Concealed Carry in the Era of Terror Revisited
The original article on this topic was published on 7 April 2015. I have since retired after 15 years in the Intelligence Community on the counter-terrorism account. My specialty was weapons and tactics, so that experience, along with my time in Iraq and Somalia, formed the basis of that piece. I’m afraid that the article has held up very well in the intervening decade, particularly given the recent National Counter-Terrorism Center memo that Al-Qaeda continues to have aspirations to hit us domestically. That report buttresses information from Sarah Adams, a former CIA targeteer, that claims that up to 1,000 trained AQ operatives are here and actively planning a coordinated series of attacks across the country. When activated their intent will be to test our national will by inflicting mass casualties and chaos on a scale designed to overwhelm our capacity to respond. This is at a time where domestic political violence is undeniably ramping up. We are already a very divided nation living the Chinese curse of “interesting times.” That said, here’s the updated article.
It is only a matter of time before Islamic terrorists execute a Mumbai, Westgate Mall, Garissa University College, and perhaps even a 7 October scale attack in the United States. Consequently, citizens armed against a criminal threat may find themselves drafted into the war for civilization by being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Carrying a concealed pistol to protect against garden variety thugs is a vastly different proposition than confronting terrorists bent on committing murder and mayhem. Here are some planning considerations for this dire eventuality.
This attack took place outside of a publisher house in Paris.
Get your mind right, right now
Get this straight in your head. Terrorists are not criminals out to support their drug habit, or a drunken bully looking to throw you a beat down. This isn’t a parking lot dispute, a road rage incident or a problem you can solve with pepper spray. These are ideologically committed killers determined to use violence to achieve global political change. Killing as many as they can to maximize the terror impact of their acts is their goal. Do NOT underestimate these people. Take careful note not of just the mass beheadings that were once in vogue overseas, but the artful way they were staged and recorded, with high production values throughout. That is highly evolved messaging leveraging modern technology with ancient terror tactics. More recent attacks from various evil parties have even been “live streamed” to an eager international audience. Remember that dying for their cause is considered the ultimate reward. They won’t be dissuaded, and they won’t be bargained with. They will be heavily armed and adequately trained for their task, which is to slaughter unarmed innocents to further undermine governmental authority. Unlike your typical criminal crew, a few shots won’t send them into flight. They’re on a mission.
So, with that in mind, the rules change. Back shoot them without hesitation or warning. The cheaper the shot, the better. To ensure there’s not a threat from behind as you move past their bodies, “anchor” shoot them through the brain and from a position of advantage. While these methods of engagement are illegal and inappropriate for a criminal encounter and would likely see you charged with murder in that context, I suspect a citizen acting this way against a terrorist threat will be given a pass. (Differentiating between the two at that time could be difficult. Choose wisely.) This will essentially be participating in no notice infantry combat in your hometown.
Prepare your mind for mass chaos and carnage. Look at pictures from terrorist attacks and watch video of the bombing of the Boston Marathon. Watch the HBO specials on the first two incidents I mentioned above. That will be the reality confronting you at that time. This brutality cannot shock you into inaction. Be prepared to step over bleeding children, screaming for help, and having to leave them in that condition, possibly to die, as you press ahead to stop the attack, or fight your way out.
Consider that terrorists will deliberately strike at our most vulnerable points, such as schools, malls, hotels, airports, hospitals, or in a rural area with limited capacity to respond. They will employ ruse and deception, and they will be ruthless and cunning.
This is what success looks like to terrorists.
Finally, and most importantly, decide right now what your purpose is going to be. Are you going to intervene with the goal of thwarting the attack, or are you going to fight your way out of the hot zone and escape? The “Die Hard” series of movies featuring Bruce Willis as a hardcore cop gunning down dozens of terrorists with a Beretta and a spare magazine are entertaining, but the hard cold reality is that about the best you can hope for is to “die well” in this situation.
“Hard Skills” and Some Random Considerations
Can you shoot on the move? How about engage multiple targets while on the move in an environment where a miss means you hit an innocent? These are skills that are hard to attain and difficult to maintain on the square range with the resources most citizens have available to them but would prove crucial in this sort of confrontation. Imagine navigating through a panic-stricken crowd with your pistol in hand. How are they going to react to you? As their savior, or a potential killer?
Can you operate an AK or an AR? These rifles are likely what the enemy will bring, and the ability to reload and HIT with them could be crucial if you execute a battlefield pick up. Consider also how you’re going to appear to first responders with a long arm in your hands. There have already been incidents of the “good guys” being killed by responding officers. There is no free lunch here. The risks are obvious and multilayered.
An AK-47 pickup waiting to happen, or the prelude to a mistake of fact shooting? Both?
