[Alabama Shooter]

Napoleon once said that a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. We can learn a great deal from what went wrong here can't we?

He may have said this but this is actually a Latin Proverb from Roman Times.

Here are some points for you to consider.

1). A pistol will win against a rifle IF the pistolero kills the rifleman before the rifleman sees him. Much of this has to do with tactics, but that should be part of your skill set.

Maybe. A lot depends upon ranges, activity and a host of other factors. Seeing the active shooter before he sees you is merely one factor in an overly broad scenario.

3). The surest way to stop a man in his tracks (with some permanence) is with a shot to the head delivered at close range. Some folks dislike teaching head shots. I require them.

This is very true. Heads are much harder to hit for a lot of reasons (smaller, constantly moving around with activity, etc) but are shots are most often more effective with a round that can assure either penetration or catastrophic damage to the head.

4). Verbalizing or challenging, as in "Halt - Drop The Gun" is not a good idea. In fact, its virtual suicide in a situation like this. You cannot yell and shoot well at the same time, and yelling may alert the bad guy to your location. There is evidence that this occurred in Tacoma.

5). You verbalize and challenge ONLY when you are not certain of what is going on and then ONLY from behind solid cover (if the adversary is armed with a rifle, few things qualify as cover). If you have enough to justify shooting, then shut your trap and work the trigger.

I can't think of any reason why you would want to verbally challenge an active shooter holding a rifle while you are holding a pistol.

7). Although I like and teach point shooting (in its context), pro-active shooting like this requires traditional marksmanship. Be deliberate! Watch your front sight and press carefully and repeatedly (with your mouth shut).

I am not so sure. Again I think it depends upon a lot of things, range being an important factor as well as your load, tactical situation and a host of other things. Deliberate shooting at a target ten feet away holding a rifle sounds foolish to me.

8). Train with photographic targets and do force on force training. Get used to the idea that you carry your gun to potentially shoot at a human attacker. The more you get comfortable with this the easier it will be. Tommy Lee Jones' character in the movie, The Hunted, told his students that when you can kill in your mind, the physical part is easy. He's right.

I like TLJ. When he acts in a movie it is not real life it is a writer's view of what he thinks life is. I don't think killing people can be made easy for most people. This does not mean that people should not learn how to deal with stressful situations.

10). Last, consider that there may be a reason why God (or fate if you wish) put you, armed and trained, at that very spot and place in time, with the ability to save innocents. This is the life-giving sword (or gun in this context) that some ancient warriors discussed in their writings.

From what I have studied most ancient warriors were brutish, cruel, self interested and self involved. They would unapologetically hack most people to death if it met with their short term goals.