…there were two very real paradigms when it came to our adversaries today, and each paradigm had its own rules of engagement. That the common criminal…the mugger in the parking lot, had a set of rules of engagement that were in line with the mainstream self-defense thinking of the gun community, and limited by the laws of self defense, etc. But the other paradigm was of the active shooter or the terrorist, whose very actions gave you license to out-violence him with gunfire. But more than shooting to “stop him” a man who found himself in one of these events, even, and perhaps specially if, he was not individually attacked, had license to attack the shooter/terrorist. And with the prevalence of explosives, it was perfectly appropriate and perhaps mandatory to begin the fight with aggressive proactive shooting and end it with head shots on the downed terrorists.
It is Monday after class. I just finished a great discussion with David Yamane, who attended the class as an observer. As you know, on Sunday, at the same time we were training, 27 church goers were shot to death in a Sutherland Springs church. He asked me an important question during his interview.
“What would you have told that pastor the day before the shooting?”
My answer was direct. I would have told him not to forget that evil was real and earthly, and that it was in fact his responsibility to tell his congregation as much…and to protect them from its earthly manifestation while they were with him.
During the last few hours of class, the tired students were drilling in proactive-aggressive shooting. Things reserved in the minds of many gun students (and instructors) for counter terrorist operators and police officers.
Advance on the threat while you put multiple rounds into the face. Advance on the threat, shooting him in the face and then firing again into the face of the fallen target to prevent the detonation of an IED. Not defensive in nature, posture or concept, but rather direct and violent and based on the attack rather than the defense. And the tired students went through the drills.
One noted, “I don’t think we can do that…I think we will get in trouble if we do that”.
by Gabe Suarez
