I've had always found Canada a really safe place to live but has the world become so paranoid and fearful of their own neighbours and friends?

On friday February 8th at approximately 2:15pm my school was put into lockdown because there was reports of a suspected gunman on the campus. A campus wide announcement told us we were to stay in our classrooms (or go to the nearest room) and stay there until further instructions. It was not a drill. Of course at first I didn't think too much of it because earlier in the year my student dorm was put into lockdown because a nearby home had guns stolen and the police secured the residence in case the man had decided to come to the school. (they found him a couple of hours later)

As time went on people had gotten access to the news websites and found out there were 9 reports of a suspicious male carrying what they thought to be a gun. Now people were starting to get worried

3 hours later the announcements started to change, telling students to wait for a police officer or further instructions. Finally we were allowed to leave, encouraged to exit the campus. At this time, I tried going back to my room to get my coat, wallet and cellphone (I had told my family what had gone on). The guns the cops were carrying scared me more then the actual threat. These were huge artillery rifles. Of course they wouldn't let me go back to my room so i was stuck going outside, middle of winter in a flimsy long sleeved shirt (not fun).

A few hours after leaving campus we were allowed to go back to dorms. The cops found no weapon, no suspect and after going over the security cameras several times, they were unable to tell if the suspect was carrying a gun. It was described as a "long tubular object" Many speculated that it could have been a Camera tripod or an art tube.

I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Obviously the idea of it being real scares the shit out of me but I don't want to go to school or walk down the streets in fear. That's not really living at all. The way the police handled the two incidents this year has made me feel safer and there's hope that these threats haven't made it this close to home quite yet.