Active Shooter Preparedness: A Complete Guide

An active shooter situation is one of the most terrifying emergencies anyone can face. Unfortunately, these incidents are happening more often in places we should feel safe—our schools, workplaces, and community events. In the chaos of an attack, knowing what to do can save your life and the lives of those around you. This is why effective active shooter preparedness is absolutely essential. This guide will cover the critical steps you need to know before, during, and after an event to help protect yourself and others.

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Why Active Shooter Preparedness Is Essential

An active shooter is an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined or populated area. These incidents are often unpredictable and evolve quickly. The FBI defines an active shooter event as one in which one or more individuals are actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area, and recent data shows that most incidents unfold within minutes — before law enforcement can respond. According to Ready.gov’s Hazard Information Sheet on Active Shooter incidents, these events can occur anywhere and at any time.

The Critical Time Window Before Help Arrives

Active shooter events are over almost as quickly as they begin. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) notes that many incidents last between 10 and 15 minutes, often ending before law enforcement can even get to the scene. This small window of time is when your personal actions matter most. Safety experts and law enforcement agencies have developed a simple, powerful plan to guide your response: RUN • HIDE • FIGHT. Your first and best option is always to run. If you see a clear escape path, attempt to evacuate immediately. Leave your belongings, help others if you can without slowing yourself down, and get to safety. Once you’re safe, you can provide critical information to others. Using a tool like the PubSafe app to report an incident can alert the community and first responders, helping to coordinate the effort even as it unfolds.

Run, Hide, Fight: Your Survival Action Plan

The most widely recommended response protocol for active shooter situations comes from the Department of Homeland Security and is endorsed by Ready.gov: Run. Hide. Fight.

Option 1: How to Run to Safety

If there is an accessible escape path, attempt to evacuate the premises. Leave your belongings behind. Help others escape if possible, but do not let that prevent your own escape. Prevent others from entering an area where the active shooter may be. Keep your hands visible, and call 911 once you are safe.

Have a Pre-Planned Meeting Spot

In the chaos of an emergency, getting separated from your team or loved ones is a real possibility. This is why having a pre-planned meeting spot is a critical part of any safety plan. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recommends that organizations create Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) that designate a safe location for everyone to gather after an evacuation. This allows for a quick headcount to confirm everyone is safe, reducing panic and confusion. To get to that spot safely, the Department of Homeland Security stresses the importance of always being aware of your environment and knowing where your exits are. In addition to a physical meeting point, technology can help account for your team. For example, members can use the PubSafe app to mark themselves as safe, giving leaders a real-time status update on who has evacuated and who might still need assistance.

Option 2: Where and How to Hide

If evacuation is not possible, find a place to hide where the active shooter is less likely to find you. Lock and blockade the door. Silence your cell phone (including vibration mode). Hide behind large items such as cabinets or desks. Remain quiet and stay out of the shooter’s view.

Secure the Room

Your primary goal is to make the room you’re in as difficult to enter as possible. Once you’ve found a space, immediately lock the door. If there’s no lock, or even if there is, you need to create a barricade. Use whatever is available—desks, filing cabinets, chairs, bookcases—to block the door. According to the Department of Homeland Security, barricading the door with heavy furniture is a critical step. This isn’t just about locking a door; it’s about creating a time-consuming obstacle. The more time it takes for someone to get through, the more time you have for law enforcement to arrive. Make the room look and feel impenetrable.

Silence Your Phone Completely

A single sound can give away your position. That’s why you must silence your phone completely. This means more than just switching it to silent mode; turn off the vibration setting as well. The buzz of a phone on a hard surface can be surprisingly loud in a quiet room. Also, dim your screen brightness to its lowest setting or turn the phone face down to prevent notifications from lighting up the room. Your phone is a lifeline, but only if it doesn’t betray your location first. Once you are certain you are in a safe location, you can use it to quietly report the incident or call for help, but your immediate priority is to remain unheard and unseen.

Stay Away From Windows

Windows are a significant vulnerability when you’re hiding. They make you visible to a shooter from both inside and outside a building, and they offer virtually no protection from gunfire. Position yourself as far away from any doors and windows as you can. Find cover behind solid, bulky objects like concrete walls, thick desks, or metal filing cabinets. While these items may not stop every bullet, they provide a much better layer of protection than drywall or glass. The key is to stay out of the shooter’s line of sight and place as much solid material between you and them as possible. Every barrier you create increases your chances of survival.

