The recent events in Paris and shootings in the United States have contributed to a growing atmosphere of fear and 
disquiet worldwide. Every institution in the West should prepare to make a comprehensive review of their internal security arrangements and apparatus, and confirm that they are prepared for the unfortunate possibility of an active shooter. This is particularly dangerous for universities and educational institutions in the U.S., which have had far too many such incidents already in the past two years; it is an unfortunate truth of the times we live in that preparing for the possibility of an active shooter on campus is now an absolute necessity to keep students, faculty, and staff safe.
Preparing for this kind of situation is more complex than simply increasing the number of security personnel. Obviously, the best case scenario is prevention and avoidance. Many campuses are already attempting to come to terms with regulatory issuances from state governments that either require them to allow students to bear arms within the campus (such as in Utah, Idaho and Colorado), or allow people to carry firearms up until the parking lot of the college or university, and this generally affects their ability to deal with these issues in a preventive fashion by simply being able to arrest anyone with a firearm as a prospective shooter. In such a situation, and given recent events, universities would be remiss if they were not prepared for having an active shooter on campus.
Campus emergency plans need to account for this specific possibility, taking into account examples we have in recent memory to understand the kind of problems that arise in these situations, and the campus security and police personnel need to have training to know how to engage with an active shooter situation on campus. Teachers and students also need to attend security compliance conferences to have a clearer idea on how they should react to such a dangerous situation, because good training can help prevent panic and save countless lives. The better-informed students, faculty, and security staff are, the more likely they will be able to act cohesively in the event of a shooter. This need for training and improving security compliance can happen by making use of security compliance conferences, some of which are now available online to increase convenience and reduce costs.
