Like a lot of you I've spent a little time thinking about what I might do in a given scenario so I have at least a basis from which to work. In a mugging scenario do I draw or not? Is it worth potentially taking a life to protect my property? What if my wife is with me, does the dynamic change? That sort of thing. Most of the scenarios I've considered have been things like muggings because they occur a lot in my city. I never really thought too much about what I would do if I were just in close proximity to a shooter/mass shooter because those things are statistically pretty damned rare. Well, just that very thing occurred earlier today. I'm proud of what I did, and I don't think I'd change a thing in retrospect. It isn't the most exciting story in the world, and for that I'm glad. One person was hospitalized with one or two gunshot wounds, and luckily there are no fatalities.I was at a grocery store this morning, with my three year old daughter and wife. We were separated by maybe 50 feet. Them both at the shopping cart and me grabbing some bread. I heard some yelling, and then some tense shouting and some very scared sounding "no no NO!" type phrases a few aisles over. Or at least I thought it was a few aisles over. At first I thought it was people joking around, but the voices got very serious very fast and my adrenaline shot up pretty quickly. It definitely didn't sound right. I'm not one to scare easily. I'm never going to post one of those "hey, a homeless man approached me so I drew my gun" type stories. I've been carrying for over a decade in various rough towns and never even considered drawing at any point until today. Just wanted to set some context that this isn't something I took lightly. Back to the story:After hearing what sounded like a fight or tense commotion break out I started walking back towards my family, a little faster than I'd normally walk. Right before I reached them there was what sounded like a single gunshot, but turns out may have been two. Of course everyone at the grocery store dove for cover, or started running. Had I not heard the voices prior to the shot I think I would have thought it was a pallet falling to the ground. I've heard plenty of pistol shots go off (duh, I'm a gun owner and I practice) , and I've heard plenty of pallets hit polished concrete and TBH they sound a lot alike. It must have been a 9MM or smaller. Given the context of what sounded like a fight, I figured there was no honor in staying cool and decided even if it was a pallet I can risk the embarrassment. I snatched my daughter out of the cart as fast as humanly possible and *fucking sprinted* towards the back of the store. I didn't think twice about my wife, because I knew she'd be right on my heels. And luckily she was. I went towards the back because the shot sounded like it came from the front of the store which is wide open. Honestly, I didn't really think too much about it. I was already running moving towards the back to get to my daughter and just kept moving. Us and about 10 other people running towards the back ended up at almost a dead-end, where I'd thought there might be a rear exit. Besides the meat counter area there was the entrance to a large freezer with two swinging doors with small windows. So we headed in there. There were two concrete pillars large enough for a few people to hide behind. We lined up behind one of them and I was able to keep an eye on the door.People in the freezer were crying. Lots of people were checking their phones to see if they could dial 911. Unfortunately there was no reception in there. (great). At this point, I'm thinking about my gun. It's in my waistband. Glock 43. My town is *excruciatingly* left-wing and anti-gun. I very much wanted to have weapon hand, but figured there was a non-zero chance that if I drew I might elicit a "He's got a GUN!" type reaction from my freezer-mates. I kept it in the holster. My draw is pretty quick (presumably especially if I know I need to be ready). And I'd have a few seconds anyway given the large, heavy doors, the windows and the fact that I was behind a large pillar. If anyone has critiques, not drawing already is probably it. TBH at this point I still thought it might have been a pallet falling.With us was a woman with her stroller. Her baby was with her husband elsewhere in the store. She kept an extremely cool head I thought, for being out of contact and separated. Though it was clearly dumb of her to bring the stroller with her. It actually made me wonder what I would have done had I been separated. I think I would have had to go back out and find them, which would have been *much less ideal*.We waited in there for 10-15 minutes not hearing a sound from outside. I found that very odd. People chilled out a little over that time, eventually exchanging pleasantries and cracking jokes. I think it was nervous tension escaping. Eventually I approached the door and popped my head out (very carefully), and flagged down a dazed-looking store employee who was walking by. Someone had been shot, there were blood trails in the store. He came and joined us in the freezer, and we continued to wait since he didn't know what was going on. In a few more minutes I looked out again, and saw a policeman walking by with an AR (M4?). I was confused because no police had come to sweep the back. I let everyone know it was safe and we all emerged. Cops were everywhere, but not moving around, checking rooms or anything. I'm not versed in police tactics, but it seems like after a shooting the building should be swept to find not only suspects but the injured as well. Perhaps I'm wrong. As I was walking out of the freezer, I was very, *very* aware of the gun in my waistband and made sure it was 100% not printing. The last thing I'd want is to be popped by an observant policeman looking for the bad guy.What had happened was a bad guy had attempted to stick up the cashier. There was some sort of struggle and the cashier was shot. The bad guy escaped. The cashier will live. They are at the hospital now. This happened yesterday now (took a while to write) and the bad guy has been apprehended, or a suspect anyway.So my takeaways are:I'm glad I ran. Given the scenario that occurred, running was the right move. Had I gone up front to 'help' nothing would have changed except I may have seen the bad guy running. I for one am not going to draw and fire unless I am *100%* certain me or someone else is in danger and I know who the bad guy is, and that would not have been the case here.Given even the theoretical scenario where it was indiscriminate (mass) shooting I think running would still have been the smart move. That freezer had one way in and was a pretty decent defensive posture. Even if I had not had my family with me to take care of I'd be able to keep pretty good care of the other 9 people in that room pretty damn easily, even without much heroics. If I went Rambo and tried to clear the store myself like a lot of people seem to fantasize about there's no way I could do so effectively. That's on advantage a crazed shooter has; any moving body is a target. For a good guy, you have to find the right person before firing a shot, which is a massive disadvantage. I have no regrets.Thoughts?TL;DR:At the store with my family. Hear a shooting. Armed. Ran and hid with some other folks. Feel pretty good about not going Rambo. via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/2SoWT4d
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