Ozarks Communities Prepare for Active Shooter Situations

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Students, businesses, and law enforce are preparing for active shooters.

Organizations in three Ozarks communities held drills or training sessions this week.

With tragedies like at Sandy Hook in Conneticut, cities and schools are seeing the trainings as necessary for safety and survival.

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The lessons are about more than locking the door and hiding away.

"We're here to learn. We want to not have to worry about feeling uncomfortable or even worse feeling terrified," says Kaitlyn Schwers, a Drury University student. "I've kind of thought about scenarios in my head, like, if I were in class what would I do? Hide under a desk maybe."

Schwers went to a presentation at Drury to help answer her questions.

Branson held a similar meeting Friday.

Both presentations looked at a system: Run. Hide. Fight.

Below is a video produced by the city of Houston, Texas:

The video gives tips from fleeing, down to specifics such as silencing your cell phone while hiding, or taking whatever you can find to try to take down the shooter.

The prep is more than a typical lock down. We spoke with Drury's Associate Director of Safety and Security Mark Geiss.

"We don't necessarily want to lock down the entire campus," says Mark Geiss, Drury's associate director of safety and security. "We may encourage people that are further away from the incident to evacuate as quickly as possible."

Click here for active shooter preparation from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security