Story ideas

Looking for story ideas on how to cover mass shootings or active shooter scenarios? Try these:

• Run, Hide, Fight training
  • Has your state, county, city, business, school, etc. had ‘Run, Hide, Fight’ training? It’s the Department of Homeland Security’s guidance on how to act during active shooter situations.
    • How did participants perform during these drills?
    • What questions did participants have?
    • How did the drills make participants feel? More or less prepared?
    • Investigate: How did DHS develop these guidelines? Do mass shooting survivors think they would work?
• Police response
  • Law enforcement response to active shooters has changed over time.
    • How are law enforcement officers trained in your community?
    • Are law enforcement officers supposed to engage suspected shooters without backup?
    • Investigate: How did your local law enforcement score in emergency preparedness drills?
    • Investigate: What kind of weapons do police carry? What are those weapons’ intended use?
    • Very few police officers ever have to fire their weapons in the line of duty. What mental health resources are available for officers who do?
    • What percentage of officers use those resources?
• Guns
  • What is your community’s relationship to guns?
    • What percentage of your community owns guns?
    • What kind of guns?
    • How does your community use them? Sport? Hunting? Marksmanship? Self-defense? Collection?
      • Engage with your community on gun use. Profile collectors. Cover marksmanship or hunting competitions.
    • What are the gun laws in your state? Are any being proposed?
    • Investigate: Are there gun rights or gun reform interest groups in your coverage area? How do they influence your local, state or national government?
    • Investigate: How easy is it to obtain a gun and ammunition in your coverage area?
    • Investigate: How did criminals in your community obtain firearms and ammunition?
    • Do active shooter situation or crime in general impact your community’s opinion about gun ownership or gun use?
• Mental health
  • Most shooters experience varying degrees of mental health problems.
    • What resources does your community have available to help those with mental health problems?
    • What are the privacy laws like in your coverage area? If a mental health professional thinks one of their clients is a risk to themselves or others, are they allowed to report them to law enforcement?
    • Most people with mental health problems are not violent. Can your coverage help erase a mental health stereotype?
    • Were children victims of or exposed to coverage of this event? How should parents explain these events to children of varying ages?
    • Investigate: If there is a mass shooting in your community, think about asking a shooter’s family to release his or her mental health treatment records.
    • Investigate: What mental health resources are available for mass shooting survivors? Do survivors use these resources?
      • Remain in regular contact with survivors and first responders to better cover their recovery process.

Do you have more story ideas? Leave them in the comments section!