Active shooter drills are GOOD.
Can you show me the data you're using that backs up this claim?
Oh none, that's my opinion. I think bringing up a credible threat and then practicing for it is a good thing. We do this at work all the time. I don't think we'll have any good data until we get a few thousand more active shooter events in areas where people have gone through drills. The drills are imperfect but at the very least it gets us all thinking about what we could/would/should do.
1) Fire is quite likely to happen during those kids life, they are therefore learning a useful skill for later in life
2) What action to take during a fire is clear cut, and it is proved that training for that type of action makes it more likely to survive if a fire happens
3) The fire drills are aimed at reducing fear and panic, to create a habit of "if we hear the alarm, we calmly go outside". I don't think I've met any kids that are afraid of them. It is either seen as an extra break, or really boring
Compare this to terror/shooter drills;
1) Much less likely to happen
2) No science behind what you should do - it could even be more efficient for kids to scream a lot and run around to draw fire away from eachother
3) Creates fear in kids, and increases fear in kids that are already afraid
I am very happy that my kids don't have to go through other drills than for fire. They have experienced one lockdown, and that was because the factory next door had a ammonia spill, and it could be harmful for them to go outside. Everything was calm and ordered, and the air was clear by the time the school day was over.
I find the US culture for fear very strange, and hope it doesn't spread to my part of the world. More fear does not make us safer. We had a horrible terrorist act in 2011 that killed 77 people, 69 of them on a summer camp on the island of Utøya. Many more were hurt and traumatized. But we can't and won't let that fucking idiot and his right wing terrorist ideas win. The summer camps on Utøya started back up in 2015. My kids will probably want to go there in a few years. It will be scary as hell, but I plan to smile and cheer them on, and hope they have as much fun there as I had in the 90's.
"When one man could cause so much evil - think about how much love we can create together" (Helle Gannestad, AUF, 23.07.2011)