Do you know the difference between cover and concealment, and how rifles excel at turning what you thought was cover into Swiss cheese? Rifle bullets can penetrate a lot of material that would stop a pistol round and still be lethal. Even your pistol can penetrate barriers. Look for target indicators, like rifle muzzles, appearing around corners. Firing a few shots through dry wall can be highly effective but violates the “be sure of your target” gun handling rule. I would argue this is an exigent circumstance, but you must exercise prudence...that could be a officer. They may well be wearing body armor, so think about making brain shots your default response. Also, start breaking all of the rules. The sign that says, “Employees Only!” goes out the window at the first hint of trouble. Some people have been known to flee danger while clutching onto their purchases!
Can you apply a tourniquet, pack a wound or strap on a pressure dressing? Do you even have the kit to perform these tasks in your car, let alone on your person? A good trauma class and some gear might be a better investment than yet another shooting course.
What is your maximum effective range with your carry pistol? The ability to reliably hit a man-sized target at 50+ yards while prone and from behind cover would be a useful skill in being able to intervene from a safer distance. Knocking these guys off their game may be enough to allow a more effective response and give potential victims time to escape. It also may get you killed.
Can you “pie a corner” in basic structure clearing? Move stealthily? Employ a flashlight? These also would highly useful skills that won’t magically just happen appear you need them. And let’s talk about you for a minute. Can you run 100 yards nonstop in a time that doesn’t need a calendar to measure? If you can’t, maybe a gym membership and losing 20lbs or so would be a better investment of your time and money than another carbine course. Maintain to the extent you can the body you are living in, it’s what you’re going to have to fight with. And are you seeing a theme here? Shooting is fun, but it is nowhere near the whole game.
Tactics, Assumptions & Decisions…
Theirs
Leverage America’s freedoms and political divisions to infiltrate the country. Live in obscurity while planning, gathering logistics and conducting reconnaissance. Upon activation, use deception by dressing in police uniforms and operating decommissioned police cars. Achieve surprise on the objective and execute with speed and extreme violence of action. Destroy whatever security forces are local to the scene and gain control of the guard shack where the CCTV feeds terminate to gather intelligence and maintain surveillance of the objective. Use knowledge of the venue layout and radios to communicate within the team to coordinate action and maximize impact. Start the Go-Pro multichannel livestream so the whole world can see what you’re doing.
Anticipate and ambush first responders with small arms fire and explosives to inflict casualties and effectively stop the response. This will force law enforcement to deploy from a distance and possibly stop it all together as they go into organizational survival mode. Communicate with offsite command and control that are monitoring live feed TV, like the Mumbai attackers, who were directed by sat phone from their handlers watching the event on BBC in Pakistan.
Employ ruthless murder to shock people and drive them into zones of control for immediate slaughter, or use as pawns in the media game, and then slaughter them, such as the Moscow Theater or the Beslan school attacks. Negotiate the mass surrender of your victims, then kill them without mercy once they’ve submitted. Perform these acts with joy in your heart and without a second of hesitation. You were born for slaughtering the infidel.
Yours
Accept what is happening at the first sight of an out of place rifle, or upon hearing shots, explosions and screams. Remember that gunshots indoors sound much different than on the range. They are somewhat muffled for a variety of reasons. Some indicators of impending disaster may be much more nuanced than a screaming, panicked crowd. Take a hard look at your local police officers and know how they’re equipped and look for deviations from that standard. Does your local department have grooming standards? Carry AK rifles? How “uniform” are their uniforms?
You must have the capacity to act immediately and decisively to determine the zone of immediate action and move to cover, and then away from the scene, fighting your way out if necessary. (Notice the shocked disbelief on the faces of the people in this video, and the time lag between what was obviously an abnormal event and the herd movement to an exit.) Also, regarding explosions, be mindful that a long-used tactic is to detonate a small bomb to drive people toward a larger device. A variation on this theme is one explosion to draw attention, and then a secondary device targeting first responders. Consider avoiding the obvious exit. There are layers upon layers to this problem.
There may be just a lone shooter, and in that case, it is likely he’s a disaffected domestic convert that has been “Inspired” by the decline of faith in Western values and the Jihad’s excellent media campaign. Alternatively, he could be just a plain nut, as we have seen countless times in recent days. Apply the John Farnam rule of “Plus one” and always assume there’s one more adversary.
Regardless of the number, they are probably trained at only a basic level with their weapons and are able cooperate loosely as a team with bounding overwatch and room clearing techniques. It is possible, but unlikely, they’ll have grenades. They don’t need to be Delta force, or even highly trained infantry, to achieve slaughter. Being willing and armed is more than sufficient for their task of mayhem.
