'For the Record’: Fighting Back Against A School Shooter

Since the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, districts across the United States have studied ways to keep kids safe from the threat of an active shooter. Twelve students and one teacher died at Columbine and since then many schools across the country have established lockdown procedures. In most cases, teachers are instructed to lock the classroom door, turn-off the lights and attempt to the students in a corner of the room. That was the protocol that was followed at Sandy Hook Elementary in December 2012, when Adam Lanza murdered 20 children and six adults. Recently a new and more aggressive response has been gaining popularity. The concept is known as A.L.I.C.E. training, the acronym stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate. One major difference from the standard procedure is that if students and teachers can’t escape, they are taught to attack the gunman with whatever they have at hand. For the Record put the two methods to the test in a simulated school shooting.