Vehicles In Shooting Incidents

In this day and age, cars figure prominently in all aspects of life in America and that includes criminal activities. Whether in use by the criminal, the intended victim or just parked on the street, cars will be around most shooting incidents outside and the prudent practitioner of armed self-defense would do well to recognize this fact and take steps to be better prepared. Stealing or hijacking cars is on the increase and getting more and more violent so it is imperative armed citizens train for the eventuality of getting shot at or shooting from, in or around a motor vehicle.

Before You Drive Armed

First, as ST stresses constantly, effective situational awareness improves the odds of avoiding the situation in the first place. In addition, here are some specific situational awareness considerations for individuals while driving:

• While temporarily stopped, at a traffic light for example, remain observant to your surroundings. This is not the time to get on the cell phone. Use the vehicle mirrors to see what is going on behind and to the sides of the vehicle.
• Always maintain control of the vehicle and keep it in drive, both hands on the steering wheel.
• Leave enough space from the vehicle in front to enable an emergency turn to escape. Never get too close to the vehicle in front. Bumper to bumper, even in heavy traffic, is never a good practice!
• Just as motorcycle riders are taught, constantly look for escape routes or plan evasive maneuvers should something happen.
• While driving, keep all doors locked. This not only prevents potential aggressors from jumping in but also, helps minimize the risk of ejection during a collision.

Sitting in the confined space of a vehicle is far from the ideal position from which to defend yourself, and you are strapped in with a seatbelt. Understand there is very little of a vehicle that will protect you from bullets. The only piece solid enough to prevent penetration is the engine block, a hunk of steel about the size of a standard box of office paper in most vehicles. Certainly not much to hide behind if you are getting shot at and that's if you know its exact position! The wheel rims may afford a little cover but the rest of the car, doors, side panels and roof provide no protection to even small caliber bullets. Cars can become death traps, a steel coffin, during a gunfight.

Take the time to become familiar with the vehicle, especially a strange vehicle such as a rental. In particular, know where seatbelts, door locks and door handles are located and how they operate. Does operating the door handle simultaneously unlock the door? Is the handle easy to find without looking for it? How does the seatbelt release work? These are not questions to be answered during an armed attack. Sit in the vehicle, carrying your firearm (safety first!) and practice releasing the seatbelt, drawing your weapon and opening the door all while not looking down at the mechanisms. Does your preferred carry method work inside the confines of the vehicle? Do not make the mistake of placing the gun on the seat next to you, apart from the obvious problem of it being immediately visible, it will be thrown around during rapid evasive maneuvers or vehicle impacts.

A Gunfight While in a Vehicle

Inside a vehicle during a gunfight, especially if the vehicle is taking fire, is a bad, bad, place but, you have options. The first and most important option is to drive away. Turn, reverse or accelerate away fast, preferably right over the aggressor! An FBI agent once described mistakenly following a car of suspected Colombian drug dealers into a cul-de-sac. The vehicle stopped, the drug dealers got out, guns in hand and advanced on the agent. Remembering his training, the agent simply put the vehicle in reverse and backed out of the approaching danger. The best way to avoid a gunfight is not be there! If driving away is not an option, due to traffic conditions for example, considered jumping out of the car and running away. There have been many instances of people running from their cars and escaping to safety while attackers continue to fire at their car due to the phenomenon of target fixation. If you must stay and fight, much better to find cover elsewhere, other parked vehicles or better still, a solid wall or earth bank from which to engage the attackers.

If driving away is not an option, place the vehicle in park. It is much more difficult to get out of a moving vehicle! Vehicle occupants must clear their seatbelts before any action can be taken. The seatbelt is designed to prevent movement within the vehicle including simple actions such as turning in the seat. In order to minimize the chance of being caught up in the seatbelt, clear the seatbelt in the following manner. Bring the hand closest to the door, always the outside hand, up towards the gap between the shoulder and the point it is mounted to the vehicle frame. Insert the whole hand into the gap between the seatbelt and the mounting bracket, sweep the hand forward, down and across the body releasing the seatbelt with the same hand. Throw the seatbelt off and away from your body towards the door. The occupant is now ready to move. As part of individual preparation, start building this as a motor skill by using the technique every time you get out of a car, slowly at first so as not to alarm fellow passengers! Slowly may be best if the adversary has the drop on you, such as in a carjacking situation, as you appear to comply all the while watching for an opportunity to act. As always, once you have decided to act, act fast and aggressively like you mean it.

If the situation requires shooting from inside the vehicle, keep your eyes on the threat as you clear the seatbelt and draw your weapon. Move the feet first and then the rest of the body. Make sure there is nothing on the vehicle's seats, such as briefcases and boxes, to impede movement. While moving inside the vehicle, maintain your weapon in the direction of the threat or holstered if you are retrieving a primary weapon such as a carbine or shotgun. Never thrust the weapon through an open window, it may be grabbed or if dropped, will be outside the vehicle on the threat side. Ensure the muzzle is not pressed against the window as this may push the slide out of battery and the weapon will not fire. Obtain correct sight alignment and sight picture and press the trigger shooting through the window glass. There is no need to compensate for deflection especially at the shorter ranges. Remember, if they are far enough away, leave the vehicle and run away!

