In many terror attacks, in USA and abroad, terrorists wear body armor. I know close to zero about body armor, less about the type of armor available to "your average run-of-the-mill" terrorist. I anticipate that body armor will not be close to US infantry and/or government enforcement agencies - FBI, metropolitan SWAT teams, et al. These agencies are much more likely to violently engage terrorists than civilians - that is, us - so their weaponry and ammunition would be designed to penetrate terrorists' body armor. The agencies' would be less dependent upon being concerned about penetration. Schools are having staff participate in NRA classes to be emotionally and physically able to use handguns to thwart such situation.

What about CCW-ers, open handgun carriers, people - like us - who have handguns secreted in their cars and trucks? A large majority of these people will have quickly available some sort of handgun of 357 Magnum caliber and smaller, nearly all using some sort of controlled expansion bullet. How are we supposed to "deal" with terrorists with armor? Shooting them in the head sounds like what might be a typical response. In such an emergency it is nonsensical to expect clear, clever thinking. (Notice the bazillion shots that LEOs fire in many gunfights.) Likely, a hit anywhere in the torso would have a degree of luck attached.

I personally would be afraid to carry any 357 Magnum ammunition in my S&W 640 that would be effective penetrating body armor while remaining controlled expansion. I also would not carry armor-piercing Full metal jacket high velocity ammunition because it is a one-trick pony; it penetrates armor. Dealing with run-of-the-mill muggers, armed robbers, et al., these bullets would antagonize the bad guys before bleeding them out.

So what do we do?

Not sure where you would get armor piercing ammo anyway...FMJ is not armor piercing ammo.

Most law enforcement carry pretty much the same ammo we do...hollowpoints. But I would suspect that law enforcement would hopefully have rifles if they go up against terrorists in a shootout.

Not being able to penetrate body armor was a problem for law enforcement in LA when those two guys robbed banks and were wearing lot's of body armor. Remember that?

Fox

If you are carrying a gun of adequate power and carry/practice with it regularly, you are ahead of 98%+ of the population. Worrying about armor-clad terrorists seems excessive, and what equipment to carry to counter this even more so (short of packing a concealed .308).

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Most terrorists aren't willing to sacrifice their mobility to wear armor. They want to be mobile and do as much damage as they can. They often don't expect to survive their attack anyway. But if they are wearing armor I suggest that you don't engage them unless you are close enough to make an effective shot. Targets to consider on armored individuals are the head, groin, knees and ankles. A shot to one of those targets may not kill, but it may incapacitate them long enough to provide other options.

That's a big hypothetical seeing as you are more likely to be struck by lightning than face down a terrorist. That being said, a failure drill with either the head or lower torso would probably be your only option. Handguns are defensive by nature and while not the best tool for the situation you describe, may be the greatest weapon at your disposal. Even if only to provide cover fire as you create distance away from the danger, but remember you own every round you send down range.

I remember that very well. Not only were those two guys well armored, they seemed to have an unlimited supply of ammo and they had automatic weapons. The police, with their handguns and shotguns, were totally unprepared for that.

Don't understand why they would wear body armour AND a suicide belt! Seems counterproductive to me. Of course I don't profess to understanding anything they do anyway.

You will probably never encounter a terrorist in several lifetimes, but remember that terrorist with a bomb belt or vest have a dead switch,when they go down it goes off.
Your better off running because it's a no win situation with a handgun.
Rifle and distance could only win .

Defend yourself and your family, and retreat to safety as quickly as possible.

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

LEOs train for predictable emergencies. Thus, police learn that most gun battles occur in dim light, in and around doorways and most often within ten feet. It's in the variables where we suffer our casualties---body armor being one of them.

Instructors I've trained with generally advocate shooting for the pelvic girdle or hips as it's a large, easier target compared to the head. While often not immediately fatal, breaking the support structure usually drops the person shot. The pelvis also contains the femoral arteries, branching to each leg. Sever one of these and death usually comes rather quickly.

