Ways To Survive An Active Shooter When Trapped Unarmed In A Closed Room: No Martial Arts or Strength Needed

98% of all "survive an active shooting" articles concentrate on the same old things: run away or hide and call 911. Cute slogans: "Run Hide Fight". But when it comes to practical suggestions for the "Fight" part, most include more tips on how to keep the police from shooting you by mistake if you do escape or survive, than information on how to foil the attacker.

This article by Eric Spitznagel at Men's Health, "The Smartest Thing To Do In An Active Shooter Situation" is the most useful Active Shooter video & article that I have seen. Even a handicapped person or kids could do this, even if trapped in a room unarmed. The video actually shows us how to do it.

Filled with practical advice from former member of Israeli Special Forces & self-defense expert Alon Stivi, the article points out details we have all known in our hearts such as:

 "Nobody has ever survived an active shooter by ducking under a desk or a table. It just doesn’t happen. And do you know why?"
"Because they were sitting targets?"
"That’s right. Every shooter knows that’s where people are scrambling to hide, and that’s where they look first. And then they shoot you at point blank range."

Or:

 "Maybe I’m confusing how to survive a shooter with what I learned as a kid about surviving a fire. My instinct is to “Stop, drop, and roll.”
"That’s actually not that far off from the standard operating procedure. It’s called lockdown. Which means, you just stay where you are.
But if you look at most of these shootings, you realize that people died because they were in a lockdown."

I really appreciate that he says we should approach training - practical, like fire drills and unafraid:

 "I haven’t become paranoid, and I’ll tell you why. It’s pretty simple. There is only one antidote to fear. Well, maybe two.
First is the belief in fate. You believe that everything will somehow be fine and you’ll be taken care of by some higher power, and that’s great. "
"And for the rest of us?"
"The real antidote to fear is knowledge. I know what to look for. I know what to do if something bad happens. I have a plan of action.
This knowledge is what allows somebody to live a life free from fear. ...."
"....I’ll give you an example. When you came to the office today, you probably crossed a road, right?... And before you crossed, you looked left and right, just to make sure there wasn’t a car coming. Because if you didn’t, you might die. If you get hit by a car going 60 miles an hour, you will be obliterated.
So you check for that car, and you don’t feel paranoid or stressed about needing to do that, do you?
"Not at all. It’s just something you do."
"Exactly. It’s a part of your life. It’s a part of the world we live in. Two hundred years ago, there were no cars. We looked for, I don’t know, mountain lions."

Go to Men's Health to read the whole enlightening article.