By
William A. Gralnick
I screwed up the numbering because I don’t know how to fix it. My apologies. Your humble servant
I’m sure you’ve heard this expression: “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.” Shootings have become a plague, murders are increasing where they have ,little often occurred before and they are popping up more frequently in a quieter corner of the map, like this area that includes Boca Raton and its bedroom communities such as Coral Springs, Pompano, Tamarac. As a result, a very relevant question needs to be asked: “What do you do if you are someplace where guns are going off?
UH UH
Here’s is a list but it has a preamble. If someone points a gun at you and wants your valuables, give them up. Nothing you are carrying or wearing is worth your life. That may be the result if you resist. Carry your pocketbook under your arm and let it drop. That way the thief has to make a frustrating choice–run or lose time by bending over. Meantime you too can run.
WAS CHICKEN LITTLE RIGHT?
Here is what they teach you in the program used at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and many other agencies around the country taught to those who get caught in an active shooter situation. It is called Run, Hide, Fight and it requires that you keep it together and think.
Run: He who runs away lives to fight another day. I guess that’s the thinking. If you suspect you hear bullets grab your kids, or your mom, or whoever is with you and run in the opposite direction. Keep going until you find an exit. Use it, hands up, head for the first cop you see. In this process don’t scream. You needn’t be Paul Revere. Others had heard the shots who are closer to them. Your job is to save yourself and not start a panic while doing so.
RUN, RUN, RUN
Hide: “No place to run…” but there are always places to hide. Behind something, under something, in a utility closet that you find unlocked, on a different floor from where the shooter is. You can’t get shot if the shooter can’t see you. Do not exit your hiding place until you either see or hear the police giving an all-clear.
Fight: Everyone is a pacifist until their life is on the line. Let us say you are hunkered down in a classroom, hiding in a shop in the mall, or found out in that closet. This seems counter-intuitive but especially if you are behind a locked door, are with a group of people, and have some time. Push everything you can move up against the door. Take note if the door is a steel security door or a standard wooden one. Secondly look for anything that is throwable, even a pile of printer paper or a pencil sharpener, anything that has weight and heft.
thrust it or better yet heave it
If the person gets into the room rush the person, start throwing things, scream and yell. This will usually be enough for the intruder to reassess and take off. If someone in your group has a gun, you’ll want to set up a table or some kind of barrier to hide behind. The armed person in your group should kneel behind the barrier and use some part of it to steady the gun. If the door is wood, then as soon as the perpetrator begins to push it, start firing. Aim for just above the door handle or center mass of the door. Be sure to listen that the people outside aren’t identifying themselves as cops. If itis a steel door, unless the gun is very high caliber, you’ll have to wait until it is breached, then…
open fire. Remember, the party-crasher has to negotiate all that rubble you’ve piled up, so timewise, you have the upper hand in the first few seconds.
Love that Cell Phone: in any of these scenarios if you have cell service call 911. The cavalry will be there in minutes.
Can be your best weapon–not grandma!
There is another piece to this, close-quarter combat, but let’s digest this and next week I’ll give you some tips on that.
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Bill says it is insane that he can’t write about gun violence fast enough. As he thinks through one piece, one, two, or three other tragedies have occurred. Last week a mother accidentally mishandled a 9mm, and shot dead her 17 year old son. Do everything in your power to block the NRA. A good first step is forcing the IRS to pull their 501-c3. That ends their tax deductibility. When you can’t stand this anymore…remember the light side: “Itchy Balls and Other Tales From Brooklyn” and “George Washington Didn’t Sleep Here–” both on Amazon. Great summer reads!
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