So, I saw a billboard yesterday stating that June 2nd was anti-gun violence day. To all the Europeans out there I agree, it's insane we need to have it in the first place.
So, in honor of gun violence day, I'm going to write a very, very, VERY long-winded post of information I've gathered from various YouTube videos, documentaries, and interviews I've watched about how to survive active shooters.
I'm breaking down Run Hide fighting and Avoid Deny Defend and of course, A.L.I.C.E
First off ALICE and why I don't really like it that much. Am I qualified enough for my opinion to be valid? Probably not but for those of you who aren't college students whose colleges have implemented this ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.
Alert is for how a student learns of a threat. Once you have learned there is an active assailant, you asses the sitaution and if it's safe to get the hell out of dodge or instead go into Lockdown. Inform is informing the authorites about what's going on if it's safe to do so. I'm not going into details about the other steps as they are literally Run Hide Fight and Avoid Deny Defend which i'm getting into now.
Run/Avoid
So, one thing or another you've found yourself in an active shooter/assailant situation whether it be a school, shopping mall, store, courthouse, or even hospital! The first thing you do, is where are the shots coming from?
This might be hard and the first thing you must determine is if there is indeed a threat. Once upon a time, a Walmart that was way down the road from us had to evacuate because someone thought the sound of someone popping BUBBLE WRAP was gunfire. I mean, yeah we used to live in a bad city but what you are going to look for is repeated, loud, bangs akin to fireworks.
One bang? Something fell.
Multiple? And there's screams? People running? Yup, there's a shooter!
Now, first off back to the "where is the shooter" thing, it might be hard because shots echo but determining the rough location of the shooter will determine whether it's safe or if you need to run.
Everything I've watched has made things about this step clear on Running or Avoiding the attack. When you walk into the building, make a note of potential exits that isn't the main one you walked into. During the Aurora Colorado Movie Theater shooting people in the showrooms run through the halls (and into the path of the shooter) trying to get to the front exit ignoring/forgetting the emergency fire exits located in every showroom.
Oh, which reminds me. If for some reason the shooter is behind you or sounds like he is, run in a zig-zag pattern as it is significantly harder to hit a target that is moving side to side.
Hide/Deny
So, either the shooter is close by or you have determined that there are no available viable exit routes or options.
What do you do? You find a room (preferably with a locking door) and barricade yourselves in. Anything can make a suitable hiding place, things like closets, classrooms, and patient rooms in hospitals, don't get me started on the possible hiding locations in a courthouse.
If the door opens inwards, you can barricade the door by placing desks or furniture on top of each other alternating between the right side up and upside down.
Only assist the injured if safe to do so, the few videos I've watched that have covered what to do in hospital settings have made it clear you do NOT help the injured unless it's safe to do so or the event is over. You can always come back to them and you can't exactly help them if you're dead.
If an option, you can place the tables or chairs in such a way that it stretches from the door to the wall.
I've seen videos demonstrating that if you're in a small one-toilet bathroom like the family bathrooms from the Walmart type deal you lay down, put your feet against the door, hands on the wall behind you, and push back essentially turning yourself into a human doorstopper and deny access to your location.
Make sure you also know the difference between cover and concealment. Concealment would be you hiding under a table or behind a chair, things that block the shooter's line of sight but not their bullets. Cover is things like concrete pillars, things that block both line of sight and bullets.
Back on barricading, door opens outwards? You can use a belt or tie or something like that to tie the mechanical arm on the inside together and pull it tight.
Meanwhile, you and any others in the room are looking around for any improvised weapons.
Books? Scissors? Potted Plants? Your own hands? All viable options. A lot of the videos i've seen demonstrated people straight up using a local fire extinguisher to either spray the foam in their eyes or better yet (and more effective) clocking them upside the head.
Whatever it is, you and the others need to make a plan for "what do i do if the shooter enters my safe space" which leads to...
FIGHT/DEFEND
The sound of the gunfire is getting closer and closer.
