Book Review: Survive a Shooting by Alain Burrese

In the past decade I have read a staggering amount of books related to personal protection.  There is a lot of great written material out there, and some that is not worth your time.  I intent to start doing more brief book reviews to share my thoughts on some of these works.

The most recent book that I have read related to personal protection and self-defense is Survive a Shooting: Strategies to Survive Active Shooters and Terrorist Attacks by Alain Burrese.  A lot of self-defense books tackle the topic of active killers but there are few that speak specifically and entirely to this issue.  I think that Survive a Shooting is the single best treatment of the issue that I have read.

The author starts off with an overview of the history of the trend of mass killers, in particular active shooters, in the United States.  One thing most people will find quite remarkable is that this horrible trend is hardly new.  It goes back not only decades, but centuries.  Burrese also shares some incidents that I admit I was not even familiar with.

It quickly becomes clear that author Alain Burrese is exceptionally well-researched in dealing with this particular trend of the active shooter and he shares a great deal of information on how to deal with it if you find yourself in the situation.  He approaches the topic from the point of view that most people who face such a situation will not be armed with a firearm and this is, of course, most often the case as these incidents take place predominantly in restricted zones.  Burrese does, however, touch on resistance with firearms as well.

I think the best part of this book is the strategies that he offers in dealing with such an incident in an unarmed capacity, as this is, again, going to be the case for most.  He offers many excellent strategies for taking advantage of improvised weapons and for setting ambushes for the killer, taking advantage of the fatal funnel of doorways, and the like.

What I truly appreciate about this book is the excellent and much improved sequence of action that the author offers: rather than the well-known scenario from DHS of run, hide, fight, or the even more pathetic run, hide, tell promoted in the United Kingdom, Burrese offers Escape, Deny Access, Attack Back.  Notice that this language promotes action and resolve rather than haphazard victim mentality.  The strategies offered throughout the book live up to this approach.

If you are willing to devote the time to read one work on dealing with active shooters and mass killers, I highly recommend this one as your choice.

You can find this book on Amazon here.