With terrorist attacks, you may not be the direct target or perhaps you're in a large group that's under attack. You can probably expect to engage from a greater distance but remember that you are still responsible for any injuries or deaths you might cause to non combatants.

As for body armor, always suspect the presence of armor if the perp is overdressed for the weather or appears more bulky through the chest compared to the rest of his body. Likewise, if nothing good happens with shots to the ten ring, it's time to shoot either lower or higher, depending on the circumstances.

I've cleaned the NRA 50' timed and rapid fire targets, one handed.

I'm not too worried about what I can do from a supported position closer in, shooting at a human head.

So they don't get shot dead before (a) they reach the target area, (b) trigger the device.

My range time currently is used mostly for head shots. POA upper lip.
My second area of POA is crotch.

Indeed the likelihood of ever encountering a terrorist/active shooter situation is ridiculously low; one wearing body armor lower still.

But every day somebody somewhere draws the short stick...

Nobody who went to the Bataclan thought they'd be facing terrorists; nobody who went to a movie theater in Aurora thought they'd be the targets of a mass killing (James Holmes was wearing body armor, by the way).

Building a lifestyle or training regimen purely around these contingencies is foolish. Ignoring or ruling them out is, too.

Perhaps, and though I do think that in most situations run, hide or fight is the order (literally) of the day, Washington D.C.'s police chief recently went on record acknowledging, in effect, that when seconds count the police are minutes away, and told citizens that if they see a chance to take down an active shooter, they should attempt to do so.

(Given that D.C. still won't arm its lawful citizens, it appears she's suggesting a bum's rush and a prayer.)

All commonly used soft ballistic vests will stop .357 Magnum.
BulletProofME.com Body Armor - Ballistic Protection Levels
You must master the failure drill or carry a rifle to defeat body armor. Even then, Level IV plates will stop most rifle rounds...

If the terrorist is close enough that you need to engage him with a 5-shot snubnose, shoot first, and make it a headshot.

If you are in range for the terrorist, and too far to make the headshot you're probably going to die.

Try not to over-think it.

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WWSSD?
What would Skeeter do?

Can you cite this please?

If you have to go all the way to your car to get your gun odds are the incident will be done by the time you get there

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Retired Career Security Guard

*
For head shots, the correct area in which to deliver shots that will have the highest likelihood of success is an upside down triangle with the bottom at the nostrils, and the upper outside corners at the outer edges of the eyes. From the side - right in the ear canal. Less skull armoring the brain, and the most important and vulnerable areas of the brain in a reasonably direct line.

OP: Why on earth is anyone leaving a firearm in their car? It's as useful as mammary glands on a bowling ball if it not on your person where it belongs.

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NHI, 10-8.

Not a scenario that's a high priority on my list of things to prepare for as a civilian, but my primary goal would be get my family and myself completely clear of the scene to safety. Simply fleeing the scene by running easy is generally the best response. Suppressive fire may make you a target and draw their fire. You may not be able to get completely clear, but just to cover/concealment. If they come to your position, then it's ambush close-quarter shooting/disarming and in ECQ scenarios, it could be said that the handgun is the superior weapon.

And FWIW..even direct, open engagement using a pistol against a rifle is not a hopeless situation contrary to what many naysayers claim. How One Hero Texas Cop With a .45-cal Glock Took Out Two Suspected Terrorists With Rifles, Body Armor | Video | TheBlaze.com

Or how about unarmed vs AK armed terrorist... France train shooting crew left passengers to take terrorist down | Daily Mail Online

....

Aloha,

Don't forget the Austin, TX, horse cop who while holding on to 2 horses dropped a BG at over 100 yards

Austin cop's sure shot stopped crazed gunman | Fox News

And then there is the Texas CCW guy who took on a nut case with an AK with his 45.
He didn't know the BG was wearing armor and was shot and killed by the BG.
But, not before slowing the BG down enough that LE got him a few minutes later.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_courthouse_shooting

So, a CCW person Can engage an Armored BG and win.

All depends on the Good guy and his shooting ability and his recognizing that if center of mass
is not doing the job, it is time to go for head shots or pelvic shots.