Maybe your door doesn't lock or it's not barricaded properly.
Whatever it is, the shooter is getting into your location and you need to act.
Like I've stated in Hide/Deny, you're going to want to start planning on this ahead of time before the shooter walks in.
You need to grab weapons, like I've said, literally ANYTHING can be used as such.
Scissors, brooms, fire extinguishers, go all "An apple a day keeps anyone away if you throw it hard enough" on weapon philosophy.
You're going to want to talk it out with others in your room, decide who might throw stuff in the attacker's face as a distraction, which ones of you might run and physically hit him, which ones will wrestle the gun out of his hands, and which ones will pin him down and restrain him until the SWAT team gets there. The fight will be brutal and you WILL be defending your life; everything I've seen states one thing and that is you have the legal right to defend yourself. You might be in a fight to the death and who will it be? You? Or the attacker?
Your attack needs to hinge on surprise, hide behind a corner so you can jump out at them and catch them off their guard.
Critical spots you're going to want to aim for or the face or head. Yes, I am once again bringing up the idea of clocking them upside the head with a hard object, multiple times, what better way to take out the threat than to leave it unconscious with head trauma? If going for the face go for the eyes or nose.
Hell, stab their eye out with a fork in a fashion that belongs in the music video for Panic! At The Disco's Say Amen (or Black Butler), or break their nose and leave it shattered and bleeding.
While on the head, I think I once heard one tip that involves slamming your hands (like you're clapping and his hands are in between it) on his ears to discombobulate and disorient him.
Go for the groin, if male a hard enough kick (or someone even stabbing it) his manhood will dissorient him enough to dissarm him. If woman well, a kick to the groin still hurts too.
Knees make a good option to get the shooter down and on the floor. A hard enough kick or hit to the sides, front, or for maximum effectiveness, go for the back of them will send the shooter to the floor and most likely knock the weapon out of their hands.
Again, the fight will absolutely be tough but you also need to know it's either him or you and everyone else in that room.
After the attacker is disarmed, sit on him.
Place his hands on his back or if you have the people have them sit on the arms and hold both of them down.
Make sure you don't forget about the legs too, those need to be pinned.
And whatever you do, for the love of god DON'T PICK UP THE FREAKING GUN!!! (outside of maybe kicking it away or using a cloth to pick it up and put it in a trash can until SWAT arrives)
I remember very visibly one Run Hide Fight video (I think this one was published on a YouTube channel called eMotivate Media and the setting for this one was a courthouse) that should SWAT storm that room with that gun in your hands their training is to neutralize the threat... do you really wanna have multiple high powered rounds lodged inside your body? Yeah, that's what I thought so, or really what was the point of any of this?? Also, contamination of evidence.
So, I think I've got the basics of Run Hide Fight, and Avoid Deny Defend.
You've either run, hidden, or have fought off an active shooter.
Now, I'd like to direct your attention to a Sandy Hooks Promise video called "Evan"
Evan is a very bored teen. One day in the library he writes on his desk that he is bored.
Someone has carved back "HI BORED" and the teen writes back and forth with the stranger, communicating solely by desk carving but when he writes "WHO ARE YOU" and comes back the next day, the library is closed for the rest of the school year.
Oh no! Thankfully, the two find each other and laugh about it (and maybe fall in love) over their Yearbooks when they pick them up.
A fellow student walks in and starts shooting.
While we were focusing on Evan, you don't notice the student in the background reading gun magazines, or making violent gestures, or when Evan's scrolling through his social media and scrolling right on past a picture of the student posing with a couple of posters.
While focusing on Evan, you missed all the warning signs.
And so, fellow Tumblr users I leave you with this.
Prevention is important, be kind to others, and please report any worrying behavior or possible signs of mental illness. Sometimes these shooters are just ill (most of them are not though, don't get me wrong, they absolutely know what they were doing) but if that mental health clinic had contacted James Huberty back when he was suffering from undiagnosed mental illnesses a few days before he suited up, looked at his wife on the sofa and said "I'm going hunting humans" before shooting up a McDonalds would it have happened?
