Turns out that Gabe Suarez’s Warrior Talk News has a blog, and it’s just full of concealed carry and firearms advice. This is the post that first caught my attention.
We discussed this at the Active Shooter Interdiction Class in Virginia and there was a great deal of work done on it in class. The concern is that the good guy CCW, or off duty LEO for that matter, taking out the bad guy might be misidentified by responding police and shot. Police shoot one of their own every 18 months around the nation so it is a very plausible event.
The rest.
Contributing factors seem to be as follows -
You are more likely to be mistakenly shot by police in areas where the carry of weapons by citizens is not common. Places like New York or Los Angeles immediately come to mind. The notion seems to be that only cops or criminals have guns. This is not the attitude I see nationwide but it is prevalent enough to be aware of it.
You are more likely to be shot if the first thing the police see is the gun….specially if it is pointed in their direction. Understand that not all officers are well trained by their agencies and some may over react to the obvious sight of a weapon, not stopping to think of who is holding it or why.
You are more likely to be shot by police if, when challenged, if you are challenged, you begin to turn toward them. This is problematic as it is a natural reaction for humans to turn toward the sound of yelling. Specially the case if it is behind them.
Solutions – Well clearly we can’t just stop carrying guns because of that risk, but it is a risk that cannot be ignored. The solutions seem to be found in creating a moment of indecision for any responding officers about your misidentification as a bad guy. This is dangerous for them as hesitation kills, but from your perspective, hesitation born of indecision, also saves you.
One of the things Suarez advises is to avoid the low ready position, which is interesting. Everything else I’ve read or seen advises low ready as appropriate while you’re analyzing the situation and trying to figure out whether or not the incident is concluded.
First, forget low ready. Shoot the bad guy when you need to shoot him, and then do what you can to hide the image of the gun. That means you use Sul, or the Covered Sul we are now teaching as well. This brings the pistol in close to the body and in effect hides it from view. You can certainly still shoot additional bad guys if needed but it is not obvious that you are armed.
Suarez then links to a video about the Sul position, which looks like something worth throwing in your concealed carry toolbox, if nothing else.