From you tube videos, anyone wearing armor without a hard plate, getting
"tagged" by a magnum caliber handgun will know it. May Not get thru, but,
impact will get his attention. Thus resulting in change of shot placement.

So, lots of Practice at longer ranges with "enough" gun may be in order.

In the US, terrorist is not synonymous with suicide bomber.

Compare the number of suicide bombers and attempts in the US versus the run of the mill domestic terrorist armed with a gun or using explosives, vehicles or other weapons without an intent to commit suicide.

The most recent attempt was on NWA flight 253 was in 2009
and it was unsuccessful.

There was the University of Oklahoma bombing in 2005, where the bomber blew him self up but managed to no kill anyone else.

Then we have a bit of a dry spell before these 4 events between 1927 and 1962:

Continental Airlines flight 11 in 1962
National Airlines flight 2511 in 1960
Poe Elementary school in 1959
Bath Township school in 1927

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Lots of people have suggested that worrying about body armor is pointless as the bomber will have a dead man switch and suggest that at handgun engagement ranges, you are better off running.

I'll posit that advice is only good advice if you see an actual explosive vest.

-----

What you can do is practice failure to stop drills.

The basic concept is that if you've hit an assailant in the chest 2-3 times already and he's not going down, you need to suspect that he's either wearing body armor or he's on something.

In either case, the response is to transition to a head shot. It's not a precision sniper shot, so I would not worry about the angles and avenues needed to hit the cerebellum and get an instantaneous no twitch stop. Just aim for the center of the head squeeze it off as accurately as you can under the circumstances. Hopefully the hits to the torso will have slowed him down so it's not a moving target, and/or he's moving directly at you so the aspect and lead angles are not a factor.

----

Most LEOs don't use their sights at all in a gun fight. The undertrained take that as proof that no one uses their sights in a gun fight and thus they view training to use them as a waste of time. Those folks probably can't make a head shot much past 7 yards on a stationary target even on a good day at the range.

Don't be those guys.

-----

Ideally, you'll train to use the sights slowly at first, practicing your draw, grip and presentation so that the sights are naturally aligned as the firearm rises into your line of sight. They won't be at first, but just pause, align the sights and then squeeze off the shot. As your skills improve and you develop a consistent grip and establish the eye motor loop, you'll find the rear sights are already aligned with the front sight and the major task is just to place the front sight on target, then pause and verify the sight alignment and make the shot. That's the point where you start working on improving your speed.

Once again over time, as your speed increases while maintaining good combat accuracy, that pause becomes extremely short, to the point where you're talking about maybe .1 to .2 seconds to verify sight alignment. At that point you are primarily verifying that you still need to take the shot.

Once you start working on speed, you'll also start practicing controlled pairs where you shoot the first shot as described above, then take the next shot as soon as the pistol or revolver recovers and the front sight is back on target. You will again rely on that well trained grip to ensure the rear sights are sufficiently aligned for an accurate shot.

Once you have that down, you put the two together, putting a controlled pair center of mass and then transitioning your eyes upward for a head shot. In this case, the brief pause is primarily used to determine if the head shot is still needed, and if he's sagging to the ground the head won't be needed.

With either a semi auto pistol or a revolver, I'm inclined to put 4 shots center of mass, then transition to a head shot for the fifth shot. If he's still active after that, I'm going to be focused leaving the AO while I reload a 5 shot revolver.

----

Which brings us to the very important point that you also want to practice shooting and moving. You're much harder to hit if you're moving and in a gun fight you should be moving laterally towards suitable cover.

If the assailant has a knife or blunt weapon you want to get off the X before he gets there, moving laterally to force a rushing assailant to overcome momentum to try to follow you. That momentum will put him on the outside of what ends up being a spiral as you keep moving 90 degrees away from his line of advance, giving you 3-4 seconds to fil him full of holes, even if the incident starts at a range as short as 20 feet.

Even if you can't shoot at move at your local range, you can practice your foot work as well as drawing and moving with blue gun or a positively known by you to be cleared firearm that is always pointed in a safe direction.

