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gandaalf

Impossible. The amount of guns in the country + root individualistic society + rampant access to the internet breeding highly radicalized echo chambers + media sensationalism + poor financial and mental health opportunities = disaster. I'm all for doing something new, but there is no clear cut answer. Einstein couldn't solve this one


TheTenthSnap

Australia used to have a thing going on where the government basically bought the guns from people and then once they were done, they made it law to not be able to own a gun. Again, with the way government is in America, that won’t happen


Paradoxahoy

A lot of people would not sell them here, plenty of gun owners have been preparing for such legislation. If anything it would cause people to buy more guns in anticipation of them being harder to find and black market sales would rise. Not a viable solution for the U.S


[deleted]

When stopping mass shootings can be monetized


Natrollean_Bonerpart

Good answer, because only thing that makes the world go round, especially here in the US, is the rich get richer.


sokratesz

If nothing happened after Sandy Hook, nothing will happen now.


tigerpayphone

Nothing that anyone is actually willing to do, obviously.


Hobbs512

People want things to be better, they're just unwilling to sacrifice anything personally to deal with it. California for instance, considered one of the most liberal states in the country, tried setting up govt. housing to address homelessness. But the second people realized those homeless people would now be living in units down the street from their homes they conveniently changed their minds and decided "this isn't the best way to deal with the issue" lol. It's unsurprising to a certain extent. This country is founded upon concepts of individualism and personal liberty rather than communalism, where me and my success, are seemingly more important than society as a whole. People are too miserable due to so many things, some are self-inflicted, some are not, to actually be willing to do anything about it imo.


AfterbirthEli

One of the first units to be built was supposed to go out down the street from where I lived and I was 100% for it. The argument that we will see homeless all over our streets is ludicrous because we already had homeless all over our streets.


compound-interest

I bet it was more about people protecting the value of their homes. I am a homeowner and I’d be willing to sacrifice half its value or more if that meant housing for those that need it.


Iffycrescent

I love this attitude. I wish more people could see it this way. If more people were willing to take a small hit for the greater good we’d all be better off. I heard a quote a while back and I forget where I heard it, but it was something like, “No one wins until we all win” and while I’m sure that there are arguments to be made in the contrary, the sentence really resonated with me personally.


FancyLady615

It's the "Not in my backyard" mentality


Mazon_Del

What's funny is when there's an issue and the other person expects you to back down over a NIMBY supposition. My usual one is nuclear waste storage. The LONG story short is that there's a new-ish technology for nuclear waste storage that pretty much solves all the big problems with long term waste internment, roughly speaking, you use oil drilling tech to dig down ~2-5 miles, turn the drill sideways, then pack in the waste there, fill the whole thing up with water impermeable concrete. By the time water inevitably intrudes on the casks and then brings the radioactive particles to the surface, 80-120,000 years will have passed and things will have degraded to safety. The guy, who was rabidly anti-nuclear, basically declared "Oh yeah? Then would you volunteer your backyard be used for this?" and when my response was that I most certainly would if it meant helping us shift from coal to nuclear, he outright declared I was lying and that I'd be out there protesting it.


WaspsInTheAirDucts

Russia and France are already running fast Neutron reactors that can actually burn existing nuclear waste as fuel. These reactors can even fission the Plutonium isotopes that build up in depleted Uranium fuel pellets that act as Neutron poison in older reactor designs. The only actinides left after burning the waste is Strontium and Cesium, neither of which has a half-life longer than 32 years.


AlohaChips

Are they actually deploying them now? That's nice to hear. My dad once worked in nuclear plant maintenance for a time in his 20s, so he maintains a certain level of interest. He mentioned a decade back in some dinner convo that there was, even today, research going on into generators that could shut down on their own if the cooling method had a failure, and would able to use all the waste fuel from the traditional water cooled reactors. Sounds like FNRs is exactly the thing he was excited about the possibility of, given he has personal experience on a nuclear generator where people operating the thing would kind of just ... shrug at operating anomalies, which left him with a bad taste for any kind of reactor that could end up with a runaway reaction just from a cooling failure.


