What happens in the minutes before police arrive at a school shooting?
“Thoughts and Prayers” doesn’t shy from this gut-wrenching question, delivering a balanced documentary that sidesteps sensationalism for sober exploration. Instead, it offers a human-centered look at a crisis that has redefined childhood in America.
This isn’t another recap of body counts or political talking points, but an examination of three underreported truths: the collective loss of innocence among all students (not just survivors), the absence of any single solution and the terrifying gap between the first gunshot and law enforcement’s arrival.
In that window, someone has to act. But who?
The film’s most haunting thread follows children during active shooter drills—now as routine as fire alarms or tornado warnings. Lockdowns are discussed as routinely as tornado warnings.
For this generation—unlike any before—violence is normalized, not hypothetical. The loss is irreversible: stolen peace of mind, even for those miles from tragedy.
“Thoughts and Prayers” spends significant time inside two hyper-realistic mass casualty simulations: one in Medford, Oregon, and another in Long Island, N.Y. Sirens blare. Fake blood pools. Teenagers scream as “victims” while adult volunteers play shooters.
The drills are meant to train first responders—but the camera lingers on the students. The question hangs unspoken: Are we preparing them—or programming them for trauma?
The film widens the victim lens beyond the dead and wounded to include survivors, families, communities—and the millions who attend school daily under a shadow of “what if?” One child claims shootings are kids’ top killer (factually untrue, but the fear feels real).
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Cut to the booming $3 billion school safety industry. The documentary tours trade shows where vendors hawk ballistic whiteboards, bulletproof backpacks and pop-up Kevlar tents.
One company sells “realistic” silicone bullet wounds for training—complete with oozing fake blood. Another offers furniture that doubles as shields. These innovations are well-intentioned, but the film treats them with quiet skepticism.
Barriers can delay. They cannot stop.
That’s where mindset training enters. Instructors—many former military or law enforcement—teach students and staff not to freeze. The scene is jarring: a classroom of 14-year-olds practicing how to swarm a gunman with chairs and fire extinguishers.
No one wants this reality. But as the film underscores, denial doesn’t save lives.
This leads to the documentary’s most provocative angle: armed staff. Thirty states now allow teachers or administrators to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Utah is highlighted as an outlier with no mandated training and no district oversight. The core argument isn’t about guns—it’s about time. In nearly every school shooting, the attacker is neutralized after police arrive. Armed staff, the film suggests, is the only variable that addresses the gap before help comes.
“Thoughts and Prayers” doesn’t demand specific policies or point fingers. Instead, it details that the trauma isn’t just in the aftermath—it’s in the anticipation. One instructor sums it up: “We need to help end the story of active shooters.”
Not with thoughts and prayers alone, but with preparation, conversation and courage. The film leaves you unsettled—not with despair, but with urgency.
School shootings may never be fully prevented. But their impact can be mitigated. And that starts with seeing the full cost: not just the lives lost, but the childhoods stolen, every single day.
“Thoughts and Prayers” is essential viewing—not because it has answers, but because it asks the right questions. In an era of soundbites and slogans, it models how to talk about the unthinkable: clearly, compassionately and without illusion.
Laura Carno is a Colorado resident and the Founder and Executive Director of FASTERColorado.org, which trains armed school security teams.
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