You want to move laterally by stepping out with one foot then bringing the other foot over to meet it, so that you never cross your feet. If you cross your feet, the odds are good that under stress you'll trip your self, and that makes you much more vulnerable in an attack.

You are probably more likely to get struck by lightning.

But anyway...head shot, then run!

Ya, I was about to suggest a tracer round to the suicide belt

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Really? U saw it in Wikipedia?

If you find yourself forced to fight back, you'll fight back with whatever you have "on" you.

Or you can roll over and die, another option for some who feel fighting back with a hand gun is useless.

And preferably in the back of the head.

Indeed, that may have been so before some considered importing them into the country.

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- Change it back -

I recently picked up a 2 1/2 inch model 19-3. One day after spending some quality time with my 300 Blackout at a nearby 50 yard indoor range I got it in my head to try the model 19 out at 50 yards. Put up an NRA 25 yard rapid fire target and ran it all the way to the back of the range. Then I cocked that model 19, sighted it carefully, and fired 2 full cylinders at that target. Every single hit was inside the 7 ring (11 inches) and 8 out of 12 were inside the 8 ring (7.75 inches).

Point being I would not rule out head shots. Spend some time shooting at long range and take care to use proper technique and you just may be surprised at what you are capable of.

Don't box yourself into the recent stereotype of terrorists. We have had plenty of home grown ones show up in the last 20+ years. What any reasonably person would call a terrorist attack occurred in Colorado Springs today. He killed, as far as I have heard at this time, 1 cop and two civilians, and wounded 9 more. He was apparently held down with suppressive fire by LE, but his location was not well enough known to take him out. He eventually surrendered instead of self-selecting like most of them do, or letting the cops have a shot at him. Apparently, no one in the clinic was armed with a firearm, shame on them. It could have made a difference. Hell, a scalpel in the eye would have made a difference.

BTW: the advice above to shoot someone in the back of the head if they are actively killing or trying to is spot on.

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NHI, 10-8.

Body Armor will save your life, undoubtedly.

But you will still feel the hit. There will still be

extreme pain, and impact trauma. Not to mention the

force of the round which would normally penetrate an

unarmored person, being stopped on impact with the

armor. So, just saying, body

armor is hardly a free ride through a firefight.

That's before somebody shoots you either in the

neck, head, or kezains...

I know not what others will do, but if I am faced with the

sterling opportunity to stand up to terrorists in defense of country,

constitution, and loved ones, I don't care if those baxters are clad

head to toe in adamantine/kevlar/composite shielding, I won't let those

clowns wreak havoc in my back yard, if I can prevent it...

IMO, the BEST things you can do is:

A) Increase your situational awareness. You can't be surprised if you're expecting it

B) Practice at longer ranges than usual. Having the targets father away will magnify your mistakes and allow you to correct them, plus if you can routinely make center mass/head shots at 30' - 50' then at combat distances, you'll be an ace.

C) Find a way to control your "fight vs flight" and other adrenaline caused responses. Adrenaline is good, but uncontrolled it can take away your focus, your responses and even your ability to act.

D) Realistically, you won't want to run TOWARD the shooter, you might reach him just as the cops do and YOU could be mistaken for a second suspect

E) Unless you are directly under attack, or the attacker is close enough to smell him, don't engage. As a citizen in this, your #1 priority is for you and your family to survive, a distant #2 would be to take a close attacker out

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Don

Our local outdoor range doesn't allow steel targets closer than 25 yards, in large part due to many of the locals showing up with homemade mild steel targets and/or people who don't know how to hang a steel plate properly.

The upside of that is that I can still have great fun hitting steel plates at 25 yards and 50 yards with a variety of handguns. I have one particular 8" round plate with a 3" gong in the center. It's fairly common to go 5 for 5 with a 3" J-frame on that 3" center target from a two hand, offhand position.

With my 6" Model 19 and my 6" Security Six, going 6 for 6 at 50 yards on a 6" target is common.

