Las Vegas Lesson: Escape the Kill Zone

Gary North - October 16, 2017

"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." -- Las Vegas' booster slogan

For 58 people, their hopes and dreams stayed behind.

If you had been in the crowd, what would you have done? How fast?

I went through Col. Jeff Cooper's course in combat handgunning in 1980. I know about fast responses.

I also know about getting out of a kill zone.

If you are armed, and if you can see who is shooting, and if you have a possible kill shot, you take the offensive. You attempt to kill him. That is your moral responsibility. That is why you are armed. You must defend the lives of the innocent, including you. To do this, you must end his life, preferably in less than three seconds. "Two to the chest. One to the head." This strategy is also your best opportunity to stay alive. You should assume that he will continue to keep shooting. He will eventually get to you. Don't let him.

If I was with my wife, I would point to the exit and tell her to get out.

What if you are unarmed? You grab your wife's hand, and you run. You get out of the line of fire. You do not hesitate. You do not plan. You instantly become a moving target. For a mass murderer, stationary targets are low-hanging fruit. To maximize destruction, he will shoot the stationary targets first. So, you head for an exit.

When I was in school, whenever the fire alarm went off, I was always the first person out the door. By the third ring, I was on my feet, heading for the door. No one ever got out ahead of me. I figured that if there was a fire, I would get out. I also figured that a drill was good practice. Mentally, it became instinctive for me: third ring, and I was on my feet. That is what drills are for: programming an instinctive reaction.

Cooper taught a mental outlook. He called it "condition yellow." Always be alert to potential threats. Do not become mentally passive. Be aware of your immediate surroundings. Be ready to take action. He was a warrior. I am not. I was never that dedicated, but at least I know the drill. If there is a third ring, I will go into some kind of evasive action.

My niece got a call from a friend who was at the concert during the attack. After the shooting started, she hit the ground. The person lying next to her was dead. She got up and ran. She found a cover. Then she called my niece.

She should have run for cover as soon as it was clear that people were getting shot. Hitting the ground is the wrong defense tactic. On the ground, you are a stationary target.

We assume that abnormal sounds are not life-threatening. We assume the best. We do not live in condition yellow. So, people may have thought the sounds were fireworks. In Las Vegas, the abnormal is normal. Or maybe they just ignored the pops. Real-world gun shots do not sound like movie sound effect gun shots. The popping sounds did not create a sense of alarm.

It is not possible statistically for everyone to head for the exits at the same time. There are always "early adopters." These people think "safety first." They head for an exit. They know where the exits are as soon as they go inside a sealed-off space. They go into condition yellow. They are ready to get out first. They believe this rule: "Things are easier to get into than out of." This rule applies to controlled spaces.

Here is the rule of rules: "He who hesitates is lost." You want to be the first person out the door.

In investing, I don't think you should be the first person in. But I think you should be the first person out. Resist greed. Pay attention to fear. Here is the supreme economic rule of life: "Something is better than nothing." It works both ways: in and out.

A site member posted this. It was in response to the question: "Why did the shooter stop shooting after ten minutes?"

I think the guy stopped shooting because he ran out of targets.

Note that although the targets took upwards of a minute to realize they were under fire (which is not abnormal for a crowd), they certainly would evacuate the kill zone once they individually and collectively realized their situation. (This is basic crowd psychology.) Hence, the panicked flight. In the parlance of many current personal defense instructors, they "got off the X;" the "X" being a reference to the center of a paper target. After ten minutes, I suspect all that remained in the kill zone were those no longer alive; certainly not moving and thereby drawing the attention of the shooter.

In other words, he had no more live targets, which is probably why he targeted the fuel tanks. The forthcoming investigation and forensic reports will no doubt provide definitive opinions regarding these points.

As one trained in the planning, preparation, and execution of deliberate ambush, which is exactly what occurred, I will attest to the fact that one naturally continues to fire only as long as targets exist, or until external intervention occurs (such as an order to "cease fire" or to sweep the kill zone).

SOP when caught in the kill zone is to (a) gain fire superiority (which the crowd could not do), and (b) get out of the kill zone (which the crowd could and did do by seeking cover and concealment elsewhere).

I agree with this assessment. He had more ammunition. He had a lot of backup weapons. He just ran out of low-hanging fruit. It was going to be work after this. He had shot his mental wad. He had achieved whatever insane goal he had. He was ready to die. He waited for the authorities to arrive. He had an hour to wait.

Here is the lesson to take from this. Do not wait for the authorities to rescue you. Head for an exit when the shooting starts . . . unless you are armed. If you are armed, try to see where the shots are coming from. See if you can kill him.

Two to the chest. One to the head.