Option 3: Fight as a Last Resort

As a last resort, and only when your life is in imminent danger, attempt to incapacitate the shooter. Act with physical aggression. Improvise weapons. Commit to your actions.

Create Distractions

If direct confrontation isn’t possible, your next best move is to create chaos. The goal is not to win a fight but to disorient the attacker, creating a window of opportunity for you or others to escape. Throw items like books, chairs, or fire extinguishers. Make loud, unexpected noises by yelling or setting off alarms. This can break the attacker’s concentration and disrupt their plan. As active shooter response programs like ALICE Training emphasize, this strategy is about making noise and creating distractions to confuse the attacker. It’s a calculated disruption designed to increase your chances of survival when you have no other options.

Work Together as a Team

You are stronger together. If you are with a group of people, do not act alone. A coordinated response can overwhelm an attacker in a way one person cannot. As safety protocols from institutions like USC recommend, you should “work together to try and stop the attacker until help arrives.” This requires quick communication and a commitment from everyone to act as a unified force. This principle of coordinated action is the foundation of any effective emergency response. Whether it’s a CERT team during a natural disaster or a group of citizens in a crisis, organized team management is what saves lives. When you work together, you create a much more formidable defense and significantly increase everyone’s odds of survival.

Understanding the ALICE Training Framework

While Run, Hide, Fight provides a straightforward foundation, another highly respected strategy is the ALICE Training framework. Developed over two decades, ALICE offers a more detailed, options-based approach to active shooter response. It’s designed to be a trauma-informed program, meaning it accounts for the emotional and psychological impact of a violent crisis. This method gives individuals more tools to make life-saving decisions based on their specific circumstances.

What ALICE Stands For: Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate

The ALICE acronym represents five core survival strategies. Unlike a rigid checklist, these are options that can be used in any order to fit the situation. The goal is to empower you with proactive choices during a chaotic event.

Alert: Become aware of the threat. This is the first notification of danger, whether you hear gunshots, receive a text alert, or see something suspicious.
Lockdown: If you cannot evacuate, barricade the room and prepare to counter or evacuate if the opportunity arises. This is a temporary measure to create a safer space.
Inform: Communicate real-time information about the shooter’s location and actions to others and to law enforcement.
Counter: As a last resort, create noise, movement, and distractions to interfere with the shooter’s ability to aim and attack. This is not about fighting but about disrupting the attacker.
Evacuate: When it is safe to do so, get away from the danger. The ALICE framework encourages you to escape whenever possible.

A Set of Options, Not a Strict Sequence

One of the most important things to understand about ALICE is that it is not a linear, step-by-step plan. You don’t have to try Alert, then Lockdown, then Inform, and so on. Instead, think of it as a set of tools you can use in any combination. For example, you might evacuate immediately upon hearing an alert. Or, you might lockdown and then evacuate when you receive information that the path is clear. This flexibility is critical because active shooter incidents are dynamic. The best decision one moment might not be the best decision a minute later. ALICE empowers you to continually assess the situation and choose the action that gives you the best chance of survival.

Inform: The Power of Real-Time Information

The “Inform” component of ALICE is a game-changer. Passing along clear, concise, and real-time information about the attacker’s location and movements can save countless lives. It turns a building full of isolated individuals into a connected network of people who can make better decisions. When people know where the threat is, they can choose a safe evacuation route or more effectively secure their location. In a crisis, communication is key, and technology can play a vital role. Platforms designed for community safety, like PubSafe, allow for reporting an incident and sharing critical updates that can be seen by citizens, response teams, and public safety officials, creating a common operational picture for everyone involved.

Counter vs. Fight: Creating Distraction and Disruption

The idea of confronting an attacker can be intimidating, which is why the distinction between “Counter” and “Fight” is so important. The ALICE strategy of Counter is not about engaging in combat with the shooter. Instead, it’s a last-resort action focused on disruption. By creating noise, throwing objects, and moving erratically, you make it difficult for the attacker to aim and fire accurately. This creates a window of opportunity for you and others to escape. It’s about interrupting the shooter’s ability to think and act, giving potential victims a critical advantage. This proactive step is a survival strategy, not an act of aggression, and it can be done by anyone, regardless of their physical strength.

A Proven, Trauma-Informed Approach

When considering any safety training, you want to know it’s credible and effective. With over two decades of development and implementation, ALICE Training has become a standard in schools, hospitals, businesses, and government agencies across all 50 states. Its approach is “trauma-informed,” which means the training is delivered with a deep understanding of how people react to extreme stress. It avoids creating unnecessary fear and instead focuses on building confidence and providing realistic skills. This thoughtful design ensures that participants feel empowered, not traumatized, by the training, making them more likely to recall and use the strategies when it matters most.

