Active Shooter: Taking Action

From the limited research that has been done on active shooters, we know that those who become active shooters are often recognized as being different by their peers. These are people who may be loners or those with few friends. They may be depressed and unwilling to admit it, perhaps because they don't understand what is at the root of their depression. In school they may have been bullied; their home life might be fraught with difficulties or challenges. Frequently, they may have an obsession with weapons. Even though they are recognized as being different or odd, often no positive action is taken to help them.

The scenario that we are going to present is from a serious game called Bounce Back that we use to teach the skills and attitudes of resilience.

Your son tells you that a schoolmate, James, is strange. "He’s what you'd call an odd duck," he says. You learn that James moved here from the West Coast two years ago and in that time he has made only one friend, Dan. “They talk,” your son says, “but I have never seen Dan and James hang out together." At school today, Dan told your son that he is worried about James. "He is more down than usual and made a point of telling me that he has access to his father's guns."

As a parent, what do you do? What do you tell your son to do?

Here are some suggestions that we would give. First, manage your fear. Stay calm; don't panic. You need to take clear-sighted action. Next, connect with others. Ask other parents if they have similar concerns about James or have heard similar things from their children. Contact the school and let them know your concerns. Don't wait to do this. Maybe everything is fine with James; or maybe it isn't. Again, in the case of most violent incidents, whether they involved a work setting or a school, people noticed something of concern, but they took no action.

Lastly, let your child know you are proud of him for telling you of his concern. This strengthens your child's communication resilience skill and will help him learn how to manage his fear. The sooner we help our children develop and strengthen the skills and attitudes of resilience, the better they will wend their way through life.

In the next post, we are going to take it from the perspective of the person who could become an active shooter.