Unfortunately, when you start doing those kinds of things other shooters say things like "Wow...great shooting!" when it really isn't all that exceptional. It's within the ability of most shooters if they'd a) realize what's possible and b) focus on some basic handgun marksmanship principles.

Back when I started shooting, NRA Bullseye competition was widespread with regular postal matches held even in rural areas. With the 5.5" bullseye on the 25 yard B8 target and an 8" bullseye on the 50 yard B6 target, people were able to see that those levels of accuracy were not only possible, but fairly pedestrian for an experienced shooter.

Sadly, the mindset now seems to be that if you can stay on the torso sized B27 target at 10 yards, you're a good shot. Along with this is an over emphasis on speed at the expense of good combat accuracy, as many shooters think that speed and accuracy are diametrically opposed, failing to realize that with proper skills development you can shoot very rapidly, with surprising accuracy at social shooting distances.

I try to mix in a combination of speed drills at short ranges of 7-10 yards and accuracy drills at 25 yards, and occasionally 50 yards with my self defense handguns on every range trip. The accuracy portion of the session is important to ensure that you don't start sacrificing accuracy for speed. Misses don't win gunfights.

What dead switch? None of the Parris attackers had dead switches! How are they going to shoot, reload and hold a switch?

1. How does somebody change magazines on a Kalashnikov multiple times with a dead man switch?
2. The Army taught me a number of useful things. #1 was that NOBODY can outrun a bullet. SOP for near ambushes is to CHARGE the ambush while delivering the utmost shock and violence. A terrorist attack in close proximity to you is the very definition of a near ambush.

I may get shot, but it won't be in the back... much less in the back of the head, on my knees, execution style.

Can likely count on one hand the number of times I have agreed with cmort666...but this is one of them. And am wholly in agreement with his last words.

Be safe.

(emphasis added)

That's exactly why I own .50 cal Desert Eagles.

Terrorists are why I carry an M1 Garand with M2 AP.

You just need the right ammunition for you handguns:



It may be possible to "homemade" these projectiles with a hard kernel of wolfram carbide....

If you are a civilian, retired Cop or retired military and there is a terrorist attack, do your very best to get out of the area taking your family members and friends with you. You will be out gunned. You will not have any communications with the Police/First Responders and no one will know you are a good guy, you'll just be an unknown with a gun. You will not have your AR, Garand, Grenade Launcher or other neat stuff with you. You will not have Air Support nor Artillery. You will have an easy to carry handgun. There is the high likely hood that, at the least, you will tie up Police in trying to figure out who you are or, they might even kill you. If, if, by wild chance you get the opportunity to shoot a for sure bad guy, then do it. Then do your best to leave the area and consider yourself very lucky. After everything is over you can go to the local agency and report what you did.

That didn't seem to be part of the plan for the Paris murderers.

Not after I shoot Jihad Johnny in the head and take his Kalashnikov.

"You will be outgunned" sounds an awful lot like the "What if the robber has a BIGGER gun???" so beloved of anti-gunners.

I seem to recall four ships, the U.S.S. Johnston, the U.S.S. Heerman, the U.S.S. Samuel B. Roberts, and the U.S.S. Hoel that were also "outgunned". Had they followed your advice, the Leyte invasion force would have had a VERY bad day...

Certainly if you leave them to their work, the guys with the Kalashnikovs, surrounded by dead toddlers at Santa's Village will be easy to identify...

Then I can go home and eat my gun out of pure unadulterated shame.

The only thing I can think of in this type of situation is carry enough gun and enough ammo. Vests stop bullets but they also hurt like hell and break bones! There is also possibility secondary trauma to internal organs. The vest that's directly on your body just stopped a chunk of metal going 900 - 1500 (depending on cal) fps ....dead stop! Keep plugging away!

A lot of vests don't protect the sides. If you have a side shot....

And if you know you're a good and fast shot and opportunity presents go for the lower abdomen/groin and upper inner legs. That's your guts, hip bone (good luck moving with a broken/shattered hip bone) and also the main artery. Head of course but that's not an easy thing to hit under stress

During WWII, if Shermans or Churchills couldn't hit a Tiger in the rear, they hit it in the tracks and road wheels to immobilize it so that somebody could circle behind it.

