Run, Hide, Fight: Your Active Shooter Survival Guide

FBI - Run Hide Fight

https://youtu.be/iPUhhdBXdfk

https://youtu.be/TeOdxKozra0

Your survival might depend on three simple words: Run. Hide. Fight. These aren't just recommendations—they're a framework developed by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security that could save your life during an active shooter situation.

With active shooter incidents occurring weekly across America in public spaces—schools, malls, workplaces, concerts—knowing how to respond isn't paranoia; it's practical preparation. The good news? When people act decisively, survival rates climb to 70-80%. This episode breaks down exactly what to do in those critical moments when seconds matter most.

We explore each step of the protocol in detail: running as your first and best option (leave everything behind and move with purpose); hiding strategically (not just cowering, but barricading and positioning yourself tactically); and fighting as a last resort (using improvised weapons and absolute commitment). Through personal experiences from my law enforcement background and FBI training scenarios, I share practical insights you won't find in theoretical discussions.

Beyond the protocol itself, we tackle the confusing landscape of mass shooting definitions. From the FBI's intent-focused approach to the Gun Violence Archive's victim threshold of four or more people, these varying definitions create vastly different statistics—from 48 incidents to over 300 in the same timeframe. Understanding these distinctions helps cut through media confusion while keeping focus on what matters: your response remains the same regardless of definition.

This is the most important episode I've ever recorded. Please watch the FBI training videos linked in the show notes, carry basic trauma supplies like tourniquets, and share this information widely. Taking just minutes to mentally map escape routes or prepare a simple first aid kit isn't living in fear—it's ensuring you have every chance to go home at the end of the day. Because you deserve that chance.

Chapters

• 0:00 Podcast Introduction
• 1:28 Run Hide Fight Protocol Overview
• 6:40 Run: Your First Best Option
• 9:00 Hide: Strategic Concealment
• 10:33 Fight: Last Resort Tactics
• 12:53 Mass Shooting Definitions Explained
• 17:41 Videos and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning. Welcome to the Common Sense Practical Prepper Podcast, where prepping doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Coming to you from a well-defended, off-grid compound high in the mountains, coming to you from his Florida room in Richmond, virginia Neither off-grid nor well-defended, unless you count as chickens and cats, here is your host, keith hey everybody.

Speaker 2: 0:42

This is Keith, and welcome back to the Common Sense Practical Prepper Podcast, september 21st, 2025. And this is a podcast that I have been considering recording for quite some time and I never quite got around to it. You listen to any of my podcasts. If you have to pick one podcast out of I don't know a couple hundred, I want this to be the podcast you listen to. Please subscribe to my channel, please share this podcast. If you don't share any podcast, please share this one and please give me a review.

Speaker 2: 1:18

We're going to talk about active shooters, surviving an active shooter and what I call and what the FBI calls their protocol run hide fight. You can search this on YouTube. You can search it on the net. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people providing their opinions and I'm just another one of those people providing my opinion on this particular subject. Talking about this is probably equal parts uncomfortable and essential surviving an active shooter event. We're going to break down the run hide fight protocol straight from the experts at the FBI and DHS Department of Homeland Security, then tackle something that's been bugging me and that is the murky definition when it comes to a mass shooting. The numbers are different, there's different definitions, but I think it's important to settle on a definition. Really, at the end of the day, you just need to survive the shooting. But there are different stats, different organizations define it, a million different ways. So I'll go through a few of those. So, understanding the threat, why run hide, fight matters?

Speaker 2: 2:32

The cold reality is active shooter incident is when somebody is hell bent on harming as many people as possible in a crowded area. These are not as rare as you might think. According to the FBI's latest data, there was an active shooter event in public places every single week in 2023, and that trend really has not slowed down in 2025. We're talking schools, malls, workplaces. We're talking schools, malls, workplaces, concerts. When I think of concerts, I think of Las Vegas, places where people are just living their daily lives. But here's the good news Survival rates in these events hover between 70 and 80 percent when people act decisively. Let me repeat that Survival rates in these events hover around 70 to 80% when people act. Here's the key word decisively.

Speaker 2: 3:38

Preparation, not paranoia. I know there's a fine line between being paranoid and being prepared, but it's true. So run-hide-fight protocol is not some Hollywood invention. It's a national standard put out by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. It's simple, you can remember it and it's designed for split-second decisions. Think of it as a mental flow chart Assess fast, act even faster. So we're going to break it down step by step. You can drill this into your brain and it's almost like muscle memory. I'm going to share a few links in the show notes about two videos and I'll get into those in a minute. And this is the third time I've attempted to record this and I apologize if I sound a bit serious. Probably later on I'll sound like I'm a little bit angry, but I've been overwhelmed with emotion every time I've tried to record this. So we'll give it a shot.

Speaker 2: 4:46

Run is your first and best option. If you hear shots or see chaos, don't freeze. Run the goal. Get out now, away from danger. Leave your stuff behind. Your life is not worth your laptop, ranger. Leave your stuff behind. Your life is not worth your laptop.

