ABSTRACT
Hostile events take many forms, whether they involve active shootings, armed assaults, deployment of deadly weapons, or vehicle attacks. In the past few years, these have become almost weekly events as they fan out across the United States. Besides shootings, knifings and explosions have also become part of a wide-ranging mix of lethal acts. Risk assessment can be a balancing act between communities and law enforcement that need to work together to make schools and public areas safer, but without making them feel and operate like a prison. An obvious, though perhaps overlooked solution to the rampant active shooter dilemma has been to look at how high school and university buildings are actually designed and built, to see how well they help prevent or deter a threat from materializing and how future construction of these structures could make them less vulnerable during active incidents.
