On Being John McClane

[LR1955]

Gene,

I realize it's not feasible to train for every possible scenario. But, with the heightened concern over terrorist attacks of the kind seen recently, it seems like it would be prudent to at least think about the issue, if not train for it.

My understanding is that, when under stress, people tend to react the way they've trained. All of the training I've seen (and I don't claim to have seen it all, so I may have missed some that's relevant) is either of the "shoot 'em all" type, where every visible target is to be fired at, or the "shoot the one with the gun" type (as below).



So far these attacks have occurred in essentially "gun free" areas. If they should happen in a place where there are multiple CCWs present, it takes little imagination to see how the situation could go very wrong, with every gun-carrying person present having trained to shoot anyone with a gun.



Oh, one other thing: There is no need for concern about anybody wanting to argue with me over whether or not the public as a whole should be allowed to carry firearms, since I am firmly in favor of the right to keep and bear. I hope nobody has taken my question as opposition to either carrying a gun, or using it in such a scenario, because that was not my intent.

Stan:

Roger.

The people who perform the best when under stress are the ones who can assess the environment, identify the single most important cue, then act on that cue.

You are as good at doing this as anyone else so how about identifying the one or two most critical cues you personally would focus on given you believed a number of citizens were armed and there was some sort of anarchy breaking out around you in a public place.

Then, your actions based on that or those cues.

I can get into the training part once you can answer these questions somewhat clearly.

LR55