Your Active Shooter Preparedness Checklist

Learn the floor plan of places you frequent most — your workplace, school, place of worship. Know where exits, stairwells, and utility closets are located.
Participate in workplace training. The Department of Homeland Security offers free ALERRT and Active Shooter Preparedness training resources.
Sign up for emergency alerts. Many local governments have mass notification systems that push alerts via SMS or app. Enable these in your area.
Trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, leave the area.
Discuss a family communication plan. Designate a meeting point and an out-of-state contact all family members know to reach if local lines are jammed.

Always Identify Two Exits

It might sound basic, but making a mental note of at least two exits every time you walk into a room is a crucial habit for personal preparedness. This isn’t about being paranoid; it’s about developing strong situational awareness. The Department of Homeland Security emphasizes this as a core part of its response plan. For places you visit often, like your office or a local coffee shop, take it a step further by learning the full layout—including stairwells and less obvious exits. Since an active shooter event can happen anywhere, this simple preparedness step gives you a head start, allowing you to make quicker, life-saving decisions if the unthinkable happens.

What to Do When Law Enforcement Arrives

When police arrive at an active shooter scene, they will move directly toward the threat. You can help by: keeping your hands visible and fingers spread; avoiding holding items that could be mistaken for weapons; following all instructions from officers; informing officers of the shooter’s last known location and description if you witnessed it.

Consider taking the Stop the Bleed training — it teaches civilians to apply tourniquets and control major bleeding before emergency medical services arrive.

How Community Awareness Improves Safety

Prevention is the best response. The FBI’s “See Something, Say Something” campaign encourages reporting suspicious behavior to law enforcement. Most tip lines allow for anonymous reporting. Warning signs may include expressions of homicidal ideation, sudden behavioral changes, social isolation, and acquisition of weapons inconsistent with normal life.

Using PubSafe to Enhance Community Safety

In fast-moving crises like active shooter incidents, real-time communication and situational awareness are critical. PubSafe is a public safety networking platform designed to help communities respond more effectively to emergencies. With PubSafe, users can:

Share real-time location and status — so family members, first responders, and community members know you are safe or need help
Receive and push emergency alerts — enabling citizen-to-citizen and citizen-to-responder communication during fast-moving incidents
Connect with local emergency networks — so your community is better woven together before a crisis occurs
Report suspicious activity — giving residents a structured channel for passing safety concerns to relevant parties

In an active shooter situation, every second counts. Having a tool that provides real-time awareness — for both civilians and responders — can make the difference between chaos and coordinated action. PubSafe bridges the critical gap between public safety agencies and the communities they protect.

Creating a Culture of Preparedness

Active shooter preparedness should not be treated as a taboo topic. Schools, businesses, and faith communities can hold preparedness discussions and drills. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Ready.gov provide free downloadable resources including printable Hazard Information Sheets, training videos, and course curricula. Preparedness is not about living in fear — it is about building confidence. When people know what to do in a crisis, panic is reduced, response times improve, and lives are saved.

Helpful Preparedness Resources

Ready.gov Active Shooter page
DHS Active Shooter Preparedness: dhs.gov/active-shooter-preparedness
Stop the Bleed: stopthebleed.org

Bookmark this page, share it with your family and coworkers, and visit Ready.gov’s Active Shooter page for the latest guidance. And consider joining PubSafe’s public safety network — because in a crisis, a connected community is a safer community.

CISA Training and Planning Tools

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is a fantastic starting point for anyone looking to build a solid preparedness foundation. CISA offers a wealth of free resources designed to empower both individuals and organizations. Their approach is practical and focuses on giving you the knowledge to prepare for and respond to an active shooter event. These aren’t just high-level theories; they are actionable guides, training materials, and planning documents that you can use right away. By making these tools widely available, CISA helps create a national culture of preparedness, ensuring that communities across the country have access to consistent, expert-backed guidance for these critical situations.

Free Webinars and Online Courses

One of the best things about CISA’s offerings is how accessible they are. The agency provides a variety of free tools and training, including webinars and self-paced online courses that you can take from anywhere. These sessions cover everything from developing an emergency plan to understanding the actions you can take as an individual to protect yourself. They break down the “Run, Hide, Fight” strategy in detail and provide context for why each step is important. This training is perfect for getting your team or family on the same page, ensuring everyone has a shared understanding of what to do if the unthinkable happens.

