A mother has described how she broke down after taking a picture of her three-year-old daughter standing on a toilet ‒ only to discover that she was practicing for a lockdown drill in the event of a terrorist gun attack.

Stacey Feeley, from Traverse City in Michigan, posted the photograph on Facebook and said that at first she thought her daughter was "doing something cute".

Ms Feeley said that she then cried after her daughter explained she was taught to do this if a gunman entered her preschool while she was in the toilets.

She wrote in the post: "I took this picture because initially I thought it was funny. I was going to send it to my husband to show what our mischievous little three-year-old was up to.

"However, The moment she told me what she was doing I broke down. She was practicing for a lockdown drill at her preschool and what you should do if you are stuck in a bathroom.

"At that moment all innocence of what I thought my three-year-old possessed was gone."

Ms Feeley's post, which has been shared over 26,000 times, came just three days after the killing of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the worst mass shooting in modern US history.

She added: "Politicians ‒ take a look. This is your child, your children, your grandchildren, your great grand children and future generations to come.

"They will live their lives and grow up in this world based on your decisions. They are barely 3 and they will hide in bathroom stalls standing on top of toilet seats.

America's worst mass shooting incidents Show all 11 1 /11 America's worst mass shooting incidents America's worst mass shooting incidents 2016 On 12 June 2016, a gunman Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 others inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. He was killed by Orlando police after a three-hour standoff. It was the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in the U.S. history and the deadliest incident of violence against LGBT people. The massacre was widely denounced both as an act of terrorism and a hate crime AP America's worst mass shooting incidents 2012 In April 2012, a lone gunman killed seven people and injured three at a small Korean Christian college in Oakland, California. A former student, One Goh, carried out the massacre after a female member of staff wasn't on site when he wanted to speak with her AP America's worst mass shooting incidents 2011 On August 7th 2011 seven people were shot dead in Copley Township, Summit County, Ohio. Using two handguns Michael E. Hance, 51, killed his girlfriend and six other people following a family argument AP America's worst mass shooting incidents 2007 The Westroads Mall shooting - as it became known - started on the morning of December 5 2007. Nineteen-year-old Robert A. Hawkins killed himself after shooting nine other people at the Von Maur department store in the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Hawkins had written in a note that he loved his friends and family, but "he was a piece of s--- all his life, and now he'll be famous" AP America's worst mass shooting incidents 2007 The Virginia Tech massacre is the deadliest shooting incident by a lone gunman in US history. Seung-Hui Cho, an undergraduate at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, killed 32 classmates and wounded 25 on 16 April 2007. Cho, an English major, sent a “media pack” containing menacing images of himself to NBC on the morning of the attacks before later committing suicide AP America's worst mass shooting incidents 2004 On 8 December, Nathan Gale shot Pantera guitarist Darrell ‘Dimebag’ Abbott three times in the head as he performed on stage. After killing Abbott, who Gale reportedly claimed was stealing his thoughts, he then fired at the band’s head of security, fans and other members of the band. Gale killed four people and wounded seven after firing a total of fifteen shots AP America's worst mass shooting incidents 2005 Dubbed the Red Lake Massacre this incident occurred on the morning of March 21st when 16-year-old Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend before going on to kill nine people during a school spree killing. Five students, one teacher and an unarmed security guard were killed in the incident. Five other people were injured. The shooting is the fifth deadliest school massacre in US history AP America's worst mass shooting incidents 2002 In October 2002, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo killed 10 people in what would later be dubbed the Beltway sniper attacks. The pair went on a shooting spree through Washington and Virginia, using a series of different weapons. Muhammed was later executed for his crimes and Malvo was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole AP America's worst mass shooting incidents 1999 On April 20 1999, two senior students at Columbine High School, Colorado, went on a killing spree which left 12 students and one teacher dead. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold also injured 21 other students before committing suicide. The shootings sparked debate over gun law reforms and, for one of the first times, the influence of video game violence AP America's worst mass shooting incidents 1991 On October 16 George Hennard, an unemployed sea merchant, drove his truck through Luby’s cafeteria in Texas before shooting 23 customers and staff to death. What was later called the Luby’s massacre also saw 20 people injured and the perpetrator finally killing himself after being wounded by police AP America's worst mass shooting incidents 1990 Over two days in mid-June, James Edward Pough shot and killed 11 people, injuring six. Pough entered the office of a loan company in Jacksonville, Florida, who had repossessed his car and open fired on two customers at the front desk. He then proceeded through the building firing at every employee he could find. He killed 11 of 86 employees, many of whom were cowering behind desks or running away, before he committed suicide AP

"I do not know what will be harder for them? Trying to remain quiet for an extended amount of time or trying to keep their balance without letting a foot slip below the stall door?"

In addition to calling on politicians to pursue greater gun control, she called on "techies" to investigate inventing smart guns and even the NRA to do more.

Obama Rails at Pro-Gun Lobby on Orlando Visit Following Mass Shooting

Ms Feeley concluded: "I am not pretending to have all the answers or even a shred of them, but unless you want your children standing on top of a toilet, we need to do something!"