Slate Presents: Lockdown
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 18 December 2019
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you have any school-aged children in your life, you know that lockdown and active shooter drills have become a routine part of their school experience. These drills now take place in 95 percent of American schools.
What you’re about to hear is a collaboration between Slate and The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in the United States. It’s an audio project featuring firsthand accounts from kids of all ages about what it’s like to go through these drills. We hear a lot about school shootings, but we’re only starting to have a larger conversation about how they affect even those kids who may never go through one.
You can hear more from the students at slate.com/lockdown.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey, GabFest listeners, this is Emily Bazlon, and I'm here to share something we thought you might be interested in. |
| 0:05.5 | If you have any school-age children in your life, you know that lockdown and active shooter drills have become a routine part of their school experience. |
| 0:12.7 | These drills now take place in fully 95% of American schools. |
| 0:17.2 | What you're about to hear is a collaboration between Slate and the Trace, a non-profit newsroom covering gun violence in the United States. |
| 0:24.8 | It's an audio project featuring firsthand accounts from kids of all ages about what it's like to go through these drills. |
| 0:30.6 | We hear a lot about school shootings, but we're just starting to have a conversation about how they affect even the kids who may never go through one because of all |
| 0:37.6 | these drills. And while this hasn't necessarily been a big issue in the preliminary stages of the |
| 0:42.5 | 2020 election, we may very well see candidates start to weigh in. You can hear more from the |
| 0:47.4 | students on slate.com. I am in kindergarten. First grade. Second grade. Sixth grade. Eighth grade. Ninth grade. I'm in the 10th grade. I'm in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, sixth grade, eighth grade, ninth grade, |
| 0:55.7 | I'm in the tenth grade, I'm in 12th grade, and I live in San Diego, California, |
| 1:00.4 | Matuchin, New Jersey, Louisville, Kentucky, Baltimore City, L.A. County, South Orange, New Jersey. |
| 1:05.9 | I live in Seattle, Washington. |
| 1:13.2 | I'm Elizabeth Van Brocklin. |
| 1:15.8 | I've been covering gun violence as a reporter for the trace for four years, and for the past |
| 1:20.2 | couple of months, in partnership with Slate, my colleague Alon Stevens and I have interviewed |
| 1:24.8 | two dozen students of all ages in towns and cities across |
| 1:28.3 | the country. |
| 1:30.4 | We wanted to know what they see, what they hear, and what they feel during what has become |
| 1:35.8 | a routine experience in America, the school shooter drill. |
| 1:41.7 | As I listened to these kids in their living rooms and bedrooms, two things struck me. |
| 1:47.0 | First, this is a generation that has grown up doing lockdown drills. |
| 1:53.0 | Second, most of these kids know exactly what the drills are for, whether we adults realize it or not. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.