Emergency Action Plan (EAP) Product Suite

For businesses, schools, and community organizations, having a formal plan is non-negotiable. CISA’s Emergency Action Plan (EAP) Product Suite provides templates and guides to help you create a comprehensive plan tailored to your specific location and needs. An EAP outlines exactly how your organization will respond during an emergency, from evacuation procedures to communication protocols. While CISA provides the framework, platforms like PubSafe can help you put that plan into motion. A good EAP paired with a tool that allows you to manage your teams and communicate in real-time creates a powerful combination for effective crisis response.

Resources for Diverse Audiences

CISA understands that preparedness isn’t a one-size-fits-all issue. The agency offers resources tailored to different audiences, including K-12 schools, houses of worship, and corporate offices. Beyond response tactics, CISA also provides crucial training on how to recognize concerning behaviors that might precede a violent incident. This focus on behavioral threat assessment is a key part of prevention. By learning to spot potential warning signs and knowing how to report them, communities can intervene before a crisis occurs, adding a vital layer of proactive safety that protects everyone.

FBI Preparedness Programs

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is another leading authority on active shooter response and prevention. The Bureau’s programs are built on decades of experience studying these events and are designed to equip law enforcement, public safety partners, and the general public with the knowledge needed to improve survival rates. The FBI’s resources focus on both preventing attacks and preparing citizens for how to react during an incident. Their guidance is a critical piece of the preparedness puzzle, offering a law enforcement perspective that complements the civilian-focused training from agencies like CISA and Ready.gov.

Active Shooter Attack Prevention and Preparedness (ASAPP)

The FBI’s Active Shooter Attack Prevention and Preparedness (ASAPP) program is a key resource for organizations. It provides clear, actionable guidance on creating a robust EAP and training employees on how to respond effectively. ASAPP emphasizes a whole-community approach, encouraging collaboration between law enforcement and the private sector. The program materials help organizations understand threat indicators and establish reporting mechanisms, which are essential for prevention. By using the FBI’s resources, you can ensure your preparedness strategy is aligned with the best practices used by federal law enforcement.

Coping and Recovery After an Incident

Active shooter incidents are traumatic not just for those directly involved, but for entire communities — including first responders, witnesses, students, employees, and residents of affected areas. The psychological impact of active shooter incidents can be profound and long-lasting. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and complicated grief are common responses that may emerge days, weeks, or even months after the event.

Ready.gov and FEMA encourage survivors and community members to recognize these impacts as normal responses to an abnormal situation. Seeking mental health support is not a sign of weakness — it is a sign of self-awareness and a critical part of recovery. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) maintains a National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) that provides free, confidential help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Many communities also deploy crisis counselors in the immediate aftermath of mass casualty events — look for these resources at emergency operations centers, community centers, and through your local health department.

For children who have experienced or been exposed to active shooter incidents, specialized trauma-informed care is important. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) provides resources specifically for parents, educators, and mental health professionals working with children in the aftermath of these events. School counselors and pediatricians are often the first point of contact and can provide referrals to specialized services.

Organizations can also support their employees’ recovery by providing access to Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), hosting community meetings where employees can process their experience in a structured setting, and maintaining flexible work arrangements during the recovery period. Clear communication from leadership about organizational support is an important part of the collective recovery process.

Active Shooter Preparedness for Schools

Schools across the United States have implemented various active shooter preparedness programs, including lockdown drills, visitor management systems, threat assessment teams, and physical security upgrades such as buzz-in entry systems, surveillance cameras, and reinforced classroom doors with interior locks. The level of preparedness varies significantly by district and state, but the federal government has invested heavily in school safety grants through the STOP School Violence Act and other programs.

Parents can advocate for their children’s school safety by attending school board meetings, asking questions about the school’s emergency response plans, and encouraging age-appropriate safety conversations at home. Talking to children about active shooter preparedness does not have to be scary — focus on empowerment, situational awareness, and the importance of trusting trusted adults. The FBI and CISA both offer resources specifically designed for school communities.

Importantly, school security measures should complement — not replace — threat assessment and mental health support programs. Research consistently shows that the most effective school safety strategies include both environmental and social components: a welcoming school climate, strong student-teacher relationships, accessible mental health services, and clear reporting mechanisms for students who witness concerning behavior in their peers.

