Reconsidering the need for immediate resistance in mass-shootings.

Most of us carry our firearms to defend ourselves and our families/friends in the event of immediate danger. The general opinion today is often that we should follow the "run, hide, fight" idea when dealing with terrible situations like terror attacks and mass shootings. I have, myself, been a fan of this idea in the past, but I recently put some more thought into this idea after watching an older Colion Noir video called "Concealed Carry + Mass Shooting = More Carnage?".In this video, Colion makes the point that:If a concealed-carrier is shooting at the shooter, and the shooter is shooting at the concealed-carrier, that means the shooter isn't shooting at you. That means you have an opportunity to get the hell out.This is an aspect of the debate that I admittedly hadn't really considered before. It makes a lot of sense when you break down how many mass shootings play out:The shooter arrives at their target and opens fire- most often indiscriminately.The victims scatter, running away entirely or seeking to find a place to hide.The shooter keeps moving and tracking down victims. Hostages are possible, but most are simply executed.Authorities arrive some time later. They may cordon off the area, or go in to face the attacker directly.The shooting is over when the shooter is removed from the situation by arrest, death, fleeing.This single most important thing ending these situations is when the shooter meets effective resistance. This could be the cops/ccw holders shooting back or just people swarming and tackling the shooter. All of these would be (in theory) effective wrenches thrown into the mass shooter's plans. They purposefully go to crowded gun-free zones in many cases expecting little to no resistance. They expect people to run and they expect to be able to kill as many as possible. The shooters are also expecting their own suicide or death by the end.Fighting BackThe key point that Colion made above in his video has me wondering if it would be prudent to plan on fighting back if you're caught immediately in the situation. We all want to go home to our families, but I have to wonder if more deaths could be prevented by a CCW-er shooting back, or a group of people grabbing nearby objects and swarming the shooter to disable them. It would create more time for others to escape and provide a show of resistance/force to the shooter to disrupt their plans. Best case, resistance could even result in the shooter being dead long before authorities can arrive to face the threat on our behalf.The most difficult part of this for your average CCW or unarmed-civilian is breaking the by-stander effect and take action in the situation. This is where mental preparation and the societal 'game plan' comes into play. Instead of promoting the idea of 'run, hide, fight' we could instead promote the idea that victims need to 'immediately fight back by any means necessary'. This may result in a few deaths during the fight, but the shooter is already there interested in causing death. If enough people in an office swarm the shooter with fire extinguishers and golf-clubs, chances are a few may be shot, but the shooter, if not stopped by the resistance, will at least certainly face enough opposition that others can escape.Adding an option to my listThis is just a (hopefully) thought-provoking post. I don't want to say that this is how we should start handling these situations by any means, but the theory is making me think deeper about how to handle myself in a situation like that, so I thought I'd share with /r/CCW to continue thinking about this with more input, and maybe help get some of you to start thinking about your options in these situations as well.So far, I'm coming away from this thought-exercise with a new option on my short-list if I ever find myself in one of these horrific situations. If there is an immediate need to fight back, and the opportunity is there, I may just take it. That action may save lives by distracting, delaying, or even stopping the shooter. Each situation has its own set of circumstances, laws, and environment to consider though, so having options in my head to choose from just seems better than always defaulting to the "run, hide, fight" advice we've been hearing so much lately. via /r/CCW http://ift.tt/29PhSLu