My daughter and I were doing our grocery shopping the other day at Wal-Mart, when this thought popped into my head.
“What would my daughter and I do if an active shooter situation occurred while we were in this store?”
I hesitantly asked her the question. I didn’t want to scare her, but I informed her of the latest mass shootings, one being in a grocery store.
She looked at me with innocent eyes, and said, “I don’t know”.
With both of us being in the store, I said what I felt would have been the correct thing to do.
I told my daughter, “You get down, you hide. Let’s stand here and look around for possible places to hide.”
After she and I discussed some possibilities, we finished our errands and headed home.
After we got home, I decided I needed to look into this further and see if the advice I gave my daughter was true. And guess what, I was wrong.
According to https://www.ready.gov/active-shooter, the very first thing we should always do is:
Be Prepared by Assessing Your Environment
- Know where the emergency exits and employee exits are located.
- Know where to hide safely
- Know the normal environment, so you can identify things or people that are out of the ordinary.
Be Prepared by Brainstorming Your Plan of Action
When you’re ready to practice with your child, STOP.
- Look around.
- Can you get to the exit safely from where you are?
- If not, where can you hide either temporarily or for a long period of time.
Be Prepared if You Can’t Run
- Do not hide in groups (larger groups are easier to find)
- Silence your phone
- Stay still and quiet
- Stay out of view of the shooter
- Only come out when police officers say the area is all clear
Be Prepared for After the Situation
- When coming out of hiding, keep your hands visible so the police can see them.
- There may be wounded and upset people around
- Get help for dealing with a traumatic situation
Be Prepared Now for a Worse Case Scenario
Even though this is difficult to think about, what will happen to you when you die?
There is only one of two places that you will go. Heaven or Hell.
Both of these places are very real.
The Bible describes hell as being a fiery place of constant torment, where you burn but don’t burn up. You will also cry and gnash or grind your teeth together in agony. You will be totally separated from God.
Spending eternity with God, on the other hand, is a completely different place. A wonderful place where there is no crying, pain, or sadness. A place filled with beautiful colors and mansions of gold.
How to Spend Eternity with Jesus
- Know that there cannot be any sin in heaven.
- Since we are sinners, we cannot get into heaven on our own.
- Jesus Christ was perfect, sent by God, to be the only way that we can get to heaven.
- Jesus died on the cross, taking our sin on himself, shedding His perfect blood, covering the sins in our lives.
- We must have faith and believe that Jesus did this for us, and that He was buried and rose again three days later. He now is in heaven with God.
- Have faith that Jesus will be coming again to take those of us that have believed in Him, to heaven, to live eternally.
Conclusion
Talking about scary situations is not easy, but it is important. Being prepared could save your life.
Please share this information with others. It could save their lives too.
This video, created by the government, is for adults who find themselves in this type of situation.
Such good information! And honestly, I haven’t really thought to teach my kids this information. But now I will! Thanks for posting this great info!
You are certainly welcome, Kristi.
I hated having to do lockdown drills when I was teaching high school. It was awful. Trying to squeeze all the kids into the small space in our classroom where you couldn’t see them from the doorway. It’s sad that we also need to talk about what to do in public places too.
I know. It is a shame. Thank you for commenting, Kristen.
It’s really sad that we have to think about these scenarios now. So many shootings around the country – it’s very frightening. Thankfully we live in a very rural area, not that I’m saying it couldn’t or wouldn’t happen here, but when you know everyone it makes you feel much safer. Thanks for these tips – they are very helpful to think through and have in your mind.
You’re welcome, Megan. Thank you for commenting!