My daughter (not shown) played field hockey in Houston this weekend, in the shadow of a tall apartment building. After the Mandalay Bay shooting, I’ve been more aware of large buildings looming over parks and city streets. Of course, there’s not a lot I could do if someone goes all clock tower on me and mine — except recognize the threat ASAP and scurry to safety. Still, I’ve upped my situational awareness. And I [still] don’t do crowds. What, if anything, has been the impact of the LV spree killing on your SA or behaviors?
Situational awareness is higher, and I now carry two tourniquets in addition to my EDC and standard first aid kit. I have a few extra tourniquets in my truck too. I’m more likely to use my first aid equipment than my Glock.
I like to think my awareness wasn’t bad before but I’d agree it’s getting better.
What has definitely changed: I’m putting together a trauma pack to attach to my daily carry backpack complete with tourniquets and modular bandages and I’m putting serious thought into a backpack ballistic plate from AR500. Biggest problem? That plate will add eight pounds to that pack.
This one’s only pistol rated, but it’s very light. I got the courier bag for my EDC bag:
http://www.man-pack.com/
Recommended if you want an every day not-TOO-paranoid armor option. It has a couple good pockets for CAT tourniquets too.
Carry it around for a week and you won’t notice the extra 8lbs anymore.
Consider it a light workout without hitting the gym. It’s lighter than the lightest GoRuck weight you can get.
Every Friday evening the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu puts on a short fireworks display. Having witnessed this several times I quickly became aware of the report echoes off of the surrounding buildings on the far side of Ala Wai Blvd. Under such circumstances it is very difficult to determine the source of the original sound. Often these reports are amplified above the original. All that said, no. Had I been in attendance that building would have been on my radar all night long even before this event. The problem is there isn’t much you can do about it with a pistol. I might have moved closer to cover or an easy exit, but I do so love to be in the front row.
Yes, But I’m glad I never own a gun and NEVER will.
Because statically, Your more likely to turn your own weapon on yourself or a loved one than stop a “bad guy.”
A “good guy” would not have stopped this either.
Honest question for everyone on here including the racist American-hating robert farago: Isn’t EVERY gun owner a “good guy with a gun” until he/she does something bad? I’m not talking about ex-felons that aren’t supposed to have guns. I’m talking about people with “no record or previous run in with the law” and own their guns legally. There haven’t been too many cases where a mass shooting occurs and we say, “Yep, ole boy did it again!”…..It’s always the “first time this guy has went bonkers”.
“Isn’t every bad guy a good guy until they do something bad?”
….um…yes, that’s kinda how it works. Should we punish good people before they do something bad?
A good Communist always says ‘yes, for the good of the state!’
Pre-Crime: Because I want to oppress others, but I just told them I don’t own guns.
So we just keep going “as-is” and that’s “just the way it goes” when tragedies happen? but I can also understand when the 2nd Amendment was written, they didn’t have the founders didn’t have the foresight to see what weapons could be created in the future and if they did, They’d changed their minds real fast. If slingshots were the “arms” of the day and the law was passed everyone has a right to them, 300 years later nuclear weapons are available so we should all be “allowed” to have those too because nukes don’t kill people, people kill people, right? Just a conversational opinion.
The Continental Congress sought to purchase some of these – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girandoni_air_rifle – but decided they were too expensive for their shoestring budget. 30 rounds as fast as you could pull the trigger.
Also, there was a thing back then called a ‘privateer’ who was a civilian with his own warship who could get a writ from his king to raid enemy ships without being hung as a pirate. So perhaps they didn’t foresee nuclear weapons but they’d certainly be fine with a civilian owning his own battleship.
If Washington knew that the GAU-8 was gonna be a thing, he’d have mandated that every household own one. Which would have been AWESOME!
Actually, this is exactly what all authoritarians want…they want pre-crime punishment to varying degrees.
For Statists and authoritarians (is there a difference?) Minority Report was a porno…
My only question is why you so implicitly trust agents of the state with gu ns. Aren’t cops and soldiers just as likely to snap as law abiding civilians? Studies have shown that gu n owners with carry permits are half as likely to commit murder and other violent crime than cops, but you trust them and not us. And what happens when some racist fascist (Trump?) gains control of the government? Aren’t you worried about the only people having gu ns being Nazis?
