No, no, no!
I am saying...
IF one is armed
AND there is an active shooter slaying people
AND you run flailing and crying in the other direction
I don't want to know you.
That's my point.
I'm not suggesting anyone is spineless for electing to not go armed, I'm saying that if you are armed and someone is slaughtering people, you need to interject.
Most here would agree with you, but unless you have been in that situation, then you really can't judge. Like most cops, I have never been involved in an actual shooting. I have responded to hundreds (probably thousands) of shots fired calls, and heard many a shot go off nearby and ran towards them, but never pulled the trigger on a person.
But that's a cop whose JOB it is to do that, and one who is wearing a bullet resistant vest, a radio, and usually backed up by at least one partner if not many more.
I'm retired now, and if I am sitting in a movie theater with my wife and children, my FIRST responsibility is to get them out safely. And that doesn't mean shoo them towards the door (and maybe another shooter) while I go play John Wayne.
If the schools wanted to minimize school shootings, rather than arm hopelessly unprepared teachers and create an open season for lawsuits and other problems, they need to fortify the schools. Bullet resistant glass on ground floors. Steel doors that are going to stop bullets. ESPECIALLY on classroom doors. I am convinced that the teacher killed at Colombine (maybe Virginia Tech?) was killed because he had his body against the door trying to keep the killers out. Door required a key to lock and it's pretty hard to fumble for a key when shots are going off. he was shot through the door and the killers came in Cameras on all entrances. Alarms on all doors so they go off if they are opened.
But truth be told, even if they did all that, a kid could just pull a fire alarm and pick people off as they exited the building. There's no panacea for crazies. They'll always find a way. And most of these school shooters are pretty stupid. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to pull an alarm and wait outside. or just shoot the place up at dismissal. Hard to miss when you have several hundred kids all congregating in one spot.
And what is the OP going to do then? What is his pistol going to do against the kid 200 yards away with an AR and a scope?