If Charles Whittman, the Texas Tower Sniper merely had a psychiatrist or doctor listen to him and take him seriously when he was trying to seek help for these violent, sudden intrusive thoughts he had, would he have become known as the Texas Tower Sniper?
Now, don't get me wrong Charles Whittman absolutely knew what he was doing and could tell right from wrong, I also can't help but think of the big tumor they found in his brain that pressed right up against the area of the brain in a way that has been known to cause violent, impulsive thoughts on other recorded cases as well as the compulsion to write which we can tell from Charles's diaries he certainly had that. While some debate over whether or not the cancer affected his behavior or actions and while I think it doesn't absolve him of his actions... I mean, it's still a pretty sizeable tumor in his brain and anyone who has been through watching a relative with certain types of brain cancer will tell you that their personality just changes one day.
Be the help a potential shooter might be, don't become a maybe.
So which, I leave you with this quote.
"An active shooter event always starts as just another day"
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thank you for the tag, @sasheneskywalker!!!
rules: answer and tag nine people you want to get to know better and catch up with.
favorite color: it changes regularly, but currently, a dusty/greyish purple
last song: Maps by The Front Bottoms
currently reading:
Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver is my current fiction read and i *hate* it with my entire being. don't read it.
Postcolonial Astrology: Reading the Planets through Capital, Labor, & Power by Alice Sparkly Kat is my current non-fiction read and so far, it's very good
i'm reading a lot of comics at the moment, but my main read is Manhunter (2004) which so far, is very good, i highly recommend. i'm also planning to read Midnighter (2007) and Black Widow (2014).
currently watching:
The Acolyte has been my most recent fixation so that's just on loop rewatching over and over in the background. a lot
i've been watching Pennyworth which is far better than i expected it to be, i'm really enjoying it
i also started Invincible, which i've been enjoying
idk if it counts but i've rewatched Madame Web a concerning number of times in the past few days.
currently craving: i'd kill for an Italian Cream Soda from tea2go rn
coffee or tea: tea. i used to be a big coffee person in my teens but my chronic illness doesn't like caffeine and it *really* doesn't like coffee so i just drink tea now, but i do love tea
hobby to try: the unrealistic hobby i'd like to get into a fanfiction binding, but that takes materials and resources i do *not* currently have. i think a more realistic answer is i've been meaning to get into marvel comics more.
current au: tbh the main AU i'm working on is a Lance Brunner-centric Post-Crisis fic where i'm completely rewriting his origins to make his death as Robin more significant but still something no one talks about, leading to the ressurection of Jason also reviving Lance and Jason going on his little spree, having no idea he's not the only dead Robin. i've figured out all of the backstory and how i want to characterize Lance, but the actual plot of the fic i'm still working out. i'm leaning toward Lance/Dick as a ship, but i haven't decided. i have so many notes and ideas though and i think it's funny to take a random one-off character from a random 60s comic and actually turn him into something substantial and how he'd shape the Batfamily. trust me i'm so close to infodumping about it here everyday.
i'm also working on a *really* messed up unhealthy Damian/Tim fic, where Damian purposefully breaks the timeline so Tim was never Robin and Damian was the third Robin instead. but when Bruce "dies" Damian realizes he has no idea where to start with finding Bruce so he has to go to a civilian!Tim for help, who has no idea the timeline was changed or that he was ever Robin in a different world. it's gonna be fun and fucked up and full of Damian's jealousy complex over Tim.
i don't know if i can come up with nine whole people to tag for this since i'm still new here but i can try: @searchforahero @divine-dominion @kevin-day-is-bi @kerakeriza @deepwithintheabyss
@maryshellyswife @alicemaem @justmyshittyspace @sandmanwhore and yeah that's all i got.just tagging some mutuals/ppl i see on my posts a lot!!!
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