Understanding Concealment vs Cover in Firearm Tactics

You are shopping in a store and the worst begins to happen with an active shooter.  What is your best course of action?  Can you escape, or is a better solution to hide and protect yourself?  In the training world, one key defensive tactic that is taught is the difference between concealment and cover and how to utilize them to your advantage.  It’s important to know that they are not one in the same and one leaves you in a much more dangerous spot than the other.  Let’s take a look at the definition of concealment versus cover.

Concealment

Concealment is a term that is applied to objects that can keep you hidden from view, but physically cannot stop bullets from penetrating through and reaching you.  An easy way to think about this is concealment is providing a hiding place only.  Ideally, good concealment should allow you to be completely hidden from an attacker, whether you can hide behind it, or you blend into the surrounding area.

Cover

Cover is a term that is applied to objects that provide protection by physically stopping bullets and ideally the cover should also be large enough to provide concealment principles as well.  Cover provides you more protection in a situation where you risk being seen and being shot at than concealment does. 

Examples of Concealment and Cover

It’s important to learn what common items provide concealment versus cover so that you can best prepare yourself in the event of being caught in gunfire.  Your first reaction should be to try to escape and avoid the situation altogether, but when you cannot, finding cover should be a priority.

Think about what items could be classified as cover in your home.  It’s not as easy as it seems!  Drywall walls, tables, interior doors and beds are classified as concealment, not cover.  In a home, there’s not many common objects that will stop bullets from penetrating or passing through them.  A brick or cinder block wall are options for cover, but they are not commonly found as walls within a home, generally they are used for outside walls.  They are more commonly found in business and school settings as interior walls.  Some homes (mainly in the midwest) may have a “safe room” commonly made of poured concrete walls or of cinder block and a special steel door that primarily acts as a tornado shelter.  This could be considered cover and would be a great place to shield yourself and your loved ones in the event of a home invasion.  If you are building a home, you could consider making some “safe areas” where you can have concrete or brick walls protecting an area, but that comes with added expense to the building process.  If you are purchasing a home, consider adding a safe room to your checklist!

A couple of possible items that could be considered for cover in the home are refrigerators, bookshelves and filing cabinets.  There are many factors that play into these items being just concealment vs cover.  The main factors to consider is how full they are and what they are filled with.  An empty refrigerator or freezer is not going to stop bullets, but a full one might, depending on what it is filled with and the density of the items within it. 

An empty bookshelf would be concealment, but pack a bookshelf full with hardcover books and it may turn into cover.  The same concept can be applied to a filing cabinet.  A high density of paper can be an effective cover material, but it also depends on what direction the paper is facing, type of bullet being shot, etc.

Schools, businesses and other places outside of the home can offer different items that you may need to consider whether they classify as concealment vs cover.  Convenience, grocery and department stores may have aisles of merchandise, but for the most part those aisles should be considered concealment, not cover.  What about a car in a parking lot?  Most of a car is considered concealment.  The engine block is specifically where you can find cover with a vehicle, which does not provide a large area to hide behind.  That being said, if there is active gunfire and you cannot escape, hiding using concealment from the attacker is an excellent option!  Evidence from thousands of attacks in public teach us that attackers will generally only fire upon people that they see.  Don’t discount the benefit that concealment can give if that’s all you have!

Using Concealment and Cover Correctly

We’ve all seen the movies and TV shows that show people tight against a corner or a doorway and peeking around or shooting from the corner or doorway itself.  This is not an effective use of cover or concealment when trying to engage a threat.  And again, you might reconsider engaging a threat if it’s just concealment.  To have the most effective use of cover is to not crowd it - don’t hug cover!  Our natural tendency is to get in close to something that is hiding us, but it’s quite the opposite with concealment and cover.  Back away an arms length, or about three to four feet to give yourself the benefit of exposing less of your body to the threat if you choose to look or move or engage.  

It’s also important to learn to set your feet and lean your body in a way to see around your concealment or cover without exposing too much of your torso if you choose to engage the threat.  You want to stagger your feet a bit and bend the knee and lean into looking around the cover to limit exposure of your upper body or you can drop to one knee, the knee further inside the cover, and using the other leg lean out from the cover or lean from both knees on the ground.  The emphasis should always be to back away from the cover to give yourself the best angle to engage if you choose.

Consider partnering up with a family member or a friend, or even just set a camera up to video the concept of backing up when using cover to engage.  Use your hands only (no firearms needed here), push up tight to an area, like a doorway, of concealment or cover and peek out to engage the “threat”.  Then back away from the cover at least an arms length and try the same exercise and compare the photos/video to see the difference.  If you have a BlackbeardX, consider running a Dynamic BBX drill to compare the movement of trying to get a rifle around the corner and engaging a target versus having more distance from the cover.  You can do a similar drill with the Mantis X10 in Open Training to measure shot stability while trying to minimize exposure when you are close to cover versus further back from cover.

Another tactic you may want to investigate and practice is moving from concealment to cover (less protection to more protection).  Chances are high that you will encounter objects quickly that provide concealment, but not cover, and continuing to move from concealment objects to where you can reach cover might be a viable option to explore and practice within your home and other locations you visit frequently

Final Thoughts

Concealment and cover, whether it’s for home defense or for staying safe in public places, is something we all should be aware of.  Next time you are out and about, take note of items you see and what could be considered concealment only, and what would truly give you cover in the event something bad would happen.  Consider what places in your home might best be used for cover and practice what movements you may need to make from concealment to get to that cover.  Don’t forget to share the examples of concealment versus cover and practice with all members of your household as part of your home defense plan.  Make identifying and defining objects as concealment or cover part of your day to day observations as part of being aware of your environment.