought a ticket, left the theater through the exit, rigged it so he could re-enter, and gone to his car to "suit up".  Or he might have had an accomplice.  We don't know yet.  What we do know is that the emergency exit wasn't an option, but the other two doors entering the theater were certainly available.

Second - don't lose your combat mindset.  This is probably the most important thing to keep in mind. Keep aware of your surroundings at all times.  Know that just because you might get shot doesn't mean you're dead.  Lt. Col. Grossman has compiled scores of documented scenarios where a person was shot and continued fighting until they won.  If you're not already, become a follower of Sheepdog tip of the day on Facebook.

Third - if you can't get out - FIGHT!  Remember Tara's post?  Fight to the death.  The bad guy has a gun, yes.  The movie theater probably held three hundred people.  If only a tenth of the theater had fought the bad guy, he would have quickly been out-numbered.  Remember my previous point: just because you're shot doesn't mean you're dead.  Keep fighting.

Last night shooting was a tragedy and my heart goes out to all affected by it, but we must not allow the anti-gunners to turn this into another reason why we should all be stripped of our basic right to protect ourselves.  If there had been just one other person in the theater with a gun - one "good guy" - the outcome would have been drastically changed.

Does anyone else have anything to add to the list?  What are your suggestions/comments/thoughts?

Here's a link to a post Mr. Mrs. Mom wrote for us after the Gabby Giffords shooting - might be worth a look-see again.

7 comments:

  1. OK - I've just decided that I'm no longer willing to be law abiding 100% of the time. I'll shoot (no pun intended) for 96% of the time and I'll keep wearing my guns to the movies. I'll just claim not to have seen the signs if asked, further I will not patronize businesses that will not take my money when I'm wearing a gun. I never have anyway, no change in operations there. I can live with myself for having made this decision.

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  2. As I understand the laws, the worst case is Tresspass. If you are in an private establishment (not a school or airport or anywhere that is a violation of State or Federal law) like a Mall or a Theater and are approached by an employee or security guard, asked if you are armed, you should acknowledge you are. If they then inform you of the no guns policy, you tell them you didn't know and leave. If you refuse to leave, it is Criminal Tresspass. I think I'll just leave, but not until asked.

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  3. In Colorado, if a CCW permit holder doesn't comply with posted signs, he/she can have his/her permit stripped from them. Good luck ever getting a new one if that's the case.

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  4. You have to "see" them before you can comply with them.

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  5. We rarely go to movies as there is only one theater within reasonable distance that allows CCW...

    Don't choose to be sheep... don't spend you money with business that don't respect or honor your rights...

    There are enough gun free zones you can't avoid by choice (the courthouse, school, etc.), why would you willfully give up your rights and pay someone money for it?

    Yes, it's not fun not going to many movies, but my family tries not to patronize businesses gun-free zones as much as we can.

    @Lynne... in Ohio it can be a pretty significant penalty for carrying in a clearly marked no-carry business... First degree misdemeanor and automatic suspension of your concealed carry permit...

    Dann in Ohio

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  6. This is a comment I received via email that I thought I'd share:


    I am a hard core talk show junkie....I listen to several stations all day long here at work while I toil away. I found something very interesting starting at 0500 this morning which is when I start up with local stations. Even as recently as the Gabby Giffords shooting in Arizona all (and I literally mean all) comments were on the ban guns...OMG...feelings...guns...feelings...warning...feelings...danger...feelings...side of things. This morning a good percentage (not majority...but closing in on half) of the comments were in the vein of "I will NEVER allow this to happen if I am present"..."I will NEVER allow my children to be put in this situation"..."I am going to sign up at my local range and practice more"..."I am going to look into getting a CCW". A very slim few hit the "guns bad"...the rest were just stunned and wanted to understand so that the understanding would prevent. I'm not quite sure how they think the understanding in and of itself will prevent...I think it's more the human nature of "If I understand...then I know I'm not that way so I won't do...If I understand I will be able to avoid people like that and not get in the situation." I think most people don't realize how thin our veneer of civilization is. Excusing mental illness, I think humans are pretty hard wired to get to the top of the food chain. I won't speculate on why the escalation of violence, but I know it's not the presence of guns, and I know it's not the pressure of hard economic times. When I was young you could order guns thru the mail...many of my friends had lost fathers and brothers in World War II or Korea...some women were raising their children without benefit of husbands for the same reason...and yet...and yet. There was a common agreement on how society should function and anyone getting out of line was subject to being put back in line by any member of society. I'm not talking "it takes a village" as in government...I'm talking it takes a village as in a common societal agreement of the behaviors and expectations of people in that society....but, I said I wasn't going to go there didn't I?

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  7. I just want to say that I am falling more and more in love with VA's gun laws. Well, not the laws, but lack of them. Of course I would prefer none, but as state's laws go, we are doing ok here.

    I agree with you that small children maybe should have been at home, but that should not be the reason they didn't get shot. There are bad guys out there and it is more than wise for us to take steps to avoid having a run in with him. We can always learn from things like this and apply those lessons, but I stop short of saying that this horrific event was anyone's fault except the shooters. Bad parenting shouldn't equate to blame for the actions of a madman(i am not ssaying you suggested that, but I want to state my thinking) That being said, my 14 year old is not allowed to go to the movies or the mall with any of her friends unless she is with their parents and that parent is armed.

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