The tragedy that happened Saturday night in Orlando can happen anywhere. It’s almost impossible to stop a crazed individual hell-bent on randomly killing unarmed innocents. Especially when they come armed with a full automatic assault rifle and are prepared to sacrifice themselves.

What can you do to protect yourself short of barricading your home and never coming out?   Here are a few tips in case you find yourself in an active shooter situation.

Now that this is happening more often, and terrorists and wannabe terrorists (who can be just as deadly) are targeting soft targets like movies theaters, clubs, restaurants, work places.   No place of leisure is off limits. You know longer have the luxury of assuming that nothing will ever happen. You have to be open to the possibility and have a mindset that you’ll be prepared if it does.

The first thing is to be aware of your environment.   Before entering any public place, you’ll want to scope out the situation. If anything looks out of place, or your gut tells you something isn’t right, Listen to your instincts and leave.  

You can actually train yourself to have more awareness.  If you remember, one of the side benefits of ZOX Pro Training is enhanced peripheral vision.  ZOXing has exercises designed to help you see better and it improves your 360 degree awareness.

Being aware of your environment means knowing how to get out when things go bad.  Upon entering into a new area, take mental note and look for every possible escape access and exit that you can find.  If things get dicey, this one precaution can make the difference between life and death.  This is something you now must make as an unconscious habit and should never be overlooked.

The madmen and fanatics who commit these crimes are looking for attention. Lone shooters and terrorist organizations are both looking for media coverage, and high body counts.  They are hoping to instill fear and be disruptive to normality.  They are more likely to attack people during high profile events, so when possible: 

If you do go to a large event such as a movie, a concert, or some sort of rally or sporting event, make sure you choose seats that are situated near an exit. The last place you want to be during a shooting, is stuck in the middle of a crowd, or in the middle of a row of seats.  Placement is a critically important factor in staying safe.

We have instincts for a reason.  If you remember the Colorado movie theater shooting many people stated that they had a bad feeling when they saw the shooter enter the building, yet most of them brushed off their feelings and reasoned that it was probably some sort of publicity stunt for the movie.  Even after the shooting started firing, a number of people said, they still thought “it had to be part of the show.”   Not only does ZOX Pro Training help you read at an accelerated rate is also trains your brain to process information faster.

If a situation seems odd, if something seems out of place, or your gut tells you something isn’t right, listen to your instincts and don’t wait around to find out what happened.

This is first and foremost on the list of options.  In an active shooter situation, the first thing you want to do is try to escape. This isn’t a movie or a video game; there are not stunt men or pause buttons.  When the bullets start flying the last place you want to be is anywhere near the shooter.

Hopefully you took the time upon entering your location to scope out the exits. If you can safely make your way to an exit, do so without hesitation and without attracting unwanted attention from the shooter. Once you hit the exit, keep going. Distance is one of the keys to surviving the situation.

Taking cover means moving yourself away from any possible harm. If you can’t safely remove yourself from the situation, the next best option may be to take cover. When I say take cover, I don’t mean closing your eyes and hiding behind some tiny little object.

In the movies, you often see the hero of the story returning fire from behind some ridiculous object like a table, or piece of furniture. In real life, these objects provide little if any actual protection from incoming fire. There’s a big difference between taking cover behind a solid barrier (like a concrete wall), and hiding behind a chair or table.  Even a car door won’t give you much protection.

Critics of this option will probably argue that you should never try to attack a shooter. But if you’re in a situation where there’s no place to run, and no place to seek cover, what other option do you have?

The fact is, in an active shooter situation you often have very few options. If you’ve prepared your mind, you decision making ability will be better than if you didn’t.   Laying their frozen in fear does nothing to add to your chances of coming out alive. If you have no other options, you need to act quickly and decisively to try to take out the shooter.  Don’t overlook that you will be pumping with adrenaline.   Your fight of flight mechanism will be full tilt.

If you have a weapon, then hopefully you have trained for this type of situation.  Anything can be a weapon.  I’m not going to go into tactics and proper response, because nothing I can write will properly prepare you for the this situation. Only proper training, both physically and mentally, can prepare you.  Please don’t underestimate the need to properly train yourself in the ways of self-defense.   Now, that a tragedy like the Orlando Nightclub Shooting I’m sure enterprising entrepreneurs will be offering self-defense solutions geared for this type situation.

Once you have exited the building, or removed yourself from the situation, DO NOT DROP YOUR GUARD.

One think to never do is hang around and try to film the incident on your cell phone.  Don’t become part of the story and get dragged down into a TMZ or other tabloid fantasy where you think you’ll get a big chunk of paparazzi cash.

While these types of incidents are extremely rare, they do happen and they are something that we must be prepared to respond to. Unfortunately, there are a growing number of lunatics who will do anything it takes to receive that fame and notoriety. This is a problem that will probably only get worse with time.

And, it’s doubly unfortunate that politicians stoke active shooter events for higher profile and news media give the crazies what they want because the coverage increases viewership. It’s not a problem easily solved or one that will go away soon.  

In summary.  Here are the three things to consider if you find yourself in a situation like the Orlando Nightclub shooting- Get Out, Lock Out or Take Out.  With ‘get out’ being the priority.