In the letter sent to the parents, the principal states that the canned good could be used as a last resort to perhaps “catch the intruder off guard”. This is a totally correct, and logical, statement. The Counter strategies written by ATI, and adopted by thousands of organizations around the country, are a strategy of last resort, and only to be used should contact by made by a shooter who is targeting a group of innocent people. The strategies are designed to greatly increase the chances of mitigating the planned casualties through two means:
Use overwhelming stimulus to interrupt the shooter’s ability to shoot accurately. People become a much harder target.
Following the concepts of Movement, Distance, and Distractions, citizens can achieve the desired outcome of casualty mitigation. The initial goal when confronted by the shooter is not necessarily to stop his ability to shoot, but to, as quickly as possible, inhibit his ability to shoot accurately. Even from a close distance.
The throwing of any available item, including canned goods, at the face of the shooter will immediately cause the desired effect in practically every human being. The natural response to an item being thrown at one’s face is a break in attention, closing one’s eyes, and a reflexive movement to protect one’s face. Once that has been achieved, many of the skills needed to complete the skillset of shooting accurately will immediately be negated, and less accurate shooting will result. This will surely mean lower hit rates which translate into fewer casualties.
Once this distraction has been achieved, the citizens are then afforded the opportunity to either attempt evacuation, or physically take control of the shooter using their vast superiority of numbers. These are simple but extremely effective strategies. Actions are always dictated by age, physical and mental abilities, and circumstances. (Read more about ATI’s age appropriate training). But it is important that citizens understand all of their response options.
... While the use of canned goods to achieve the desired result of distracting the shooter is not a specific ATI recommendation, we fully support the concept as outlined in the school’s plan as a tool for distraction. The validity of this plan is substantiated by the thousands of organizations around the country in all demographics who have made ALICE part of their Active Shooter response plan. These organizations represent approximately 22 million citizens of all ages who are now exposed to this type of training in proactive, options-based responses to these extremely dangerous situations. Their belief in the program’s ability to save lives is a huge honor for the ALICE Training Institute, and it is greatly appreciated.
