The way I understand it, some schools have been doing it for a few years. The Star-News columnist Nancy Alvarado touched on it in a gently humorous and poignant column weeks ago: active shooter/school lock-down drills.
In the same way a generation of people introduced duck and cover drills in the event of a nuclear holocaust, and California students learned to practice how to remain safe, calm and alive during fire and earthquake drills, we now have school students, staff and faculty practicing how to survive an active shooter on campus.
The idea of a mass shooting in a school or elsewhere is still befuddling. It’s as if someone over lunch stated matter of factly they planned on growing a third hand from the back of their neck. And they do.
It is important — vital for sanity’s sake — to remember that the likelihood of being involved directly or peripherally in a mass shooting is statistically low.
In 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the top three causes of death nationwide were heart disease (611,105), cancer (584,881) and chronic lower respiratory diseases (149,205).
That same year, there were 372 mass shootings with 475 fatalities and 1,870 people wounded. The FBI’s definition of a mass shooting is four or more people shot and/or killed in a single event at the same general time and place, excluding the shooter.
Of course those statistics are meaningless, perhaps even cruel, to the families and friends of those who were gunned down in Sutherland Springs, Texas; Las Vegas, Nev.; Orlando, Fla; Newton, Conn; … the list goes on.
The odds of winning a Powerball lottery are one in millions, yet we daydream about what we would do with the windfall and how we would spend the rest of our lives. Given that the odds of being a victim in a mass shooting are significantly lower than striking it rich, about 1 in 110,000, wouldn’t it be just as worthwhile and practical to imagine what you would do to save yourself, a loved one or neighbor in a deadly situation?
The city of Chula Vista, through the fire department’s Community Emergency Response Team, is hosting an active shooter preparedness and response presentation Wednesday, Nov. 15. During this unprecedented event the public will learn what to do during an active shooter situation as well as life saving measures to take should someone near them be wounded and bleeding. The event is in council chambers, 276 Fourth Ave., and free to residents, employees and volunteers but registration is required: Go to www.goo.gl/9wpS16 to sign up for the two-and-a-half-hour class.
In exercising and eating properly we take steps to avoid death by heart disease. In knowing what to do during a mass shooting through presentations and practice we hopefully take steps toward surviving a statistically improbable event.
This is the odd world we live in.
