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.…