Trump is just a passing phenomena. No reason to worry about Trump. Nor, any reason to worry about the Bushs (father nor son); nor to worry about any Reagan; Nixon; Johnson; Teddy Roosevelt; Grant; Johnson; . . . Andrew Jackson; Thomas Jefferson nor George Washington.
Trump is just a single outlier in the history of US presidents. First one; no doubt the last one. Every one of the other presidents has been a fully-enlightened Progressive who has marched our nation’s sentiments leftward – ever leftward.
Have faith in the all-powerful executive Hamilton envisioned!
I’m not worried about Thedonald, but the left seems to think he’s the reincarnation of Hitler.
And Coolidge was no progressive. Neither was Washington, since he could have been king but left office after only 8 years. King George III said (before he left) that if he gave up his power he would be the greatest man on earth.
“Trump is just a single outlier in the history of US presidents. First one; no doubt the last one.”
*Highly* doubtful on that. Trump proved a political unknown can win, and decisively. More will try in the future, from both sides.
Someone who isn’t quite as *volatile* as Trump with solid business skills has every chance to grab the proverbial ‘Brass Ring’.
The bad new is, the Leftists will try that tactic as well. That will be *very* problematic for us if it is someone like Micheal Moore lamented for on election night when they realized their dreams were crushed, someone “beloved” by the Leftists masses like Oprah or Tom Hanks. They won’t need any business or administrative skills, they will farm that out to ‘advisors’ who will be committed Leftists…
We should also ignore that your ‘statistical examples’ would use a knife, car, bat etc to accomplish their suicide or abuse.
Take for example that not too long ago a man in Canada circumvented their gun laws and brutally murdered his wife and kids with an axe, and no one called for sensible axe control and the gun laws did nothing for these poor people. But I guess being butchered in Canada is better than being shot in America right?
Not to mention in this particular case the guy could have inflicted more death and injury with an F-150 than all those AR-15s.
You mean like are NRA-dominated congress who refuses to do anything about the violence in this nation when one of your own “good guys” jumps off the slippery slope.
All “bad guys” started off as a “good guy with a gun” and the last several mass shooters never had a criminal record and weren’t diagnosed as suffering from mental health issue.
So I’m curious Gun Nut: how do we solve this problem, or is it just something we’ll continue to have to deal with? Does it bother any of you? Serious questions.
Huh? Was this guy ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Nice_attack ) a good guy with a gu n before he killed 86 people with a truck?
And the answer to how to stop a mass shooter is to shoot back.
Anyone who buys a gun to kill innocent people doesn’t start out as a good guy with a gun, but is already a bad guy.
False equivalence.
Axes are mainly used as tools, Guns are not tools of good, but tools of oppression.
One incident in Canada does not compare to the same incident that happens here everyday, Except replace axe with gun. It’s easier to run away or fight back against a nutter with an axe than a gun.
Let me know when axe rampages are an epidemic, Oh wait, They’re not.
‘…tools of oppression.’
So if a black woman fends off a rapist with a gu n, does that make her her rapist’s oppressor?
Gu ns are only tools of oppression if the only people who have them are part of an oppressive government.
“Let me know when axe rampages are an epidemic, Oh wait, They’re not.”
Ask some Tutsi around in Rawanda. They can tell how 1,000,000 people were brutally oppressed and murdered by simple farming tools (tools of food that harvest food mind you).
Do you know what stopped the violence? Not the armed peacekeeping agents of the UN watching the slaughter guns introduced by neighboring countries to the Tutsi to protect themselves.
Still claiming false equivalence? There are examples from plenty of communist states in Asia where guns aren’t owned by civilians. Plenty of Jews in east Europe during either world war were murdered by ropes and tools not guns
So every time I go to the range, I’m oppressing the paper targets?
You can’t oppress paper targets so long as they’re white, JJ48.
“Guns are not tools of good, but tools of oppression”
Which is the exact point of the second amendment.
I’m in absolute awe of your conviction and courage. I am weak. I could never match your level of resolute bravery. Ready, willing, and able you are to face down an assailant(s) hell bent on kill your dog, raping your daughters and wife, and in the end killing all of your family. And you, strong in your convictions that whatever happens, happens. Alas, us weaklings will sing songs and lift beers to your bravado as you join your ancestors with honor.
