Am I Going to be Gunned Down?

I’m sitting in a public place in a public mall while writing. While I’m working away, it occurs to me, could I be gunned down at any moment? Could some guy mad at the world for whatever reason decide to storm into the mall with a gun or a bunch of guns and just start shooting?

If this should happen, what would I do? I’m not necessarily brave enough to play hero and try to take down someone armed with a firearm by myself, at least not while I’m unarmed. I think if I were armed, I would have enough backbone to try to defend myself and to save others, but one never really knows unless one is in such a situation.

But I’m not armed. What would I do? I don’t think I would try to hide under a table. I just don’t think that’s a good way of staying alive. One is a sitting target that way. Running? Maybe, but that might draw the sight of the gunman.

The best I can do is be aware of the exits around me, and to be aware of the entrances to the stores because those almost always have a back door that either leads outside or to a back hallway that leads to outside. Other than that, there’s not much else I can do.

Oh, I could arm myself. I’ve carried a concealed weapon before, but that’s been years and years ago. At the time I worked a job in which my life was threatened often enough, so I felt the need to carry.

But I don’t carry now. I haven’t in at least a decade. I still enjoy the shooting sports, but frankly the whole machismo tough-guy attitude that goes along with much of the gun culture just turns me off, as does the fringe groups always worrying about the government taking away their guns and their rights. Please. If there is ever open warfare between the federal government and a sizable portion of the civilian population, who do you honestly think is going to win? Ever heard of drones? Carpet bombing? Tanks? Give me a break. The best a civilian militia force could hope for would be an extended small-scale conflict such as what has been going on in  Afghanistan and other nations. But at the point the federal government entered open violent conflict with civilians, I doubt such a government would care any longer about its public image. Which means all gloves would be off. Which means there would no longer be any punches pulled. Which means mass destruction beyond the scope of what a militia or organized civilian group could hope to deal with.