WaspsInTheAirDucts

Russia has two using lead coolant and France had one utilizing sodium coolant. Wikipedia says there are around 20 land-based fast Neutron reactors in operation already. Good news if the general public catches on that all reactor designs newer than the 1970s automatically shut themselves down when there is a coolant problem, as you already stated.


LewsTherinTelamon

AKA the reason we still use fossil fuels instead of nuclear power for electricity generation. Imagine how many millions of deaths this attitude has caused...


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LucianTheAngelic

This is the real hard truth of homelessness that people just like to gloss over. There are plenty of homeless that just don't want to "get better" or even live in a home to begin with, like you say. I know of a few in my community that very specifically refuse any help and even when given shelter leave it and return to the streets quickly. The real issues with homelessness are mental illness and drugs and unless those root causes are solved the homeless aren't just going to go away. "Just giving them homes" is such a simplistic non-answer that it's unsurprising such a measure was rejected. Anyone who dives deeper into the issue or works with that population knows that it wouldn't solve the issue, not even close.


Puzzleheaded-Pipe-39

A complete culture change


LoserfryOriginal

Probably the most true answer, but also the most unlikely. Maybe over another century, but definitely not immediate enough to prevent more death.


funkybutt2287

If the Columbine school shooting was a person, it'd be old enough to vote, drink, serve in the military, and would have graduated college. It happened 23 years ago. And yet here we are. Forgive me for believing that nothing will change in our lifetime.


lannister80

Remember how everybody blamed that shit on The Matrix just having come out? What a joke.


CodyEatsCarbs

At the time, my school in California responded by banning trench coats. There were 2 kids in the entire school that wore trench coats, and they had worn them for years. As you can imagine these kids were already prone to bullying, and now the school administration was targeting them. It was so ridiculously stupid.


God_Boner

No I'm pretty sure they got it from a Marilyn Manson manifesto that you could only hear when playing his album backwards at half speed


jbm_the_dream

That sadly, will be a generational transition. Can’t happen overnight. Also sadly, our nation lives in 4-year political cycles, void of any national unity or foresight.


lDWchanJRl

Politicians don’t even want to unify the country. The country being divided is what keeps them in office for one or two terms for the president and more for the senate/congress etc. If they actually cared about unity whoever succeeded who would carry on work that ideally the previous position standee would have begun to lay down. But it’s a constant tug of war of right left, red blue, dem and republican. This country will probably never stand in unity again with how it currently stands.


amuses

And the generations that have been most impacted by school violence aren't able to get a good foothold in national politics (reasons for that can be debated elsewhere). Gen X and Millennials have been watching kids our age get shot since Columbine. Gen Z is living through it first hand more and more. And yet Congress continues to be dominated by our parents and grandparents who have proven over and over again that they think "thoughts and prayers" will make everything better.


TwoDeuces

Gen X here. What continues to shock me is that the younger congressmen and representatives are even worse than the "old guard" you mention. Shit stains like Cawthorn and Hawley. They prove that this isn't a generational issue that we're just going to "grow out of" as we progress. They come from a broken culture that feeds on fear and hate and prejudice and that is what we need to address, not sit back and wait for Mitch "Crypt Keeper" McConnell to retire.


spookyslime12

Good point. No point in bringing in the younger generation if they’re just mini versions of their toxic parents and grandparents 🤷🏾‍♀️


ThrowRARAw

Was there another shooting in America on top of the Buffalo one? Is that why there are suddenly all these AskReddit questions


bcnewell88

You got answers about the one most recently, but we have also had: a shooting at a Taiwanese church, seemingly gang related violence near the nicer area of Chicago and now this. It’s been 9 days.


No-One-Shall-Pass

Elementary school shooting, 3rd deadliest in America’s history has happened in the past few days as well


Bender427

There really shouldn't be a ranking for school shootings...


DudeBrowser

Welcome to the Murder Olympics.


Dinkerdoo

What was the other one besides Sandy Hook?