^^^ to this douchebag, why must you think just because we uphold our constitution and have a firearm or two that we must be racist? do you have the first clue how many blacks, hispanics, Asians ect ect own firearms for multiple LEGAL reasons? any REAL pro gun people out there know damn good and well it’s not just backwoods honkies that like their guns. calling out someone you know nothing about (Mr. Robert Farago) a racist only concludes that you are ignorant to the world around you. take your hillary, gun control loving, slave to the government ass elsewhere, that will be all.
that was meant for the outsider flame deleted above, ended up on the wrong area of responses somehow
And so he wins. The conversation centers around what he says and not the truth. Next time you jump down that rabbit hole I suggest bringing a rope and securely tying it to a tree first.
I don’t think he knows what the word ‘racist’ means. Everyone on the left throws that out so much I think he just knows it’s some kind of pejorative.
Again, those on the left are being allowed to define the conversation. Racist is whatever they say it is and as long as we continue the conversation on that level we have already lost. I don’t know RF but I’m pretty sure he treats everyone with honor and respect until they no longer deserve such respect. But that matters not to the left. He is subhuman and therefore unworthy of any measure of respect. He must be demonized. For if he is not the devil himself then there could be some semblance of remote possibility that his opinion matters. And that simply cannot be allowed. I have found that those who must resort to calling others names to delegitimize them are best honored with silence. For if you cannot say something nice about someone, best keep your trap shut. (My Mother)
I believe RF’s parents were labeled ‘subhuman’ by a guy named Adolf.
What grade are you in this year? Who is your favorite character on Henry Danger?
RealAmericanblahblahblahblah…..,
Nice to see your posts again. I enjoy reading your nonsensical attempts at argument. They’re quite amusing.
Hoping all is well with you.
I’m also happy that you’re not a gun owner. Because statistically, mass shooters are overwhelmingly liberal and Democrats. Even this shooter in Vegas was a registered Democrat. 90% of Felons vote Democrat. Democrats shoot up Senators. Democrat controlled cities have the highest rates of gun violence no matter what their gun laws are.
You want a party that’s going to ruin education? Check out any Democrat controlled city. You want a party that’s going to screw up the economy? Check out any Democrat controlled city. You want a party that’s going to squander options of their constituents to the point that they have nowhere to turn except crime? Check out any Democrat controlled city and compare it to something with split or Republican control. You are the problem. Your hatred and bigotry and desire to blame anything else except for what’s really responsible is exactly what’s wrong in the world.
As a vet, I’ll stand for your freedom of speech to spit your hatred and your 2nd Amendment rights to own a gun. As a human being, I am very, very, VERY happy everytime a hate filled, murderous liberal like you decides to stay away from guns.
“Your [sic] more likely to turn your own weapon on yourself or a loved one than stop a “bad guy.”
Dear scared anonymous angry person,
I fully and completely agree with your logic. A wise man once said, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” You know yours. Self awareness is important, and you obviously know that your loved ones are more by you being disarmed. I’m sure that they sleep better at night knowing that you are not as dangerous as you otherwise might be.
Kevin
(By the way: *you’re*)
“Because statically, Your more likely to turn your own weapon on yourself or a loved one than stop a ‘bad guy.'”
That’s not the way statistics work; they’re descriptive not prescriptive. There may indeed be a fair number of suicidal or homicidal people who own firearms, but owning a firearm will not suddenly make someone suicidal or homicidal.
Tell us of the place, anywhere around the world, at any time in history, where people managed to end unfairness, untimely death, oppression, injustice and the like, where they were not ravaged by hunger or crime or sickness. Tell us of these people and how they managed to accomplish these wondrous things….
Or just grow up and realize that the world will never be perfect and that bad things happen, appreciate that the utopia you long for will never be real and that attempts to make it so have, as the historical record clearly demonstrates, more often than not made it worse, much worse.
“Because statically, your more likely to turn your own weapon on yourself or a loved one than stop a “bad guy.”
Statistically, any car owner is more likely to die driving a car than someone who does not own a car. This tells us very little about the wide range of behaviors and environmental factors that effect an individual’s likelihood of this outcome. Questionable if you actually care about gun safety if you just lump every single person who owns a gun into the same risk group.