Guidance for Teachers and Faculty

In an active shooter situation, teachers and faculty are the first line of defense for their students. Your preparedness can make all the difference. Participate in all emergency training your school offers and review resources from Ready.gov’s school safety page to understand best practices. Take personal responsibility for knowing your surroundings: identify multiple escape routes, know the lockdown protocol by heart, and be aware of the most secure places to hide. During an incident, silent, real-time communication is critical. Tools that allow for discreet status updates can provide incident commanders with vital information without alerting a threat. For example, a teacher can discreetly update their response team on their classroom’s status. This proactive planning, combined with fostering a supportive environment where students feel safe reporting concerns, creates multiple layers of safety for everyone on campus.

Active Shooter Preparedness for the Workplace

Workplace active shooter preparedness is increasingly considered part of standard occupational health and safety planning. OSHA, DHS, and the FBI all provide guidance specifically tailored to workplace environments. The key elements of a workplace active shooter preparedness program include: a written emergency action plan that specifically addresses active shooter scenarios; regular employee training that includes both awareness education and practical exercises; establishment of a threat assessment team that includes HR, security, legal, and management representatives; clear reporting channels for employees to report concerning behavior confidentially; and coordination with local law enforcement to review the emergency action plan and conduct practice exercises.

ALICE Training (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) and other response training programs have been widely adopted by businesses, healthcare facilities, and universities as supplements to the standard Run-Hide-Fight protocol. These programs emphasize empowering individuals with options rather than prescribing a single response, recognizing that active shooter situations are highly variable and no single protocol is optimal for every scenario.

After completing your preparedness training, consider sharing what you have learned with PubSafe’s community network at pubsafe.net — because informed, connected communities are far more resilient than isolated individuals facing these threats alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

“Run, Hide, Fight” and ALICE seem similar. Which one should I use? Think of them as two parts of the same toolkit. “Run, Hide, Fight” is the simple, foundational principle that’s easy to remember under stress. ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) provides a more detailed set of options that you can use in any order. The most important takeaway from both is that you have choices. Your goal isn’t to follow a rigid script but to use whatever strategy gives you the best chance of survival based on your specific situation.

The idea of “fighting” an attacker is terrifying. What does this actually mean? This is a common and completely valid concern. “Fight” is a last resort, used only when your life is in immediate danger. It’s less about winning a physical confrontation and more about creating disruption. The goal is to do anything you can to interfere with the attacker’s ability to aim and act. This can mean throwing objects, yelling, and working with others to create chaos. It’s about creating a moment of opportunity for you and others to escape, not about becoming a hero.

How can I prepare for something like this without living in constant fear? Preparedness is about empowerment, not paranoia. You don’t need to be on high alert all the time. Instead, build simple, proactive habits into your daily life. When you enter a building, make a mental note of two exits. Have a brief conversation with your family about a communication plan. Knowing you have a plan and have thought through your options can actually reduce anxiety because it replaces fear of the unknown with a sense of control.

My school or workplace doesn’t offer this kind of training. What can I do on my own? Even without formal training, you can take powerful steps to prepare yourself. Start by learning the layouts of places you frequent. Watch the recommended “RUN. HIDE. FIGHT.®” video from the City of Houston to see the principles in action. You can also explore the free webinars and planning guides offered by CISA and the FBI. By educating yourself, you are already far more prepared than most, and you can be the person who advocates for bringing formal training to your organization.

How can a safety app really help during an active shooter event? In a chaotic situation, clear information is your most valuable asset. A safety app like PubSafe helps cut through the noise. It allows you to discreetly mark yourself as safe, which immediately informs your family or response team without you having to make a call. It can also provide real-time, location-specific alerts to help you avoid danger. For first responders, seeing where people are and what is happening on the ground helps them form a more effective and faster response. It turns a collection of scared individuals into a connected, informed community.

Key Takeaways

Know your core survival options: The Run, Hide, Fight protocol provides a clear action plan. Your priority is to escape (Run), but if that is not possible, you should secure your location (Hide). As an absolute last resort, you must commit to disrupting the attacker (Fight).
Embrace a flexible, options-based mindset: The ALICE framework (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) is not a rigid checklist. It gives you multiple strategies, like sharing information or creating distractions, that you can use in any order to adapt to a changing situation.
Make preparedness a daily habit: Simple actions create a powerful safety net. Always identify two exits, create an emergency plan for your family or team, and use community safety tools to stay connected. These proactive steps build confidence and resilience before a crisis occurs.

Active Shooter Preparedness: A Step-by-Step Plan