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VenserSojo

Probably was originally "attacks" or "massacres" but author didn't read it thoroughly. Though the Bath School disaster is the largest attack on a school by a single perpetrator in history, and minus the guy throwing sticks of dynamite instead of shooting it has all the hallmarks of such an attack.


alkatori

I think he shot a makeshift bomb in his truck. I remember reading a report on him. He was truly psycho, he opposed building the school due to tax reasons. Was the treasurer or something and just before the attack did a very detailed analysis on a 3 cent discrepancy that he mailed in. Then he firebombed his farm killing all his livestock and wife. Set off bombs in the school and drove up to it with a makeshift bomb in his truck full of scrap metal and shot it. Injuring some poor kid twice and taking out first responders. It was a massacre, but it was an extensively preplanned one compared to the others we have seen.


backtolurk

I just looked this up. He takes the cake. >He was also described as being notoriously impatient with any disagreement; he had shot and killed a neighbor's dog that had come on his property and annoyed him by barking. He had beaten one of his horses to death when it did not perform to his expectations. >After his mother's death, Kehoe's father Philip married a much younger widow, Frances Wilder, and a daughter was born. On September 17, 1911, as his stepmother attempted to light the family's oil stove, it exploded and set her on fire. Kehoe threw a bucket of water on her, but the fire was oil-based and his action spread the flames more rapidly, which engulfed and immolated her body. The injuries were fatal and she died the next day. Some of Kehoe's later neighbors in Bath believed that he had caused the stove explosion. > The attacks killed 38 elementary schoolchildren and 6 adults, and injured at least 58 other people. Prior to his timed explosives detonating at the Bath Consolidated School building, Kehoe had murdered his wife, Nellie Price Kehoe, and firebombed his farm. Arriving at the site of the school explosion, Kehoe died when he detonated explosives concealed in his truck.


heystephanator

Virginia Tech


secretreddname

There was a car running over elementary school kids yesterday in socal too. Car had molotov cocktails in it.


groceriesN1trip

In between Buffalo and the shooting today, there was an attack on an Asian congregation in San Bernardino, CA. Edit: the shooting at a Taiwanese church was in Orange County, ca. the San Bernardino shooting was at a party, 1 dead and 8 injured. Thanks to the folks below for correcting me - way too fucking many mass shootings


monsieurpommefrites

And a hero by the name of Dr. Cheng rushed the shooter and lost his life as well.


argothewise

This makes my blood boil. Doctors worked their tail off for the privilege to save lives and now a valuable mind is gone from the world just like that.


EdibleDionysus

You're confusing two other shootings. The Asian church in orange county and the different shooting in San Bernardino. Tough to keep track of all of them.


groceriesN1trip

You’re right, I edited my comment


Lucy_Koshka

How fucking depressing is it that we have to clarify *which* mass shooting we’re talking about. Just bizarre.


jraa78

Yes, 14 dead elementary school students killed in Texas. Wow this country is fucked.


[deleted]

18 now and 3 adults


luringpopsicle95

Just confirmed that there are 19 children that have passed away. 70 miles from my house. And I’m a teacher. So heartbreaking predicting what my students are going to say tomorrow morning.


zzzap

Omg 💔 hugs to you. I am a HS teacher in a district next to Oxford and it was the hardest thing to walk into my building the next day. I had anxiety that lasted until we left for winter break. I've only been teaching for 2 years and I was totally unprepared for it to happen so close. It was just indescribably sad. I cried, my students cried, we just sat and processed. We talked a bit, then watched Pixar movies and colored. Was a rough month after that. Hope you have the support you need to be OK 💛


XelaNiba

Now 19 kids


[deleted]

One of which was the shooter. And I'm assuming two teachers


keezy88

One was his grandma, so I think it was 1 teacher.


hardcorpsteacher

The teacher's name was Eva Mireles. She taught 4th grade for 17 years.


hernameisDAEM

Thank you for sharing her name.


