"Bailout", "Active shooter", etc bag.

[rob_s]

My choice is an EDC small backpack that is my combo man purse/brief case etc. I do have this with me. I have been using a 5.11 pack, but been looking at this:


http://www.wearvertx.com/edc-gamut-bag.aspx


Sent from my iPad

I would strongly consider replacing my REI with one of those if it came in non-ninja colors.
which reminds me of another issue for the OP, consider buying a less expensive bag to start so you can figure out what features might be lacking for you. My REI doesn't have enough internal dockers and pouches for my likes (keep losing things in it) and that vertx above seems to have more than enough. I'd never know that if I hadn't been living with the REI for 6 months.

[Clay]

Excellent advice from Chuck, as always.

Non-LE "active shooter" anything is a bad idea, IMHO. If I happen to get a chance to safely react with my CCW pistol, so be it, but gearing up and grabbing a rifle - no way.

My " gear" in my auto amounts to a multitool, flashlight, jumper cables, fix-a-flat, and a good first aid kit.

[breakingtime91]

I had a conversation with a friend about this very subject. He found it weird that I would not attempt to grab a rifle and engage the subject. I found it weird that he couldn't understand that any responding officer would take the plain clothes/non le person with a rifle as a threat.... Some people just have a fantasy built into their head that they will be the one to stop a bad guy, which is cool but be realistic about it. With that stated I do feel like if you are armed and a active shooter starts gunning people down in your immediate area it is your obligation to do your best to end it. I understand this is not everyone's opinion and I am cool with that, that mindset is just how I choose to live my life. Back on topic though; I can see a grab bag being good for after the event to help treat wounded or treat yourself.

[Chuck Haggard]

In my active-shooter classes I advise non-LE that if they really want to help they'd be better off having medical skills, at least TCCC training, and a bag of trauma supplies.

They are still really going to need help after the shooting stops.

[ASH556]

Thanks for all the input and good conversation thus far guys. Let me clarify that in the event of an active shooter at like a mall or movie theater I have no intention of running out to the car for a rifle and running back in. You're right, I would immediately become a target to LE and even potentially other Civy good guys. I just used the term because in looking at offerings of what I envisioned from manufacturers, that's what they called their design. I carry a full-size 9mm handgun with a reload and that is what I would use if I faced such a situation. My thoughts for this bag are something like having to get through the video below. I work 40 miles from my home. With even recent events like Ferguson and as someone earlier in the thread mentioned, Atlanta's Snowpocolypse from last year I think I might prefer to have more options/capabilities. I realize once I have the rifle out I am no longer so "low profile" but the rifle is an SBR and I could choose to take it or leave it depending on the situation. Or, I could take it down and stow it in the backpack. My commute is through very densely populated areas and traffic is a nightmare on a daily basis, with no crisis fueling things. If I get stuck in traffic and a situation like the below unfolds, I'd like to be able to use more than a handgun to get myself out of it. It then occurs to me that I might like to have more than one rifle mag. Hence, the bag and the whole idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P43WZd611WA

[EPF]

Concur with all the comments about ninja gear and long guns

For the "take with you bag", I've been experimenting with Blue Force Gear DAP panel inserts. Using the Velcro pouches from cheaper manufactures like maxpedition and non-name brands - keeps the price equal or lower than a new pack. It's quickly re-configurable from pencils, batteries, and sunscreen to a blow out kit, Velcro holster and extra mags depending on the need, and scale up to one or both sides covered in pouches.

I can throw it into any old bag or pack that attracts no attention. I've even used it in the messenger style bag I use for work laptop etc. on occasion. So far it's worked great for dozens of different trips.

[Chuck Haggard]

One of my walk home bags is a Camelback, one of the small pack types. I often use it hunting, it looks like sports gear and not military stuff, is low vis, and can easily carry a 3 liter bladder, a small snivel gear, first aid gear and survival gear selection, and a KelTec sub2000 with three 31 round mags.

[Dropkick]

I like to drive in the other direction of riots, generally as fast as legally possible.

[Malamute]

I like to drive in the other direction of riots, generally as fast as legally possible.

http://www.seraphicpress.com/jew-without-a-gun/

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Since most of the good stuff has been covered I'll just add this:

If part of your (or anyone's) goal is to be low-profile, one factor to consider is matching the bag to your probable appearance in the event of its use. If you're wearing a suit and your bag is a multicam kifaru molle-fest you will stick out. If you are likely to be dressed as a REI shopper, you probably have a lot of latitude. Blending in may or may not be a concern, but I see people who have "low pro" gear sometimes which they hope will allow them to slip unnoticed through some kind of potentially violent problem...and their idea of sneaky is an Eagle 3-day pack with a multicam HPG kit bag on the front.

This is one reason I've used shoulder bags in the past despite their disadvantages for load-carrying: depending on your appearance at a particular job, throwing on a backpack can look wrong. If something has gone wrong enough that I'm walking 25 km back to my home instead of driving...personally I don't want to register as a blip on any radar if I can help it. I want to look exactly like everyone expects. If I'm wearing a suit, I want to have a leather shoulder bag. If I'm wearing patagonia pants and an arcteryx jacket, I want to be wearing a gregory backpack.



Unrelated:

These days I have a really simple get-home-bag that includes rain gear, a fleece sweater, spare socks, eat-more bars, a litre of coke, work gloves, a dust mask (major concern here is an earthquake and it's pretty possible that some building will fall down and we'll be pulling people out of rubble), first aid stuff, things like that. Also a big prybar knife for the same basic reason. The whole thing weighs maybe 8 pounds. I keep it in my work truck and if I ever have to walk away from the truck for some crazy reason (probably earthquake) I feel like I'll be in good shape.

The main struggle is not eating the eat-mores and drinking the coke when I'm on a fast day.