When leaving the vehicle, unlatch the door and push it open forcefully, use your foot on the door to prevent it from swinging back and closing before you exit the vehicle. Keep the muzzle from pointing at your feet and legs when exiting the vehicle. Once outside the vehicle, move immediately to a position of cover, away from the vehicle if possible. Once in cover, with weapon in the firing position, come up and assess the situation looking for potential threats. If no other cover is available and you are forced to use your own vehicle, try to put the engine block or wheel rims between you and the aggressor. Other parts of the vehicle will not provide effective cover but mat offer some concealment. Do not rest your arms on the vehicle to steady your aim as this will increase the amount of your body exposed to incoming fire and the vehicle surface may be hot. Stay at least an arm's length away from the vehicle and be ready when you come up to engage threats. Employ the 'battle crouch' technique as opposed to a regular kneeling position as this allows for more rapid movement and faster traversing to engage flanking threats.

Be prepared to constantly change your position based on the direction of the threat maximizing available cover. Never leave cover until you have identified your next piece of cover and then move as fast as you can to it. It is often a good idea to reload before leaving cover if you have fired any rounds. When conducting reloads or malfunction drills, get as much of your body into cover as possible but keep the threat in view. After addressing all threats, reload and continue to cover threat area. Remember, a downed adversary is still a threat even if they are not moving. In a nutshell, do not come up until you are ready and you had better be ready when you come up!

When dealing with a multiple immediate threat situation, engage the immediate threat seen from cover first and then move to the next immediate threat seen from cover. If multiple immediate threats are seen simultaneously, prioritize quickly and engage the most dangerous first then move to the next dangerous. Threats should be prioritized by proximity, type of weapon and/or direction of movement.

A Suggested Range Bailout Drill

The following is a simple drill set up on a standard twenty-five-yard range to practice shooting from inside a vehicle then bailing out to engage further threats. First, some general assumptions:

• All participants are familiar with standard range and weapon safety rules.
• Shooters are trained and practiced in weapon safety and the operation of their chosen handgun.
• The range venue allows for this kind of training and permits vehicles on the range.
• Instructors are fully qualified and experienced firearms instructors.
• There will be no consequences if bullets impact the vehicle, they will!

Using the listed equipment, set up the range according to the diagram below.

Required range equipment:

• Twenty-five-yard range.
• 1 X paper target.
• 1 each red and blue (or black and white) steel targets.
• 1 X range vehicle with open drivers' side window. Do not use a personal or rental vehicle, IT WILL GET SHOT!
• Normal range supplies.

Required personal equipment:

• Pistol in every day carry position.
• Total three pistol magazines, five rounds in each.
• Coat or jacket covering weapon.
• Normal range gear (eye, hearing protection etc.).

It is assumed the situation dictates this worst-case scenario and better options, such as driving or running away, are not available. Explain the drill as follows:

• Participant will start seated in the drivers' seat with seatbelt on. Participant will have pistol loaded with five rounds and two spare magazines each with five rounds using every day carry method. Weapon and spare magazines are to be covered with coat or jacket.
• Participant will give a visual 'thumbs up' when ready to begin the drill.
• Instructor will shout color of steel target to be engaged. This is the signal for the participant to begin the drill at their own speed.
• Participant will visually identify the threat, place the vehicle in park.
• Clear the seatbelt.
• Turn towards the threat, drawing weapon.
• Engage paper target with 2 rounds.
• Keeping weapon oriented towards the threat, finger off the trigger, move across the seats and open the passenger door.
• Exit and move to a position of cover at the front of the vehicle (engine block).
• Engage the 'called' steel target.
• Conduct weapon immediate action, clear malfunctions and reload as required.
• Continue to cover the threat area until the instructor gives the command "STOP, MAKE SAFE".
• Unload and show clear.

The drill is designed to build the correct motor skills and the participant should use correct techniques at all times. If incorrect techniques are observed, they must be corrected immediately and the drill repeated. Along with observing for any safety violation such as pointing the muzzle in a dangerous direction, finger on the trigger while moving out from/around the vehicle, the instructor should watch for correct application of the techniques. Common mistakes made by participants in addition to safety errors, include:

• Pushing the weapon out of the drivers' side window.
• Taking eyes off the threat to move or 'find' the seatbelt release, door handle.
• Not maintaining muzzle clearance and shooting the vehicle.
• Standing upright on exiting the vehicle.
• Adopting a firing position too close to the vehicle and exposing too much body.

The suggested drill should be practiced until the participant has built solid motor skills and can be set up anywhere as there is no requirement to fire live rounds until much later. If using real weapons, remember the cardinal safety rules and make sure all weapons are unloaded, safe and empty. No magazines, including spare, should contain live ammunition.

As intricate as vehicles have become to our everyday lives, the armed citizen must expect a vehicle to be involved in many of today's violent confrontations. As with all preparation for these encounters, good situational awareness is always the first step, followed by realistic training. This article is intended to help ST readers prepare for a shooting incident while inside of a vehicle and gives a baseline for acquiring some skill sets which may save lives.