The guaranteed way to lose a fight is to just give up.

Please refer to the Mozambique drill, also known as the failure to stop, or as we were told when we practiced it, the body armor drill.

The whole thing of ripping three rounds off (two to the body and one to the head) is not how that drill is meant to be practiced. There should be a noticeable delay from the two body shots to the one head shot.
I was never worried about terrorists when I used to take an inmate to some backwater court at 7-8pm in the middle of the sticks when any back up was at least 20 minutes away. I was worried about some idiot who was mad at the guy I had with me and would try to take them out and would be fueled up on liquid courage. To me you are more likely to run into someone high or drunk then body armor and the outcome might be the same. It's amazing to watch someone boozed up or high take punishment, seen it before and it's astounding.

We had a shooting here about 8-9 years ago, some guy doped up on pills and booze got mad at his ex and shot six .357 rounds through her front door, luckily the door and the other side of the trailer were the only casualties there. He led cops on a slow speed chase for about 30 miles until spike strips took out his truck. He got out, and tried his end of a Mexican standoff, he had a Colt Peacekeeper (ugly flat black .357) and he had 6 rounds versus something like 8-9 cops. He opened up, hit one Sergeant in the vest with a Winchester 158 grain JHP and it didn't penetrate the vest, then another sheriff and that hit the pepper spray can which popped and sent some shrapnel into the officers side but nothing serious. In the end he received something like 12-13 bullet wounds coming from all directions, which were a variety of .45 ACP, .45 GAP and .223. The autopsy said it was the two head shots that ended it, one .45 from temple to temple and a .223 in the forehead. He looked like a cheese grater everywhere else but was standing through it until the headshots put out the lights.

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Vaya con Dios

The problem with this bolded portion of this response is that it's not a very accurate assessment of how it will probably go down.

If you look at the numbers over the last 10 years in mass shooting incidents, the killing is completed before the police arrive in vast majority of incidents. In about 20% of mass shootings the shooter goes mobile, and in another 20% or so he just walks away. In about half the cases where he's still around when the police arrive, he's likely to just kill himself. Which leaves a pretty small percentage of incidents where the police response is meaningful in terms of preventing deaths of civilians.

It's improving somewhat as more departments are training officers to take an immediate response and not simply evacuate the warm zone and contain the situation until the SWAT team arrives. The lessons have been learned over and over again that an immediate response by the first 1-3 officers on the scene are the best way to save lives. The downside of this immediate action approach however is that the responding officers get shot about 30% of the time.

I think we all agree that if escape is an option for you and your family, take it. But no one should ever make the mistake of thinking that the police are going to arrive in time to prevent anyone from getting killed or injured, as when all is said and done, when seconds count, the police at still going to be minutes away.

This is also the US, not the sandbox and the terrorist attacks in the US have ben notable in terms of the general ineptitude of would be bombers, and a general reliance on commonly available firearms, not full auto AK-47s, RPG-7s, etc.

Will you be outgunned with a handgun? Probably. But on the other hand the average domestic terrorists we've seen in the US have not been all that proficient with the firearms they have and a well trained armed citizen will be far more effective than most people tend to think.

The numbers indicate that even unarmed citizens do surprisingly well in ending mass shootings before the police arrive. Consider that between 2000 and 2010 of some 87 mass shootings, 24 ended with the police killing or subduing the shooter. In comparison 16 mass shootings were ended by the would be victims killing or subduing the shooter. In only 3 of those cases were the would be victims armed and able to kill the shooter with gun fire.

That's a reflection on that fact that only an estimated 1 in 20 adults in the US has a concealed carry permit, and that at best only half of those individuals are likely to conceal carry on a daily basis (and that estimate is probably high). On the other hand that 2.5% of the adult population is responsible for ending 19% of mass shootings ended by civilians, and 7.5% of all mass shootings ended by police or civilians. That's an over representation of 7.5 to 1 and 3 to 1 respectively.

