15 minutes. That’s often how long a situation with an active shooter lasts, whether on a campus or another confined and populated area such as a movie theater. To victims, in 15 minutes their lives can be lost, or forever changed with one pull of a trigger.

The working definition of an active shooter according to Homeland Security is when someone is “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined or populated area.” In most cases the shooter will use firearms with no plan, or method to their unpredictable actions.

We’ve seen through many random shootings just how impulsive and uncontainable active shooters are. The last mass shooting in Oregon Umpqua Community College on Oct. 1 resulted in nine people losing their lives.

There’s no definitive way to predict a shooting. There is no way to know that the person next to you one day in class won’t stand up with a handgun and start to open fire. Millikin University’s Director of Safety and Security Chris Ballard stated the truth when it comes to how the public responds when he said, “Even people who make a living at preparing for events like that, it’s still going to be a reactionary issue.”

Of course we all trust our classmates here at Millikin because of the small size of campus and how close we are as a student body. But not everyone has the closeness we have, and whether or not we should be worried about a shooter, there’s a chance that we only have 15 minutes to act. So those 15 minutes have to count.

Homeland Security’s action plan is simple, and something that Ballard highly recommends everyone looks at, the Run, Hide, Fight response to an active shooter situation.

Everyone’s first reaction is to evacuate, which is the first step to getting to safety. One important rule that has to be followed is to leave everything behind. Ignore the instinct to grab our cell phones if they are placed in backpacks, it’s not worth it, and leave with an escape route in mind.

While escaping we must help those around us as well, but if they don’t agree to follow, don’t force them. You will do them and yourself more good getting out of range and calling 911 than staying and trying to convince everyone to leave. When you get to safety, keep your hands visible for the police.

If we can’t get away, the next obvious thing is to hide. It should be out of the view of the shooter while providing protection. But, while it provides protection it shouldn’t in anyway hinder our movement if escape is possible. If the shooter is in the building obviously we lock the door and barricade it with everything in the classroom until reinforcements arrive.

The one obvious thing that we must do is try to keep calm. Of course, the situation is different when the tension is high, and an active shooter is in the room. No one can guess the situation, and no one understands if it’s even possible to stay calm in a situation like that until they are going through it. But if there’s any way to stay calm then do it, because it can save your life.

One of the last things that can potentially save us in an active shooter situation is to take action against the shooter. If this is the case, we must act without hesitation. Be aggressive whatever happens and don’t back down. Improvise weapons; chuck heavy objects while yelling and screaming. But stand strong, don’t back down and never hesitate.

In our university setting, Millikin has a plan set in place. The university police will take control, locating and trying to contain the situation, until the Decatur Police Department arrives at the scene. Then they will take the backseat and communicate with the parents and community on the situation through the All Hazards Communication Plan which involves SendWordNow calls and texts as well as turning that Millikin website into an update center for anyone to access.

There may be only 15 minutes to make a difference, and we must take that limited amount of time and make something out of it, to fight against the aggressor in anyway possible, whether it be by escaping, hiding or taking action. It may not seem like it, but 15 minutes is a lifetime to do everything.