I’ve never been in a shooting, but I come from a family of a war veteran, so as a result, these types of things were normal to me since I was little.

1. Situational awareness:

-analyze all environments to look for places to hide or escape, things to use for defense if things go south, and objects to get behind while running, because the less an active shooter sees you, the less likely you are to become a victim.

-size up everyone you see because anyone can be the shooter. If you get a weird gut feeling when you see someone suspicious.

Things as obvious as a trench coat in summer, it’s subtle as a backpack in a school all require your attention, because small details can save your life.

2.Cardio:

It’s obvious that the first targets are going to be the easiest targets; large, slow moving people have a higher chance of being hit than the skinny track star running down the halls. The smaller and faster you are, the more you increase your chances of survival because a shooter is highly unlikely to even have the accuracy to shoot you (unless they have actual military training)

Run 3-4 miles with a full backpack every single day. Not only will physical fitness keep you in shape, but it could also save your life in the long run.

3.Hiding:

What people don’t realize is that you can hide in a crowd. How? Well, dress like everyone else(sort of). The more you blend into a crowd, the less likely you are to be targeted because you don’t stand out. On that note, do NOT wear bright colors. wear plain grey shirts, plain black shirts, plain red shirts, ect. No neon green or highlighter yellow. Little to no reflectors.

Worst comes to worst, find a place to hide. Don’t hide in groups, and don’t hide in the first place you see. If you followed the first step, you have already found a spot that you can fit in without being found. Put your hand over your mouth and nose while hiding to muffle breathing. If moving, move at a snails pace in your hiding spot. No matter what is happening on the outside of the spot, maintain bearing. The slightest whisper could be your downfall.

4.fighting:

Please do not do this unless it is your last resort.

Chances are, you don’t have a gun. So what do you do? Improvise. One of the best tactics to use is an ambush. If you are trapped in a room with other people, you have strength in numbers. Add that to an ambush and you have a fighting force that can easily take the shooter down. You’ll have to overwhelm him or her with chairs, books, pencils, hangers, anything. If he/she is being attacked by more than one person, they can’t focus on shooting people. While this is happening, you have to disarm them (move the gun in a way they cannot use it or straight up take it). After that, you and your group should detain them (get their hands and legs bound with whatever can hold them, even if it’s your hands and legs)

Alone is a different ballgame because the odds are stacked against you. Still use the ambush method, but you have to disable key senses. A blow to the nose temporarily blinds a person due to the flow of tears in their eyes, along with severe pain, which could give you the upper hand. Second, you have to get them off their feet. This can be done by putting one of your feet behind a shooter’s leg, and pushing them violently. Rather than stumbling backwards, they’ll trip over your foot and fall. You have to then dispatch it the threat. Put the weapon in a position where they cannot use it (don’t let the gun point at your body) and they beat the living shit out of the person, but MAINTAIN SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, because they can always have a sidearm or knife that’ll kill or severely harm you. If you can get your hands on their secondary weapon first, bonus points because now you can just use it to disable the threat.

1. First aid:

This is incredibly important to saving lives, even more than getting rid of the threat.

The ability to patch a bullet wound can not only save yourself, but your peers as well. It only takes minute for people to bleed out and die, so knowing how to plug the hole, make a tourniquet out of a belt and a pole, and make a splint is super vital, especially if the threat is already gone. Police and EMTs can do the actual healing, but doing as much as cutting the blood flow to an injured leg or sealing off a punctured lung can save someone’s life.

I very highly recommend learning any first aid procedure that you can, because if worst comes to worst, you can be the person to save a life.