In regards to your zeal for punishing tens of millions of people for the actions of some; do you support making alcohol illegal again? There are about 10k alcohol related motor vehicle fatalities a year. Honest question.
On the same day that the madman massacred innocents in Las Vegas over ONE HUNDRED MILLION gun owners, many of them with registered REAL fully automatic weapons, DID NOT SHOOT ANYBODY.
So your solution to the insane acts of one person is to deny the Constitutionally protected rights of 100,000,000 law-abiding citizens?
I have only one thing that seems an appropriate response to YOUR level of insanity: MOLON LABE.
You must really enjoy being a subject rather than a citizen. Cowboy up and give us your address so we can send some real bad guys to show you what evil really looks like….
Not owning a gun is completely your choice, unless you live in Kennesaw in Georgia.
But on saying it will be used against someone you know looks like you are projecting your lack of self control onto everyone else.
In all fairness on the Kennesaw thing, their DA said they had no interest in prosecuting someone who chooses not to obey that ordinance…
Not really I’ve been wprkig on that for years, escape routes particularly.
Although it has encouraged me to look into one of those LAW folding stocks to make my AR more readily accessible, but that price tag….
Know anything about the BCG ‘extension’ device for that LAW folder? It’s gotta count as an overall increase in BCG mass, correct ?
If you ran certain lower power ammo (not-subs) does it trip up the semi-auto functioning ?
Dont own one but from what I understand (mostly from what Jim Sullivan says) a heavier BCG is desireable for increased reliability. That piston has plenty of energy to overcome the increased BCG weight and variation in ammo pressure.
So I don’t see a problem as long as it’s roughly expected pressures. That gas system is extremely robust but if I started seeing reliability issues I’d just throw an adjustable gas block on there
Playing into the fear porn RF?
In a word Nope. Since I’m normally aware of what’s around me 99.999% of the time. I don’t let things like being around a high rise or underground parking garage change my daily movements.
You sure that that 99.999% estimate isn’t a just little optimistic? You must sleep with both eyes open and never read.
I have used our country latest mass murder, as a family lesson. What would my family do? And the next one won’t be jus one man. And the next one might not kill himself, but instead go down to the casino floor? Then my edc will be at least some use?
Nope…it’s already skyhigh. I think my wife would call it paronoid. So be it…head on a swivel,avoid stupid places and people(if possible) and always be armed.
I did finally break down and designate a rifle for truck duty, but I’d been thinking of doing that for a while. Seems like a lot of people around here think you’re grossly under-armed if you’re not carrying at least one spare 17 round magazine, but what if your enemy is a hundred or two yards away with a rifle?
Governor,
I have been thinking about long range engagements of 100 to 300 yards as well. I have not yet made it a priority because, where I live and frequent, there really isn’t anywhere an attacker could rack-up much of a body count since obstacles would constantly block the attacker’s view of people at those distances.
It probably should not be a surprise that an AR-15 carbine with 16-inch barrel and a fixed 3x scope would be about the perfect “trunk gun” for that threat assessment. While other rifles would certainly be excellent in terms of accuracy and ballistic effectiveness, they would not be near as short and handy as an AR-15 carbine, which would be “good enough” for targets out to 300 yards assuming that I use nice expanding soft-point bullets.
I am just having trouble bringing myself to keep a $700 AR-15 in the trunk of my vehicle all the time: I would hate to have someone steel that. Perhaps this should push me to keep an H&R Handi Rifle in .223 Winchester in the trunk. The down side: that it is a single-shot break-action rifle which means follow-up shots would be exceedingly slow. On the plus side, they only cost around $220 and they are compact. If someone ever broke into my car and stole that, I would not be anywhere near as upset.
I’m thinking more like 50-300 yards. I was thinking of buying a budget bolt-gun in something like .243 since it’s relatively cheap to feed and substantially more powerful than .223/5.56 yet light recoiling. But the more I look the more I want to push the budget up. Top pick would be the Weatherby Vanguard II Carbine – 5+1, 20″ barrel. But that’s $500+ and another couple hundred for a halfway decent scope.
Another option would be buying that Henry Big Boy carbine in .357 I’ve been wanting and putting a scope on my .30-30 (336BL) which shares the same advantages over .233/5.56 as the .243, but 300 yards is probably pushing the limits with bullet drop and wind drift.
