There is no doubt that the number of shootings in the United States has increased in recent years. According to CBS news, there have been more than 280 mass shootings so far in 2019, 22 of which occurred in schools. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In discussions about school shooting drills, one controversial question has been whether the drills are a way to keep students safe or put them in danger. On the one hand, Erika Christakis, author of “Active-shooter Drills are Tragically Misguided,” argues that school shooting drills are not beneficial to students. On the other hand, John Iannarelli, author of “Schools Need Active-Shooter Drills,” states that these exercises are a necessity and can only help students. My opinion is that school shooting drills are not beneficial to students in an emergency. The fact that my high school is only a twenty minute drive from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, one of the schools that unfortunately experienced an active shooter, allows me to truly understand the gravity of the situation. Young students in grades K-12 could be placed in extremely dangerous situations, and a school shooting drill is something that could be stressful. What's much less clear than whether school shooting drills are a stressful situation is what to do about it. Christakis says, “According to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics, in the 2015-2016 school year, 95 percent of public schools conducted lockdown drills.” I am one of the students who participated in these exercises and the teacher made the students sit in silence, in the dark. All the children took a break from the lesson and simply talked. Not a single person took these drills seriously, meaning they would not be prepared to defend themselves if the event ever occurred. As someone who was once a K-12 student, I understand the appeal of teaching a child to protect themselves in an emergency. However, in most cases, the perpetrator attends or has attended the school he intends to attack. According to the New York Times, the main motivations of the attackers were: bullying/persecution/threat (75%) and revenge (61%), while 54% reported having numerous reasons. Since most shooters attend or have attended the school they intend to attack, applying the drills could put other students at risk. These drills would allow the shooter to know the plan, where the students are trying to escape, how they plan to fight and where most are hiding. Practicing these exercises puts students at greater risk of both physical and psychological repercussions. A handful of schools surprise their students with active shooter drills, and this typically stuns students. With these surprise exercises, students become stressed, and according to Science and Christakis, “persistent stress alters the architecture of the growing brain, placing children at increased risk for a range of medical and psychological conditions throughout their lives ”. There was a student in North Carolina who wrote a farewell letter to his parents during one of these exercises really thinking he would survive the day. This is a lot of pressure to put on children and can bring out a myriad of psychological problems, one of which is anxiety. I have personally been diagnosed with generalized anxiety and I can attest that it is not easy,.