Situational Awareness for The Armed Individual

As we evolved into the blissfully ignorant and physically incapable, human predators found the pickings got even easier. This was never truer than in this high-tech day and age where smart phones and air pods remove any awareness of what is going on around us and the first inclination is to hit video record, not save ourselves. Although more and more of us are being deprived of our right to defend ourselves both before and after the fact, many rightly refuse to accept this as the norm and take active steps to maintain their own and their family's safety and security. Staying reasonably fit, learning to fight with your hands, carrying a gun, and maintaining situational awareness of their surroundings, people are recognizing the hard reality; no one is ultimately responsible for protecting you other than you. Not the police, your neighbors or even your family. And bumbling along completely unaware of your surroundings, places you and others in increasingly needless jeopardy.

The flip side of the coin is equally to be avoided; over-familiarity with your environment causing complacency, even a feeling of invulnerability adding to your peril. If you carry a gun, among many other responsibilities, you have a responsibility to maintain situational awareness because every interaction you have with other people is an armed interaction. That includes having the situational awareness to maintain the security and concealment of your weapon; just because it's yours doesn't mean it can't be used against you. Additionally, think carefully about accessibility, as a gun will be useless if you cannot get to it quickly.

Let's take a moment and note a few things about the bad guys. First, criminals are opportunists and are constantly evaluating their environment (and those in it) looking for a chance to do what they do, be it rob, rape, assault, pick your pocket and not get caught so they can do it again. They are looking for the individual who is an easy mark. They are not engaged in a sport, there are no rules save one, to get what they want. Relying on their humanity or sympathy is a failed strategy which will result in tragedy. They do not, nor will they ever, care about you or your family, your hopes and dreams, or the pain and suffering they may inflict up on you. This only happens after they get caught! They are not like most other people, rational, social, or civilized and accepting this is very difficult because we judge all people against the standard of ourselves. Sociopaths do not play by the same rules.

Along with accepting the realities of the bad guy, we must also accept, and overcome, some of the realities regarding ourselves especially where it relates to an armed, violent confrontation. All human beings retain animal instincts, but we rely on them less and less nowadays. We are hard wired to have one of three basic responses to a stressful situation: freeze; flee; or fight. None of these make us feel comfortable (nor are they designed to). In fact, we often purposely suppress these instincts because we feel foolish, don't want to be embarrassed or don't want to insult anyone. We create excuses in our heads for people and situations that we find odd, wanting to believe that they are not out to harm us. This is extremely dangerous and often results in bad situations getting worse. Police officers will tell you time after time of victims saying "…I knew something wasn't right with that guy…" or "… it just didn't feel right…". Except they did nothing about it. The only thing cops hear more than "It'll never happen to me" is "I never thought it would happen to me".

Author and security consultant Gavin De Becker covers this very well in his book 'The Gift of Fear', a book which should be read by every person in America. Even after recognizing they are under a very real life-threatening attack, most people are reluctant to inflict violence on another human being. In particular, ordinary armed citizens are most hesitant to use deadly force. We must realize that lethal force, defined as any force likely to cause death or serious injury, is not just acceptable but required in some situations and hesitation will get you killed. It is worth noting now that a willingness to use lethal force is not the same as a willingness to kill. This is a fundamental difference between the soldier and the policeman. You must understand that the force you are willing to use is likely to cause death or serious injury. If you are unwilling or incapable of using lethal force, do not carry a gun.

The cornerstone of all situational awareness is threat recognition, but it is worthless unless married to a bias for action. Simply put, you must first see the threat as such, decide what to do about it and then do it! Failure in any one of these steps can cost you your life. Let us break this down and give you the steps which will help you survive a situation with the potential for violent confrontation.

Step #1. See the threat and recognize it as such. If you don't see it, you won't even know there is a threat. Keep your head up and your eyes open. Look around you, observe and constantly evaluate your environment by asking mental questions. Who is that guy? Why is he here? What is in his hands? Is he getting ready to attack me? Trust your instincts which are nothing more than a person's sense about a situation influenced by experience and knowledge. Know what is normal and what is not and beware what doesn't look or isn't acting normal. Do not make alibis for what does not look/feel right. An example:

You are carrying a couple of grocery bags to your car in an underground parking lot. A guy approaches you and asks if you need help. Is this normal? Probably. You reply no thanks as you can manage. He asks if are you sure. Is this still normal? Maybe. He then says no come on, let me help you. Still normal? No!

Your Spidey senses may have already been activated before he even opened his mouth, maybe he came from the shadows where no cars are parked, maybe it is the way he is dressed or maybe he is not alone. Maybe it's what he says… if he says he's going to kill you, believe him!

Understand no one can live in a state of constant 'DEFCON 1' so employ a sliding scale of awareness. One good example is Jeff Coopers Color Code, discussed in other Standing Tall articles, consisting of four levels of awareness each assigned a color indicating intensity of awareness and some probable actions required for an escalating situation. In a nutshell, keep your eyes and ears open and your head on a swivel at least whenever you are away from your castle.

Step #2. Decide what to do. As discussed above, the three basic human instincts when faced with a life-threatening situation are freeze, flee, or fight but there can be many variations or combinations of these options and you will have to decide which to use. But you must decide rapidly! To paraphrase General Patton, an eighty percent solution executed rapidly with vigor is better than the hundred percent solution which takes too long. Indecision in combat, which is what we are talking about, is fatal. There are too many possible situations for a solution to be devised for each but, the best way to avoid a gunfight is not be there in the first place!

Step #3. Do it! Whether it is run, hide, fightback or just warn your aggressor, do it now and do it like you mean it. Many plans fail in the execution because they were not pressed hard enough, and history is full of examples of success against overwhelming odds when pressed with determination. For the armed citizen who decides to use their gun remember, you have options. Pointing and warning may be all you need but, you must be convincing, and up the ante on your situational awareness, looking for more options, any additional threats or someone who you can ask to help.

These three steps can occur very fast, less than seconds in some cases. If you haven't even thought of this, you are truly behind the curve and the only thing preventing a bad thing happening to you is luck. Luck that your path hasn't intersected with a predator who sees you as an easy mark. Luck that someone else looks like a better option to the criminal. Or luck that he just doesn't want to prey on you, this time.

This brief discussion on situational awareness for armed citizens is designed to remind individuals carrying a gun in of itself is not enough, there is much more to it. Like a good SWAT team learns quickly, the job doesn't start at the entry point, it starts way before. Situational awareness for armed citizens is a mindset which requires a commitment from you every day and should become a natural condition. As acknowledged earlier, you do not need to live in a constant state of hyper alertness, nor should you be in constant ignorance of your surroundings. Dial your situational awareness up and down as required. In later articles, we will discuss the armed response and its aftermath in greater detail.

Nowadays, many people stumble through daily life unaware of what's going on around them. They remain in a self-imposed fog until something happens and it is too late to help themselves. Stand Tall, lift the fog, see the warning signs earlier and be better prepared.