For now though I just borrowed my wife’s AR, loaded up a 20 rounder with a box of Federal Fusion MSRs and threw 3 30s loaded with M192s in the bag’s side pouches. 2-7x scope – rings the 8″ gong at 200 yards with boring regularity. So I figure if nothing else I’ve already got my bug out bag in the truck if something really bad happens.
I don’t really consider this scenario something that I would realistically encounter but were I to seriously consider it [*seriously considers it for a moment*] I would also go with .243 Win because it’s a nice flat shooting round that doesn’t come with as many problems for windage either.
I built a .243 for a competition this fall which easily engages 8″ circles at 600 yards in breezy outdoor conditions and based on what it does to steel at that range I’m confident it would put an unarmored target down with the first shot. That build is based on a $700 rifle and combined with a Kestrel/CONX combo you basically can’t miss.
Even with modern bullets I wouldn’t push it much past 600 yards for anything but target work but out to that range .243 is, in my estimation, viable against a mass shooter if you pick the right bullet. Inside that range, say 400 yards, it would be devastating.
Here’s what .243 Win (Superformance ammo) does to a sheet of 3/8ths mild steel I had lying around and used to sight in my scope. Range is 343m (375.1 yards).
https://anonimag.es/image/JT9sqHC
A little longer range than what I’m concerned about, but as I alluded to below, if people are dying and you’ve got an active shooter in your sight you’ve got to take the shot. The other part of the equation is that if I’m going with a bolt (or lever) gu n with a capacity of 4 or 5 rounds I want something a little more potent than .223. The .30-30 would still have plenty of energy well past 300 yards but I think hitting the target at 400 would be like hitting one with a .243 at 600 yards. I’d also consider .308 since I’ve already got a Rem 700 in that, but I’ve got a little too much invested in that rifle to leave in the truck. Any deer rifle should do, particularly loaded with light (for deer) bullets.
Gov:
I don’t your financial situation but I would direct you to something I mentioned in my original reply. The Kestrel/CONX combo.
Once you plug the data for your rifle/bullet into that device the CONX will range the target, calculate the angle (up or down slope) and send that the Kestrel which will make all your range calculations for you faster than you can blink and spit them out any way you’d like it to. In still conditions, you’re good to go. If not, a wind reading takes about five seconds.
I’m not joking when I say that if you spend 15 or so minutes getting familiar with this set of devices you basically cannot miss a rifle shot unless you screw up somehow and getting set up for that shot takes less than a minute once you understand the devices. It’s a on-target-first-shot-every-time sort of tool. I mean, I feel like I’m cheating when I use it.
As for the rest of it… I love .30-30 but for this application I can’t help but think it’s not the right round. Ditto .308. I like .243 Win because it’s flat shooting and delivers energy well out to ~700m. I’d have to go look at my data book on this rifle but it’s a short barrel (20″) and it’s still pushing that 95g bullet out at ~3000fps and delivering close to 2K ft -lbfs at the muzzle. In such a situation as we’re discussing it will ruin someone’s day, have less drop and is less affected by wind than either .308 or .30-30… making it easier for you to ruin that person’s day.
Realistically were I to actually do this I wouldn’t use the .243 I’m using these days due to the same thought you have on that Rem 700. I’d go back to the Mossberg .243 I have with a 3-12×50 Redfield on it. Total price like $850 with optics. Not the best rifle, the pattern opens up after about eight rounds, but in a situation like this, after adding it to my Kestrel I shouldn’t need more than one or two shots and that rifle should easily hit a human sized target at 400m.
strych, the Kestrel system looks pretty slick and it’s not a total budget buster, but looks more suited to hun ting than defensive rifle. Maybe sniping. I’m not too concerned about gut shooting Mo-hammed when he’s enjoying his aloha snack-bar. And within the original perimeters of <300 yards it wouldn't be necessary, even with an elevated shot. The .30-30 would also be well suited for those perimeters but would perform really poorly beyond that range. Even at 300 with some of the more aerodynamic rounds you're still looking at 16" of wind drift from a 10mph crosswind. Anyway it's something I already own, but I bought it to have an open sighted rifle. I can shoot ~6" 10 shot groups at 100 yards and hit the 12" gong at 200 about 40%. I think it would work just fine out to 300 with a scope.
