Most of us, myself included, have no idea how we might react in a crisis where someone threatening is armed with a gun or knife, and we’re armed with bupkis.
What I’ve long said–and this is why post-9/11 there will never be another hijacked commercial airline in the United States–is that if a mass of people counterattack, the bad guy will be defeated.
Unfortunately, in a school setting the tendency has been, understandably, to flee or cower. It’s hard to blame anyone for attempting self-preservation, but it’s a response that is much more likely to get more people killed by the unstable wacko doing the attacking.
The correct response, and this is also true should you find yourself alone and cornered by an attacker, is to pick up and throw any object you can lay your hands on. It’s what the US military teaches the unarmed soldier, and it holds for civilians as well. Finally, they’re starting to teach this to college students and professors, and I think it’s long overdue.