Last week, we discussed a recent situation which took place in an Alabama shopping mall, where a CCW holder, who was moving toward what he believed to be an active shooter, was gunned down by police who mistook him for the active shooter.
The message is: friendly fire… and how sometimes the biggest threats we will ever face are the ones that attack us from the rear.
As someone who carries concealed, this idea of friendly fire is one of my top three most dominant concerns. The reasons are twofold. First, I feel damn-near as well equipped mentally and physically as possible to handle whatever threat or threats life throws at me. I know that I’m not bulletproof or invincible or even anywhere remotely to “the best” out there, but I have little concern about facing an actual, violent threat. I’m ready – nearly as ready as I’ll ever be, though I always have improvements to make. Everyone does.
But at the end of the day, even if emotional fear is something we rarely or never experience, rational fear still exists, and rational fear is nothing more than the understanding and acceptance that we are vulnerable to what is OUT of our control.
And that’s exactly what friendly fire is. A lethal threat to our survival that we are very much out of control of.
The risk includes both police and civilians.
Ideally, police won’t be our primary risk, because by the time they arrive to any scene, the situation will have been dealt with and our guns will – ideally – be sliding into their holsters before the police arrive. But especially in an active shooting situation, or in a situation where the police approach with cover and stealth, you may very quickly find yourself getting shot by individuals who – rationally – have reports of a murderer with a gun, and who – rationally – know that they can’t lose a tenth of a second of advantage against an active shooter: they have to shoot or get shot.
But aside from the police, there is the risk of other CPL holders. And the risks of being mistaken for a violent threat by a fellow sheepdog exist from the very second you begin to move for your gun to minutes and minutes after a shooting concludes. And unlike police officers – most of whom will be identifiably wearing uniforms and possibly approaching in noisy cars – the threat of this private citizen friendly fire could come from anywhere. A young woman or an old man- from the person sitting behind you or standing beside you, from a car window, from the window of a nearby building.
This week, I wanted to touch on some of the strategies we can use to mitigate these friendly risks to our safety. Now, I want to begin analyzing these strategies the same way we analyze most strategies related to self-defense: from the outside, in. From passive to active. So: let us begin, with only one qualification: I’m not going to recommend the carrying of a CPL badge or a bright yellow vest to use as identification. There may be situation-specifics where these are good ideas, but it’s the carrying of them that is impractical for most people, and I try to only purvey strategies and tactics here that will be usable by many. That said, please do write in and argue me on these points if you disagree, especially if you’re active duty law enforcement privy to training policies and the reactions of yourself and your co-workers under stress.
We will begin with the passive strategies. Things we can do starting today, right now, that will help.
First, I’ve got to touch on the way we look.
In general, we want to try to look as clean and respectable as possible. You want to look like a family leader – a mother or father, or grand-father or grand-mother. If you’re young and fit the profile of an act