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TheWombat

GFH Civilian Response to an Active Shooter Situation

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I attended the Civilian Response to an Active Shooter Situation course at Gun For Hire (GFH). It is a two day course, with the first day predominantly focused on some case studies from the US and overseas followed by some practice of basic techniques without firing. The main instructors are Joe and Chuck, who also are the instructors for Simunitions, Urban Pistol etc. The second day continues with some basic techniques before moving into live-fire (with simunitions) scenarios. In total we had around 12 students, 3 instructors and 2 assistants helping out.

 

The course description is:

"One out of every three Americans have the legal right to carry a concealed weapon. With this ratio it is no surprise that 75% of all active shooter incidents have been stopped by a armed civilian. While Law Enforcement spends hours upon hours training for such an incident, civilians have little to no training in responding to such incidents.

 

The Gun For Hire Active Shooter Response Cours for Civilians is a 2 day 16 hour course that will provide the student with the tactics and knowledge to properly respond to an Active Shooter Situation. This class is an absolute must for anyone that has a CCW Permit, Security Guards both Armed and Unarmed as well as any group or venue that hosts large events (Church's, Malls, Synagogues, etc).

 

The course will begin with a review of several Active Shooter events and proceed into legal issues when responding to an Active Shooter Situation. The course will then move into showing the student proper tactics and procedures to use when responding to an incident. This course will combine both class room and hands on training to include live fire range exercises. This course will culminate with a force on force scenario using simunition training equipment.

 

Topics Covered in this course will include,

  • Case Studies of Active Shooter Events in the U.S. and Abroad
  • Legal responsibilities of the Armed Civilian and Security Guard
  • Responding to an Active Shooter incident with your Family Present
  • Building Search Tactics and Techniques
  • Proper Selection and use of Cover
  • Close Quarter Tactical Pistol Training
  • Response to incidents in Large Open areas (Church,Mall,Synagogue,etc)
  • Shoot Don't Shoot situations
  • First Aid for Self and Victims
  • What to do upon Law Enforcement Arrival
  • Dealing with the after effects of an incident"

During the scenarios when I was the armed civilian reacting to the Active Shooter my heart rate probably passed 160 bpm - next time I will bring my heart rate monitor along to see. In the scenarios where we are not the armed civilian responding we instead act as the scared civilians who are caught in the situation (running around, screaming, dying etc) which provides a great opportunity to watch the responding student and see how they take the techniques covered in the last day and a half, and prior courses such as Urban Pistol, and apply them (or not) in response to the scenarios.

 

In terms of overall feedback on the course.

  • It is very useful as part of a broader training regime and teaches much more than just shooting paper at the range
  • It makes it very clear the importance of continually training on technique/tactics so that when the adrenaline kicks in you continue to use these due to muscle memory
  • For $250 for the 2 day class, it is good value considering the facilities and instructor ratio
  • I'd recommend taking Urban Pistol 1 & 2, and also the standard Simunitions Level 1 as a prerequisite so you get the most out of the two days - otherwise you will struggle with information overload
  • This class is a recent addition for GFH, so I expect we'll see further tweaks to the content (e.g. case studies) and scenarios as the students provide feedback

While we didn't get time to cover all of the topics in detail, we did receive a good grounding on some fundamentals to take away and practice, practice, practice. I anticipate we'll see another Simunitions class being offered at the same location, which will be a full day of just Simunitions scenarios (with no theory), which will be a great follow on for people who have attended this Active Shooter class.

 

As ever, these courses help reinforce my belief that Force on Force training and classes like Urban Pistol are an absolute must for anyone wishing to Conceal Carry, if you want to maximize your ability to respond effectively (and appropriately) in a real life situation. Once the adrenaline starts pumping, and its a real life scenario the fact that you can shoot 2 inch groups at 20 yards at the range means very little. MrsWombat couldn't make the course, however I'll be going again sometime and will ensure MrsWombat can make it.

 

OldGlockGuy from NJGunForum was also at the class, so good to meet up (again)

 

TheWombat

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Wombat, good description of the weekend. I agree that it would definitely have been helpful to have taken Simunitions first (I've taken UP1 and UP2), as I was experiencing some serious information overload. I would highly recommend this class to anyone with a CCW permit. The scenarios were great, and quite instructive. Good to see you as well.

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where do you guys find the listing of training in the area? I've been using the NRAInstructors.org site which is nice because it gives you NRA certified classes, but I'd qualify most of them as beginner level classes.

 

I am a beginner, but appreciate your thoughts on GOOD training in the area since it's equally possible to just pick something off the internet and show up for it to be 1 instructor and 15 students in a tiny crowded range with little value add. Trying to build myself up a training regimen, even though I don't have CCW (and doubt I could get it) I feel like I should have more knowledge than I do just having guns in my house around my family and friends.

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You can get the Florida CCW having completed the NRA Basic Pistol etc, the requirements are pretty low.

 

Best recommendation is to ask other forum members on who they recommend. You'll get a mix of responses. I personally like Gun For Hire and they are also conveniently located close to me. There are plenty of other good training providers though including MDTS, GAPP and ShootNJ which are all local to NJ.

 

Take a look at http://njgunforums.com/forum/index.php?/topic/32250-training-considerations/

 

hth

 

TheWombat

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