• Home
  • About Off The Grid
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
Monday, May 19, 2025
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
Off The Grid News
Home Defense Self Defense

4 Critical Tips For Surviving An Active Shooter

by Adam C
in Self Defense
Print Print
active shooter
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on TruthEmail Article

active shooter

When an armed gunman goes on a shooting rampage in a restaurant, theater, school, or other public place, deaths are certain to ensue. Such gunmen are labeled by law enforcement as active shooters, which is a term the American public is unfortunately becoming well acquainted with. Active shooters are nothing new; criminals have been randomly shooting civilians in acts of desperation and rage for nigh on a century. Workplace violence and shootings seem to magnify in the face of a down economy, and sometimes there is simply no connection between the shooter’s target and the grievances he has. There is no real reason for the senseless violence that occurs.

In many cases, active shooters will undertake their rampage in areas that are designated as gun-free zones, places like colleges, universities, schools, and federal buildings, because they know and realize that these places are unlikely to contain armed resistance. It’s easy to advocate concealed carry to fight back against active shooters, but even in states where concealed carry is easily obtained by ordinary citizens, there are still places where it is prohibited to carry a firearm. It doesn’t matter if you have a concealed carry permit or not. A private business, government, or institution can absolutely forbid the carrying of firearms on their property—it’s their right to decide who can carry on their property.

How To Defend Yourself And Your Family Against The New Breed Of Lowlife Criminal Scum

In lieu of armed resistance in places where it isn’t lawful to carry, we need to develop skills to combat active shooters, skills that don’t require weapons. We need to develop strategies that will help us survive in cases where we can’t shoot back. To that end, here are some tips to deal with active shooter situations:

  1. Avoid them in the first place. This isn’t designed to encourage reclusiveness or a hermit like existence; it is simply designed to mitigate risk. Ask yourself if it is really necessary to see that big opening night picture or attend that political rally in the first place. It’s no secret that active shooters choose public places in which to execute their savagery, and they love target-rich environments. Give some serious consideration to avoiding such places.
  1. Observe the shooter before he becomes one. No, this doesn’t involve clairvoyance. It involves vigilance and observation. When you first enter a public place, note the entrances and exits, and closely observe the people as they enter and leave the premises. We aren’t stating that you need to be the proverbial gunslinger with his back to the wall and facing the entrance, but we are saying that there was a reason that old west gunslingers sat that way, and a reason why most police continue to do so. The reason is simple – watch the ingress and egress of persons. Look for the following patterns:
  • Persons who come in and seemingly scan the crowd.
  • Persons who come in, scan the crowd, then leave, only to return again shortly. It could be innocent, but it could also be a shooter planning an attack.
  • Persons who come in visibly shaken, perspiring, or with wide eyes and dilated pupils. All are signs of an adrenaline dump which could signal impending action on their part.
  1. React to an emergent active shooter. Your number one priority is to flee the building immediately should you hear shots or see someone pull a gun. While this seems obvious, realize that many buildings or institutions will have a lock down policy for active shooters in which they will compartmentalize the rooms within the building, each room barricading itself and awaiting either help or further instructions. There’s no advantage to the lockdown; all it does is create sitting ducks out of those who could otherwise flee. Should the only option remaining be a barricade, attempt to exit the room as soon as possible through means other than the door that’s barricaded. Keep the following in mind:
  • Think outside the box for your escape; look at windows and drop ceilings and alternate methods of egress or hiding.
  • Stay away from the door as most handgun rounds and all rifle rounds will easily penetrate your typical interior door. Do not use your body weight alone to block a doorway!
  • Hiding is passive and should be your last, final, and most desperate resort.
  1. If bullets fly, know what to do. Realize that bullets flying doesn’t necessarily mean every bullet will strike a target. Even among professional shooters, occasional misses are the norm even in calm, controlled situations. An active shooter is under extreme mental duress when he’s on a rampage, and thus many rounds miss their intended targets (fortunately). Still, keep the following tips in mind:
  • Bullets follow walls and floors. For that reason, try and stay off both. Much as a body of water will make a stone skip, even a sheetrock wall will sometimes deflect a bullet that is fired parallel to it, and send that bullet skipping alongside it. Try and stay a minimum of 18” off the walls.
  • The easiest way to stay off a floor is to crouch by sitting on your haunches and keeping your heels slightly elevated. This takes most of your body off the floor and presents the least surface area and smallest target to a shooter.

Active shooters are a menace and threat to society as we know them, but by being observant and taking action when disaster strikes, you can potentially evade death or injury.

ShareTweetShareSend

Related Posts

Surviving A Rogue “Robot Dog” Attack

Surviving A Rogue “Robot Dog” Attack

by Bill Heid

Practical Strategies, Tools, and Tactics for Personal Defense As robotic dogs become increasingly common in security, law enforcement, and even...

Staring Down Danger: How to Handle Intimidating Eye Contact with Confidence

Staring Down Danger: How to Handle Intimidating Eye Contact with Confidence

by Bill Heid

Understanding the Power of a Stare Eye contact is one of the most basic yet potent forms of human communication....

Bear Spray or Pepper Spray For The Summer of 2025?

Bear Spray or Pepper Spray For The Summer of 2025?

by Bill Heid

The summer of 2025 will prove to be a period of turbulence and violence, especially in the inner cities. But...

Next Post
pacific islanders reality show series

Missionary Wars Takes Underhill And Simpson To Island Of Kiribati

Please login to join discussion

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Stewardship of the Earth

Stewardship of the Earth

Woman Fined $71.79 For Scaring Away Rapist With Pepper Spray

Woman Fined $71.79 For Scaring Away Rapist With Pepper Spray

5 Survival Myths That Could Get You Killed

5 Survival Myths That Could Get You Killed

TRENDING STORIES

  • bubonic plague

    Is Another Bubonic Plague Pandemic On The Horizon?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Waco Fertilizer Plant Explosion & A Look Back On The “Waco Massacre”

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Make Yourself 3 Times More Likely To Survive A Heart Attack

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • AI Surveillance Of Shoppers: Walmart’s Newest Tool To Grab Your Data

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Apocalyptic’ Microchip Implants Are Here – And Being Inserted Into People’s Hands

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Subscribe to our Insider Newsletter

Huge discounts on off-the-grid gear and life saving supplements.






‘Off The Grid News’ is an independent, weekly email newsletter and website that is crammed full of practical information on living and surviving off the grid. Advice you’ll never hear from the mainstream media.

  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Extreme Survival
  • Survival Gardening
  • Off-Grid Foods
  • Worldview
  • Natural Health
  • Survival Hunting
  • Privacy
  • Financial
  • Current Events
  • Self Defense
  • Home Defense
  • Pain-Free Living
  • Miscellaneous
  • Off Grid Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
  • Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.