There have been 63 school shootings – meaning any time there is gunfire on a school campus – so far in 2026.

They happen so often that preparing for one has become normal. Students as young as 4 years old routinely practice for the possibility of a school shooting with lockdown drills – typically, hiding in the corner of a dark classroom, behind a locked door.

Pauls Valley High School in Pauls, Oklahoma, went into lockdown on April 7, 2026, after an armed gunman fired shots inside the building. Kirk Moore, the school’s principal, tackled the gunman and got shot in the leg.

The lockdown and Moore’s heroism clearly prevented any further violence in this rare school shooting situation with a positive ending. But by and large, do lockdowns typically work to keep students safe?

As a criminologist who studies violence and mass shootings, I think it is important to keep in mind that there are no federal requirements guiding how often, or even how, lockdown drills should be conducted across schools in the U.S.

Different approaches to lockdowns

Most states have some sort of requirements for a minimum number of lockdown drills a year. In Minnesota, the number is five. New York mandates four, while Arizona law calls for three.

There’s also a lot of variation in how schools interpret the term “lockdown drill.” In some places, it’s used........

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