Speaker 2: 5:05

Sometimes, when people hear what are truly gunshots, they initially go into a quick state of denial oh, that's a firecracker. Oh, that just must be construction down the block, because nobody's going to come into my workplace and start shooting. Well it happens. Head for the nearest exit, even if it's not the main exit through the main entrance, just because that's what you use three and four times a day. If you have to move, run and move with a purpose. No lollygagging, no looking back over your shoulder. You need to be Jesse Owens and you need to be running as fast as you can. Help others if it's safe. Tell people this way. Follow me. Don't play hero and don't slow yourself down Once out. Keep running until you're in a secure spot behind a solid barrier. You're with first responders, hands up empty palms. Show them nothing's in your hand so you don't get mistaken for a bad guy. Follow directions from law enforcement. So a pro tip from the pros. In the training videos the FBI shows bar patrons bolting through a back door during a simulated attack, saving lives in seconds.

Speaker 2: 6:28

Next time you're in a mall or your office, mentally map out three escape routes. It takes 30 seconds and it could save your life. Hide when you cannot escape, when escape is impossible, you're going to hide. Hide like your life depends on it, because it does. Find a spot that's out of sight and hard to get into. Lock and barricade the doors. Desk chairs, filing cabinets, refrigerators, coffee makers, everything you can in front of that door. Turn out the lights, silence your cell phones, go dark and go quiet. If you're in a group, spread everybody out. Don't bunch up and be a bunch of sitting ducks. Get away from the door and get away from the windows as best you can. If you want to peek out and assess what's going on and you're going to move from that room, let's say to the exit stay low, but have a plan. Tell people what you're going to do and then see who's going to go with you.

Speaker 2: 7:38

So DHS emphasizes hiding just is not cowering under a desk to make yourself an easy target. That's not going to help you at all. It's very strategic Know what you're going to do and then do it quickly. Now fight. Fight is last resort and when you fight you are not going to fight fair, and I will tell you this. I took a train the trainer type of class with the FBI, with a SWAT team, and something the instructor said to me that I will never forget. At the very beginning of this class he said you have every right to go home at the end of the day. You have every right to live. If you're going to fight, you're not going to fight fair. Improvise weapons, chairs, belts, the hot coffee you've got sitting on your desk, anything that you can pick up fire extinguisher. Again, I'll repeat it the FBI's mantra fight like your life depends on it, because it does this. Training was very stressful, but they provided real world examples. Remember, fighting is a last resort, but knowing you can fight, that's very empowering. So here's a couple personal examples.

Speaker 2: 9:02

I was a police officer for 26 years. As my son was growing up, they did drills code, red code, blue, lockdown drills, whatever each school system decides to call it. I told my son about run hide fight, and this protocol has been around for a long time. I told my son he needs to find the nearest window if they're in a classroom and he needs to bust out that window with whatever he's got and he needs to run. He needs to run with everybody else that's running outside and get to safety. I told him don't worry about the window, don't worry about what the teacher's saying. You are in control of everything your own life in this sense. Bust out the window and go In my particular workplace we did real scenarios.

Speaker 2: 9:50

We went into an area of my building, the office area, and everybody you know sat at a desk or stood around a cube like they were just normal everyday stuff and one of the FBI instructors took two small pieces of wood, two two-by-fours, and when he smacked them together, that was our cue. That was a gunshot. In this particular scenario, the gunshot was right outside this office area. Running was not an option in this scenario, so we had to hide. People hid all over the place. Some people went under desks. Like I said, don't do that. People went into offices and barricaded the offices. That was good. Offices have windows. You decide whether or not you're going to barricade or you're going to barricade and then break a window and then exit.

Speaker 2: 10:43

We did this same drill in like the cafeteria, one of the break rooms. In this particular scenario, the gunshots were a little further away. Some people took off running Great Well, let's put it this way. We told the instructors where we were going to run and we kind of walked briskly because the last thing we needed to do was somebody fall and twisting an ankle during an exercise. But you get where I'm coming from. I noticed somebody in the break room grab a metal napkin dispenser. I thought that was beautiful, even though he was going to run. He grabbed that metal napkin dispenser and, speaking to him afterwards, he said he was going to use that as a weapon in the event the shooter came towards them or they encountered the shooter as they left the building.

Speaker 2: 11:35

I have a golf club. I have my putter, outside my office door with a couple of golf balls, and when I'm all stressed out at work I grab the golf balls and I putt across the floor just to kill a few minutes and just to de-stress. Well, there's another reason why that golf club is there and I'll let you all figure that out. So everybody take a deep breath, because I'm going to take a deep breath On the news. You hear another mass shooting and then you're like well, how many was that this year? Didn't we just hear about a mass shooting?

Speaker 2: 12:44

There are so many discrepancies on what is considered a mass shooting. Agencies will tell you 300, some will tell you 50. The discrepancy kind of drives me a little bananas, because fuzzy statistics aren't? You really don't get a good grasp on exactly what's going on and, in my opinion, clarity, regardless of what you're talking about, clarity is king. Clarity is paramount to know truly what you're talking about.

