Better Odds Than Powerball

Armed citizen versus active shooter. 

Follow the link and check out the original WFAA story as well.

Ninety-nine point nine-nine-nine percent of concealed carry permit holders will never have to worry about the scenarios faced here, but it is interesting to see that they don't do all that badly.  Yes, a defender may get killed, and, in fact, it might even be likely in some situations, but even in those cases, it buys time for others and for the police to arrive.

Resistance of any kind changes the dynamic for the attacker, forcing his or her posture to change, breaking the mode of the attack.

None of us know what we would do under fire, even if we have been extensively training.  What I don't think I would do, armed or not, is "shelter in place".  I can't imagine cowering, just waiting for an attacker to find me.  I might run over women and children trying to get out, but I can't see crawling under a table, hiding and hoping I wasn't seen.  I might play dead with the best of them, but I don't think so.  I don't think anyone should.  Too often the aftermath of these attacks looks like the murderer was shooting fish in a barrel.

I blame television and movies.  Guns on film have always been extremely lethal in the hands of the writers under certain circumstances.  A single round from a snub-nose .38 is like a death ray when called for by the plot.  Edged weapons are like that, too.  Native American arrows apparently killed by hydrostatic shock.  It's amazing. 

With regard to body armor that a shooter might be wearing, keep in mind that the energy from a handgun round which does not penetrate armor still has to be absorbed and dissipated.  This is often like a body blow to a boxer.  The mass of the person struck determines, to some extent, the effect of a hit, but, again, a non-lethal strike still has to be processed by the attacker's brain and nervous system.  It's not something that most people can simply ignore.  They will adjust for it.  This buys the defender some time.

Whether or not the intended victims of a mass murderer are themselves armed, every distraction, every attempt at defense, no matter how futile, can lessen the number of rounds a gunman is able to expend.  Don't stand still.  Don't be quiet.  Don't surrender.  Don't make it easy.

Read, sometime, the citations of those given the Medal of Honor.  Very few of us have the kind of courage, determination and perseverance demonstrated by those noble souls.  I certainly am not of that caliber.  What strikes me, though, is how often the recipients suffered severe wounds and kept going.  If I'm going to die anyway I would like to think I could face it with the same persistence as the Black Knight, "'Tis but a scratch!"