How Architecture and Design Can Hinder Active Shooters

摘要

Though such public mass shootings are extremely rare-and only a tiny fraction of all U.S. gun deaths-a spike in active shooter incidents in 2017 as well as earlier tragic cases such as Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of 2012, in which 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7 years old died, have stoked fears and amplified calls for strategies to deter active shooters. Much attention has been paid to making schools safer in the wake of Sandy Hook and other more recent shootings, such as at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Calls to increase security in all types of buildings and spaces, from offices to hospitals to concert venues, are also widespread-and architects are among those responding to those calls. Given the absence of gun control legislation, design serves as a tangible way to address the problem.