Speaker 2: 13:03

So the truth is there is no single agreed federal definition for a mass shooting among federal law enforcement. So it's like arguing over what counts as a big storm. Well, we got hit by a big storm, you know, here in Virginia, and then there's somebody out in the Midwest going well, what's your definition of a big storm? You know, here in Virginia, and then there's somebody out in the Midwest going well, what's your definition of a big storm? Because we have tornadoes every three weeks come through our town. So I guess it's kind of relative in that sense, but I think there really needs to be a clear definition.

Speaker 2: 13:30

So an active shooter incident, according to the FBI, is one or more folks actively trying to kill people in a populated area. There is no minimum number of victims. No one necessarily has to die. I guess that'd be mass murder, but that's probably another crazy definition. So no minimum victims. But it focuses on the intent and the chaos that ensues. In 2023, the FBI clocked 48 incidents with 105 deaths. That's excluding the shooters.

Speaker 2: 14:00

2025 so far, early reports suggest a similar pace about one every week. But full stats drop almost a year later, once they're gone through. So in January of 26, you're not going to really have the accurate data. It's going to take several more months for that to come out. So contrast that with the Gun Violence Archive, the GVA, a non-profit that crunches real-time data from police, media and hospitals.

Speaker 2: 14:31

So their bar for their definition four or more people shot, injured or killed, excluding the shooter Motive, is not a factor If bullets fly and it hits four people plus by their definition, that's what counts. Drive-by shootings, domestic shootings, all included. By August 31st of 2025, gva tallied 308 mass shootings with 300 people killed. Now that's a huge net, much broader than the FBI, when we're talking about the full toll of gun violence. Then there's Every Town for Gun Safety, another organization that blends the GVA stats with other agencies, but they tweak it for context a little bit. Their 2025 count, as of August, is 10 to 15. Why the discrepancy? The FBI's definition is intent-driven no victim threshold. Gva victim count heavy. Excluding all the scenarios.

Speaker 2: 15:38

A 2019 study showed overlaps as low as 6% across the databases. Only two events the FBI, gva and Everytown Gun Safety. Only two events were overlapped that the definitions agreed. All three definitions agreed with these two events. So, regardless of what definition you used from what the FBI or these two other agencies those two events matched all three descriptions and people that are significantly worried about their safety out in public, at the mall, at work, at a concert, at a sporting event. You need to be vigilant, you need to have situational awareness. Whether it's a mass shooting defined by GVA or an active shooter defined by the FBI, the response is the same Run hide fight. If you want to track those numbers for yourself, feel free to Google those agency or those other GVA or Everytown gun safety. There's others out there the Pew, I think, pew Research. They defined it a different ways, empowering you to face what ifs without losing sleep over the whys.

Speaker 2: 16:55

I'm going to drop the link to these two videos in the show notes. These two videos one is run hide fight in schools. The other one is run hide fight at a bar, at a restaurant. I have seen these videos dozens of times because I've taught those classes. Even to this day, when I watch that video, I get goosebumps because I have yet to find any training or any video that is more realistic, provides the protocols are broken down and you'll know what I'm talking about when you watch them. And you'll know what I'm talking about when you watch them. The videos are broken down into very easy to understand sections run hide fight. The actors in this probably deserve Academy Awards Again.

Speaker 2: 17:44

As a police officer, I've seen plenty of shootings. I've seen the result of plenty of shootings Again, even to this day. I get emotional when I watch these videos because it happens much, much too often. So, folks, do me a favor If you listen to any of my podcasts, please listen to this one. Please watch both of those videos. Do me a huge favor. Please share this particular podcast. Please provide a review. If you've never provided a review, if you think all of my podcasts absolutely suck, I want you to take this one seriously, take it to heart and please provide a review. That really helps the channel, especially help this particular podcast gain more traction.

Speaker 2: 18:34

I've talked about IFACs, or individual first aid kits, and I've talked about bags go bags, bug out bags, get home bags. Every one of those bags should have an IFAC, trauma, shears, bandage, tourniquet and, depending on what you get, a couple other goodies tucked in as well. Don't become a victim. Never accept the fact that you are going to die. On average, only 16% of people that are shot pass because of those wounds.

Speaker 2: 19:09

If you have a tourniquet, you can put that on yourself. If you have a tourniquet, you can help a co-worker, you can help a friend. Tourniquets are not expensive. But again, like I've said before, I prep out of peace of mind. So when I'm in my car going down the road, my little get home bag which I'm making a new one, by the way, because I watched some other videos and I found how terrible mine was and how many things it was actually lacking but just imagine having the ability to save your life or save someone else's because you put a 50, 60, $80, whatever an IFAT costs these days, because you had it handy. All right, folks, I appreciate it If you need to reach out practicalpreppodcast at gmailcom, on the Twitter Common Sense Practical Prepper or the official handle prep underscore podcast. And folks, as always, take care of one another. Be safe out there and until next time.

Speaker 1: 20:12

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