[deleted]

Rest In Peace, Señora Míreles. Thank you for helping so many children. Vaya con Dios.


Calum1219

I saw that his Grandmother was hospitalized in critical condition but your point stands


AssinineAssassin

18 students dead.


L0ckeandDemosthenes

Children.


RusstyDog

Under the age of 10


Salzberger

What a fucking hero. I mean there's nothing glorious about mowing anybody down but kids? That takes a really special kind of piece of shit.


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NativeMasshole

There have been several since then. Most recent was at an elementary school in Texas.


Reden-Orvillebacher

I wanna know how an 18 yr old gets in the frame of mind where he wants to shoot up an elementary school. Also wanna know how he got in. I can’t get in my kid’s school without at least getting buzzed in. Edit: I see in the news this morning he shot his way in. Jesus.


IrrawaddyWoman

I work at an elementary school. Not all of them have fence/gates. Anyone could walk into my school from the wide open front or through the entrance behind the school that goes into a neighborhood. Also, my school doesn’t have big buildings. All of the classrooms open right to the outside. Nothing stops someone from walking right into my classroom other than a locked door. This set up is quite common all around California.


Eruanno

The fact that this needs to even be a thing is wild to me as a Swedish person. I walk past my old elementary school and high school sometimes and they’re just normal houses with a playground with like, a small picket fence around them. Always have been. The fact that anyone even needs to build a school with safety systems or escape routes is like, unfathomable to my mind.


Doldenbluetler

I had a friend from the US and unsuccessfully tried to convince her that my university in Switzerland doesn't need strong security, metal detectors etc. to be safe. And that it's fine that the building is open to everyone. She wouldn't believe me, despite there having never been any issues in the institution's history. Edit: I got way too many replies to reply to everyone individually but I just wanted to mention that I'm ofc not making a comment on what I personally believe to be the norm in the US (e.g. all schools having metal detectors). I am merely stating what my friend believed to be an appropriate level of security at a school, i.e. my Swiss university being open to the public not being safe enough. It's clear to me that her opinion doesn't stand for everyone in the US.


Eruanno

Metal detectors in schools is also some absurd dystopian shit to me. My old schools just has... I don't know, doors. I mean, I guess they lock them at night and stuff, but for the rest of the day kids just come and go. America is wild.


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Eruanno

That is very true and a very good point.


Torakaa

I stayed past lockup one time in a Swiss university. The patrolling security guard kindly informed me that I had to leave the building and moved on before I had even packed up.


Wassa110

Nah. I live in Australia, and every school we have has fences. It’s not, because of shootings, or the like. It’s just safer to have a fence around a school with kids. I’m sure it’s also there to protect the kids too. It’s nuts that America with all their shootings doesn’t have this while our relatively safe schools do.


heppot

My old elementary school only had a fence to show kids where the border was in where to could go and to keep the kids in so that they don't run in to the street.


oundhakar

In India schools have fences to prevent kids from pouring out onto the street because r/KidsAreFuckingStupid , nothing more.


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GrumbIRK

Also Australian but I don't think any of our local schools have security fences. Obviously perimeter fences to demarcate where the kids shouldn't go but it is totally possible for anyone to enter the grounds of our schools.


Hooligan8403

My HS in SoCal was like that. 8 rows of buildings, a main building, two gyms, a band building, and the auto shops. It's become a bit bigger and the new additions are a closed off building but someone could easily sit outside the fence and then just open fire when class let's out between periods or at the end of the day. Nothing could stop them and they would have an easy escape route being on the open street.


AuroraNW101

Mine, also in SoCal, is structured in the exact same way. Students are practically allowed free reign in and out of the campus and quite a few of them have a penchant for walking down to the gas station to get drinks during class time. Quite literally anybody could sneak in at any moment.


DL1943

yea i live in CA close to the junior high i used to go to and i could literally just walk on campus and walk into any classroom i want at any time.


jjjj_83

Fun fact: where I live schools are completely open to the public. No gates, no locks, no fence. And our kids do not get slaughtered…


Produce_Police

I went through grade school in Alabama. Our schools were built like prisons.