.308 should have a very slight wind drift edge over .243 and about a 200 yard advantage in energy. But .243 wins hands down in trajectory and recoil. If you know your range the trajectory isn't a big deal at all though. In fact the scope I've got on my .308 right now is an MOA reticle that I can shoot to 1000 yards without adjusting the elevation knob. I'm leaning .243 but if I find a great deal on a .308 I'll jump on it.
I just don’t see that as reality. Let’s take this case for instance. You are at the concert. You are the first to realize shots are being fired. The host of following events enabling you to get to your vehicle and engage are staggering. Not to mention that in this case you have to accurately calculate an uphill shot with varying windage and pray to God you don’t put a few rounds into the rooms above, below, or next to the shooter. I’m sorry, there simply is no defense in this type of scenario unless you are a highly trained sniper and have your service rifle with you. IMHO
I agree that this would be a difficult situation to address with a truck-gun. Obviously you’d have to be close to your vehicle. The elevation would be an additional challenge.* The other occupied rooms around the target would be and even bigger issue. But still, if someone is shooting randomly into a crowd with a fully automatic weapon (or bump-stock) and you can just pull out a rifle and shoot back, you HAVE to take the shot. Even if you send one into the wrong room, the odds of hitting an innocent bystander are still really low (who’s in their room in Vegas at 10:00pm anyway?). And even if the odds aren’t on your side you can’t let dozens die out of fear of hurting a single bystander.
That said there are a lot of other scenarios where the truck-gun would come in really handy.
*From what I understand, shooting either up or down, it doesn’t matter the distance to the target at the angle but what the distance would be on level ground. For instance, if a target is 120 yards away and 120 yards up, the distance is 170 yards, but the bullet will drop like the target was 120 yards away. Wind drift would be the longer distance.
I already have an ar pistol ready for the job of truck gun, just dragging my feet on what optic to put on it… Too spendy and it seems like a waste, but too cheap and do you really want to trust it… Then the dilemma of just a red dot or some kind of variable 1-?x…
Ban all tall buildings? This is the left’s logic, not mine.
An attacker who is willing to die in the process, who chooses the optimum time and place of ambush, and who has decent resources is going to kill multiple people, period. The only question is how many victims the attacker will produce.
In that sense situational awareness is basically useless. The odds that you just happen to see such an attacker seconds before his/her ambush is pretty much nil. Rather than focusing on trying to see the attack before it happens, I focus on noticing how to get to cover and exit an area should someone ambush my location.
Beyond that, I make it a point to NOT go to locations where there are dense crowds of people in the midst of a myriad possible attack vectors — noting that “attack vectors” includes fire, poison, explosive, and vehicle methods of attack as well as firearms.
No , not really. I’m trying to balance my concern with the likelihood of an event. My SA is pretty good already.
I can tell you if I were in vegas, whether or not I knew where the fire was coming from I would have been running . you may get accidently get closer to the attacker, but moving targets a so much harder to hit you will probably still be better off.
The best rule of martial arts is ” don’t be where the fight is” , but you have to live your life too.
Sure a bit I suppose ,but I did use it to,reaffirm my thoughts to,our two 20 something concert going daughters . Flip flops, and sandals are not good in crowds .
Most likely your feet would just get dirty or stepped on causing pain or injury , but if you had to run, climb and jump for your life it would really suck .
I am aware of what’s/who’s going on around me most of the time, so I don’t think that’s going to change. Since this Vegas massacre was such an unforseeable exceptional event, and not one that I am likely to encounter in my daily life, my answer is that I will probably not become even more alert and increase to full-time Condition Orange.
What someone said above about being aware of potential escape routes/cover and other personal protective measures is the thing to do no matter what you’re doing or where you are. So if you’re attending a big-crowd event near a tall building (or even a no-crowd field hockey match), consider that and be ready if/when any emergency occurs.
It’s always a crude ‘awakening’ to see where, day-to-day, I’ve let my situational awareness ‘slip’.
Mark, at Article 15 Clothing, does some funny videos, and has one about “you might be a veteran” https://youtu.be/0AxkVJO0208 that has some funny moments of ‘heightened situational awareness’ at home.
Just have some situational awareness. ‘Murica.