That suggests the odds of an armed citizen ending a mass shooting or terrorist attack are actually quite good. You just need to be armed in the first place.

Or, as the CG used to say: "You have to go. You don't have to come back." The literature I've read on active shooters is pretty consistent: Fast responses save lives.

^ Yup.

If you are in public : Carry a gun. At least one. One you can shoot very well. Load it with good quality proven ammo that has made Doc Roberts' list. Carry at least one reload. If you have trained with it, have a WML in addition to your flashlight. Carry a knife accessible to your off hand, partly as a weapon retention tool, but mostly to cut stuff that needs to be cut right now, like seat belts at a wreck. Carry a cell phone; wear your earpiece at all times when in public. I have made good use of mine calling 911 twice in the last 18 months, once for an officer in need of assistance whom neither I nor responding officers could locate quickly. (I found him first and passed it on.)

Carry those things every day, every minute. Except for work, don't go to places where you cannot be lawfully armed. Don't go to stupid places, like most bars. If there is dancing other than ballroom, leave. If you begin to think you are in a stupid place because you did not know better at first, or because someone is acting up - leave.

Know your state laws regarding use of force. Know your capability. Maintain good physical condition. It is not unknown to have good guys die from a heart attack in the stress of a critical incident. Study, understand and apply tactics. Learn to be observant, perceptive, and decisive. Not only do seconds kill, parts of seconds kill. Don't dawdle. This applies to all of your life, day in/day out.

Terrorists: low grade threat for most of us, most of the time. Far less than car crashes and the flu. Apply the above as if it matters, because it does, and if you get caught up in what appears to be a terrorist incident, you will be as prepared as you can be. (If you want to be more prepared, or think you can be, join the military and go to a SOCOM unit, or LE and join a full time SWAT unit - but most of the time, those folks will not be able to respond, and will not be timely. That's putting aside that the folks who can do such things are very different from the rest of us - even at my best and toughest I would not have made the simplest screening. Drift over.) Serious terrorists will use complex tactics, including diversions, explosives, secondary attacks. Some will be of near military quality. Question: if you go to an airport (or someplace else) and you see an apparently empty vehicle where it does not belong, like a marked "no parking" zone or the like, what do you do? If your answer is not "leave the area as fast I can while calling 911 and passing on as much good info as I can", slap yourself until you overcome your mindset flaws. Seen that. Abandoned luggage in an airport - evade, notify closest employee with apparent security duties. Sure, most of the time it was the result of idiocy and the idiot will be embarrassed and inconvenienced - and they need to be.

If someone like the shooter in Colorado Springs pops up in front of you - dump him. LE is almost certain 60+ seconds out, best case. 3 minutes is more likely, even with good response times, and 5-10 is foreseeable before one officer can arrive, and start hunting. If you hear something you think could be shots, the odds of you successfully hunting that person are slim - you probably need to escape. If taken hostage, be grateful your pistol(s) are concealed - when you get the drop on the hostage taker, dump him/her - with no warning. If you are in a fair fight, your tactics suck - and you are a fool.

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NHI, 10-8.

Who wants to get shot at? Run away. If you can't run away, find a good place to hide. If you can't do that, you'd better be good at head and pelvis shots.
Also, if you haven't been shot at, it's hard to know what your reaction is going to be.

Who wants to get shot in the back?

Can you run 2,396 feet per second? I can't.

I was a lousy runner as a 21 year old Infantry 2nd Lt. At 57, I'm not one SECOND faster. At no point in my life have I ever been able to outrun a 122gr. 7.62mm bullet.

Any day of the week I've got a better chance for survival by shooting my attempted murderer(s) than by trying to run faster than the speed of sound.

Much depends on the specific scenario and distance from the shooter(s), but fleeing is generally going to be the best response although engagement could very well be the better choice. Every situation is different. However, I wouldn't likely be standing still and returning fire if out in the open under any circumstances.

Along with the fact that nobody can outrun even a CB Cap, the Army taught me about concealment, cover and the difference between them. It also taught me, whenever possible, to fire from a supported position.