First thing first, thanks for your comment!
I know about the advantage of playing first, and I'm happy you talked about an initiative action because I had the same idea (but no time to implement it). It makes me think it's a good idea that I'm not the only one who thought about it.
I didn't prioritize its implementation though, because for me a jam game should be relatively easy. People testing usually don't have time to grasp every aspect of your game, they rarely spend more than 10 minutes with it. So I thought leaving the advantage to the player would be fine, and I focused on something else.
I'm also happy you appreciate the range, it was something I really wanted to have and to do well. Again, I didn't have time for that but my plan was to implement several weapons with different range. I have the knife (range 0) implemented on my computer, but I did it after the end of the jam so I couldn't upload a build with it. I'll try to push a new build after the jam, if you care to try it!
Thanks again for your comment!