#How far does the sound of a gunshot travel how to#

How To Measure Noise Level Of A Gun With Decibel Pro App.Learn to identify shots being fired and have an escape plan. DonвЂ™t be caught in the web of denial and rationalization like so many past shooting victims. Unfortunately, it is something most people never think about. Quickly recognizing the sound of gunfire is a critical skill for surviving an active shooter event. Please be cautious not to alarm any neighbors when you try this! You donвЂ™t want to hear the sounds of police gunfire when they think there is an active shooter inside your house or office. This exercise can also be done inside your house. It will be much more difficult than you think.

Get a feel for what the shots sound like and try to locate the shooter. вЂ“ If you have control over a large building, it would be very useful to wait until the building is empty and have a friend fire some blank rounds from various locations inside. The muffled sounds that you can hear from outside (or from the front room outside the range) are most similar to the sounds of gunfire inside a building. вЂ“ Even if you have fired a weapon many times, you should recognize that guns fired indoors sound different than guns fired outside. вЂ“ If you know what guns sound like, do your children? They need to know too. You donвЂ™t have to learn to identify the caliber, only recognize that shots are being fired. Try to hear several different types of guns. 22 rifle does not make the same sound as a 9mm handgun or a 12 gauge shotgun. Different firearms make different sounds. If you havenвЂ™t ever heard the sounds of gunshots, please have a friend take you shooting or visit a shooting range just to hear the sounds. вЂ“ I assume that most of the folks reading this page are shooters and have at least heard the sound of gunfire at some point in their lives. Maybe listening to these at the office isnвЂ™t such a good idea They are far more difficult to identify while wearing headphones. Many shots are difficult to hear inside a building. вЂ“ Be cautious of wearing iPod or stereo headphones in a public place that may be the site of a shooting.

If you hear loud popping sounds in a public location, assume that they are gunshots and immediately come up with an escape plan. If you hear loud popping noises, donвЂ™t allow denial or rationalization to convince you that they arenвЂ™t gunshots. вЂ“ First, acknowledge the fact that an active shooter event can happen anywhere. So, what can you do to avoid the mis-identification of gun shots and increase your odds of escaping an active shooter event? Here are some suggestions: DonвЂ™t rely solely on your ability to hear the shots as your means to find the gunman! Asking the victims or fleeing students where the shooter is will also be a vital tactic. Rather than relying on hearing the shots, you should be gathering intelligence on the shooterвЂ™s location by looking for blood, empty cartridge cases, and smoke. That tactic doesnвЂ™t work when you donвЂ™t hear the gunfire! If you are a police officer reading this, I strongly suggest that you abandon this approach. Many police active shooter response courses teach officers to вЂњrun to the sounds of the gunsвЂќ. Not only does this muffling issue affect potential victims, it also changes police response. The officers trying to find me did not even hear the shots from just one floor below my location! I was firing blanks from an AR-15 rifle in a vacant multi-story office building. I remember playing the role of the active shooter for a neighboring police agencyвЂ™s training scenario. Sometimes, you wonвЂ™t be able to hear the shots at all. The shots sound muffled and the direction from which they are being fired is difficult to determine.

#How far does the sound of a gunshot travel full#

Even when the person playing the role of the shooter is firing full power blank cartridges, it is difficult to locate him inside a school or office building. IвЂ™ve participated in numerous active shooter training scenarios where I have been tasked with finding the вЂњshooterвЂќ inside a large building. Gunfire inside a building doesnвЂ™t sound like gunfire at the shooting range. The faster you or your children can recognize the sounds of gunfire, the better your chances for escape will be. It is important to quickly be able to distinguish gunfire from other less lethal sounds. Victims trapped inside the Virginia Tech classroom building during that school shooting believed they were hearing construction noises, not gunshots. In the Beslan School massacre, people thought the initial shots were popping balloons. The same was true when two students began shooting inside Columbine High School. In the Oikos California college shooting last April (where 10 people were shot), victims reported thinking that the gun shots were fireworks.