Once away from the immediate scene, you can escape, lie in fixed ambush or move through the area and engage at the times and places of your choosing in a roving sort of ambush/meeting engagement. The latter is a very high risk undertaking but will serve to buy time for other citizens to escape. You will likely be significantly outgunned if you choose this option. You will likely be killed.
Do NOT expect an immediate and effective law enforcement response. This event would severely strain even a resource rich department like the NYPD and the minute there are multiple “officer down” calls things are going to come to a halt. A citizen inside a store in the suburbs can’t expect the cavalry to arrive soon, if at all. Bottom line: You’re on your own.
LE responses can vary. Note the reversed optic on this rifle.
This will be a come as you are affair, and what you have on or near you will be what you’ll be fighting with, unless you’re able to upgrade with a weapon the terrorists brought to the fight. Consequently, the magazine capacity of the pistol you’re carrying becomes a concern. Your belly gun/pocket pistol just isn’t going to be enough. There are arguments to be made for and against carrying a spare magazine, but in this context having a reload could be crucial. A “truck gun”*, meaning a long arm carried in your vehicle is potentially useful, employing one under these circumstances is unrealistic. Would you run out to the safety of your vehicle, secure an AR, and then run back in? Here’s a question: How do you think you’re going to look to responding law enforcement running around with a rifle in Chuck Norris fashion, be they local PD, State Police, FBI, or, if things get really bad, the professionals from Virginia Beach or Fort Bragg? That last circumstance would involve the suspension of Posse Comitatus, and it will take even a proactive Federal government time to act, though I guarantee those units will be spinning up as soon as news breaks. As amped up as the police are going to be, well, it will be a much different scenario than talking your way out of a traffic ticket.
Expect mass panic on the part of people who have never considered this possibility and are suddenly confronted with imminent, violent death or not just themselves, but their children. Also expect to have to make instant decisions on who is a like-minded individual that is also carrying a pistol and is on your side, and a terrorist actor that needs shot repeatedly. There are millions of lawfully armed citizens in this country, and an unknown compatriot in arms could easily be on the scene. Think of it as a pickup basketball game…in hell. Communicating with that stranger, who will probably have plans and different skills than your own, could be problematic.
These guys were at a practical pistol match near the Westgate mall in Kenya. They ran to the sound of the guns. What will you do, and under what circumstances?
If I can impart the One Big Goal to maintain in this circumstance it would be, “Don’t get fixed in place.” If you lose freedom of mobility, you lose options, and the odds stack up even worse than they were before. The mobility issue becomes increasingly problematic if your family is present. How about a child in a stroller, or a toddler that has a mind of his own and can run like the dickens? This is now an absolute nightmare scenario.
Speaking of your spouse/ SO, do you train as a team? Do you have a plan where one partner scoops up the kids and everyone moves toward the exit? I’m not talking tactical movement …just plain hauling ass in a designated direction on a pre-arranged signal, no questions asked. Not fun to think about, but that is where we are now.
Realistic Preparation and Life Apportionment
Many consider what I’ve described as a very low likelihood, but very high impact event. I believe that calculus has worsened in the last decade since I originally posted this. If you choose to take this threat seriously, you have to recognize that there are only so many hours in a day, and between family, job, and life, there is only so much time left to train for self-defense against criminals, let alone preparing for something so monstrous. I think that working some of these skills into your regimen with occasional distance shooting, some work from behind cover and honest talk resulting in “just in case” plans with the people in your immediate circle would go a long way toward filling those first 15 seconds of a terrible situation with some decisive action that may make the difference. (Don’t skip exercise, either! ) Attending a GOOD trauma class imparts skills that are applicable in everyday life. There are bits and pieces of what I have listed as useful skills that can be acquired over time that would be both fun to learn and beneficial in all circumstances.
In the end, like so many other aspects of life, there are many questions that can only be answered by you, and the specific situation you face will pose unforeseeable circumstances where you may only be able to choose the least bad option. Remember that these people are 1) not stupid and 2) are highly motivated. They will have thought several moves ahead into this game, and they are praying to die for their cause. One weakness they MAY have is cultural ignorance of how many of us are armed and will fight, hard. It’s not much, and you can’t count on it, b. That small, fleeting surprise might be all you have.
Resources
NUMEROUS excellent articles on this topic and many, many others can be found at www.activeresponsetraining.net. Greg’s work is excellent. Never a minute wasted there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mumbai_attacks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate_shopping_mall_attack
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garissa_University_College_attack
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspire_%28magazine%29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_7_attacks
Trauma Training
Caleb Causey of Lonestar Medics
Greg Ellifrtiz of Active Response Training
Dark Angel Medical
Stop the Bleed
There are numerous former Special Forces medics teaching these skills as well. Caveat Emptor!