No
Have you ever just sat in a popular restaurant and watched the people coming in the door? 90% are totally clueless with their faces buried into a cell phone. The others, like us, are easy to spot. And if there is any doubt see if when they sit down their back is against the wall with full view of the door. Practice, practice, practice.
Past weekend I was at a marina about to look at a catamaran for our upcoming retirement. I noticed a guy lift his shirt, loose his belt and fiddle about. All the while he was using the door and car to conceal himself as he stuffed in his IWB holster. Having done this daily, it was really funny to actually observe another doing the very same dance. We had a nice conversation as the dozens of clueless folks meandered about their daily doldrum of a life completely unaware.
I just wanted to say I recognized that spot. My alma mater, St. John’s School, corner of W Alabama and Buffalo Speedway (aka Buffalo Speedtrap)
About a year ago, I was fortunate enough to get really good tickets to see a band I really wanted to see. Normally, I avoid these settings completely – but a good friend was in town, it was a band I wanted to see, so I bought the tickets.
After arriving and getting seated, I looked around at the outdoor amphitheater (not in Las Vegas) with a huge multi story hotel towering over it and just adjacent to it, and a brick and mortar fence low enough to see people filing by, not directly behind the fence but because of topography, a few yards beyond it.
No one was permitted to be armed within the boundaries of the venue. No one, not the security guards, or anyone else. As I looked around I remember watching the crowd filing by, and looking up at the hotel, and thinking about how vulnerable everyone within that flimsy artificial boundary actually was.
In this circumstance it wasn’t the potential use of one means of attack or another that made me uncomfortable, it was the understanding that in the age of international terrorism – because this venue was situated as described above, it was particularly vulnerable to many forms of attack.
I’ll never return to that particular venue, or another which is similarly situated. That decision was made very quickly. The concert was a good one, but I never really stopped looking around to assess and identify possible threats. Getting out of there, away from the crowd, back in my vehicle, and on the road brought with it a feeling of of real relief
Has the Las Vegas attack has increased my personal situational awareness? Probably.
Definitely trying to keep as few people behind me as possible and know where the exits are. Also keeping the kid closer and trying to keep an eye out for people who just look strange.
These days I won’t go anywhere without a scoped sniper rifle and bipod while being accompanied by my trusty spotter. I also have a radio so I can call in an air strike.
Because of tall buildings and all.
Sheesh.
Granted, an unlikely scenario. Though I am getting more serious about always having a first aid kit on me, not just with me in my bag. Best solution I’ve found are two neoprene ankle holsters (about $10 on Amazon). I can have a tourniquet, quikclot, chest seals, CPR mask, gloves, and Benchmade rescue hook.
No need. Learned decades ago that it’s up to me to protect me and mine. My awareness is a part of who I am. Never go anywhere unarmed or unprepared for a SHTF moment. I understand the world is full of criminals and nut cases. Hoping someone else will protect me and mine is a recipe for disaster.
Not in the least. My situational awareness is very acute. For one, I have always been intensely observant and with a martial arts background, situation awareness fell into place. Also, we should all recognize where our highest vulnerability is. Granted, an incident or assault can occur virtually anywhere at anytime, but in all practicality, our most vulnerable times are when we are out and alone, for example walking to your car in a parking lot. That is when a person should employ their highest situational awareness. This can be done by scanning the entire area, not just in a persons immediate vicinity, or your little bubble. Watch for feet under cars which could give away someone hiding on the far side of the vehicle or other clues that could indicate behavior inconsistent with what normal activity for that area would be. Someone milling around in a parking lot at the grocery is inconsistent with someone coming and going from shopping. That should trigger red flags. When I come and go from the store, I always make sure my right hand (gun hand) is free. I never carry grocery’s in it. I carry them in the left hand which can also obscure me going for a weapon, which is IWB appendix. Additionally, use a shopping cart. A shopping cart can be used as a barrier to prevent someone getting close to you in an attack. You could even push it at an attacker, step back and draw. Recognizing a person highest vulnerability and planning for it is no different that having a planned escape route in your home for a possible fire, or having a plan for an earthquake, like what is done for the Great Shake Out https://www.shakeout.org/
These are skills everyone can hone and in doing so, enhance their personal safety.
I don’t know if I’m MORE situationally aware, but I definitely wince harder when I catch myself being unaware!
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