Today’s school children practice running for their lives – but there are better ways to keep students safe from shooters

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Luke J. Rapa, Clemson University

(THE CONVERSATION) A 6-year-old girl lost one of her white Adidas lace-up sneakers as she and her 21 classmates practiced fleeing for their lives after an imaginary intruder entered their school.

The girl’s teacher told her to keep moving without her shoe, then grabbed it herself and gave it back to the girl when the class settled into their designated safe location.

The girl recently recounted the story of losing her shoe during a morning car ride to school. It was just one of several times the girl or her siblings described what they were supposed to do – run “over to that fence,” “across that field” or “into those woods” – if an intruder enters their school building.

The reason I know this story is because the girl is my daughter.

In the quarter-century since the Columbine High School massacre of April 20, 1999, a whole generation of children, including my own, have lived under the threat of school-related gun violence. More recent tragedies, like those occurring at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December 2012 and Robb Elementary School in Texas in May 2022, reveal the persistent nature of this threat.

Regrettably, gun violence stands at the backdrop of all...