(CNN) They're hoping it will never happen. But if a shooter shows up on their campus, students and professors at a university in Michigan may be throwing hockey pucks.

"They have enough mass to cause injury, small enough to be thrown, (are) portable and they're not considered a weapon," Oakland University police Chief Mark Gordon told CNN.

Police and faculty at the school in suburban Detroit came up with the idea after a presentation on emergency preparedness.

Oakland University already practices the "run, hide, fight" strategy. But Gordon said one question that came up was what students and professors should fight with.

What they needed, he said, was an improvised weapon. The police chief heard all kinds of suggestions on what might be available in a classroom, including chairs, backpacks, staplers, "anything that has weight and would cause injury if you were to throw it."

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