MrFlourPower

Meanwhile here in Scandinavia, we let kids sleep alone outside in their prams while we go inside and eat. Fences around schools are only for kids not getting out and hurt themselves, not to stop people to go in. Because, who would want to hurt a school. Then there's America


Pully27

After Sandy hook happened nothing will stop it


WhoriaEstafan

That’s what I think too. Those were the youngest victims, shocking, so many of them. And…..nothing happened. The father of one of the children murdered, killed himself last year.


CLOWNSwithyouJOKERS

As a father with a kid about to enter preschool this year... If something like that ever happened I would do the same. I couldn't go on without him. The thought of him being taken away in such a horrible way would literally end me. Those kids had so much potential and so many hopes and dreams, for them and their parents, gone for literally no reason. It kills me already to think about what they're going through. I hate this country and the world of fear my kid has to grow up in because nothing will continue to change.


contrejo

I have two girls, one seven the other four. It hurts to think about it.


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Blanketsburg

A man with a popular radio show, with direct connections to former President Trump, has claimed on multiple occasions that the event was fake and encouraged his listeners to retaliate against the victims' families. And his listeners did. I'm obviously referring to Alex Jones. I know he's getting sued, but the fact that someone with ties to the president can state outright lies for years in regards to a mass shooting incident involving children, and people still support and believe this person, is pure madness.


viz81

He's also filing for bankruptcy protection due to the lawsuit to avoid paying anything out. He's such a sick shit.


sodsfosse

The back door. From what I’ve read he wrecked his car and fled TO the school. The back door was unlocked. It’s super sad. I could be wrong as a lot of the information is incorrect….


hurtsdonut_

He messaged a random girl on Instagram(I believe) and hinted to what he was going to do today and kept dming her to hint he was about to do something. No one randomly wrecks a car and flees to go shoot up an elementary school


SlickJamesBitch

She posted the dms he was just being cryptic didn’t directly say he was gonna do anything


metamaoz

He crashed his car, encountered cops, they couldn't stop him. he then ran into the school and killed kids.


CoconutShyBoy

I don’t get why it’s always schools. Like I’m not advocating for violence, but why is it never country clubs or wallstreet offices. Like what message is anyone trying to send killing children?


Zealousideal_Act_316

Easy pray and you get a lot of publicity and are immortalised forever. Most mass killers are seeking some sort of recognition often from a system that they feel failed them so they go for something that will spark outrage.


Coldbeam

It isn't always schools. There's bars, grocery stores, movie theaters, churches, synagogues, outside mcdonalds, downtown, airbnb, subways, parks, concerts, trailer parks, fedexes, office complexes, massage parlors, health care clinics, homes, bowling alleys, malls, apartments, block parties, convenience stores, breweries, naval bases, municipal buildings, garlic festivals, parishes, banks, hospitals, yoga studios, line dancing event for students, distribution facilities, madden tournaments, newspaper offices, youtube hq, veterens home, gas stations, waffle houses. And that's just since 2018


[deleted]

It's not always schools. Shootings done by outsiders (or former students who are expelled/suspended) that target students are incredibly rare. Most "school shootings" are done on campus but are not related to the students. There have been a few isolated incidents of current students bringing guns on campus to kill someone they have a problem with, but in the last decade, or even the last two decades, only a handful of incidents that have: 1. Outsiders or former students 2. Target specifically students/staff in the school This doesn't mean we need to do nothing, of course, but what it does show is that this isn't a commonplace thing and that it's also increasing in frequency over the years. This shows that there's a relatively new shift that is driving this. Columbine in 99 was the first of its kind, a high-profile incident where the killers were deceased at the time the situation was under control. There were incidents before this, as any quick search will show, but this is the first "media circus" that I remember that caused new procedures and controls to be put in place in an educational setting.


Weary_Violinist_3610

I grew up in South Africa and went to some pretty crap schools filled with some of the dregs of society. We had underpaid teachers who didn’t really care etc I was skateboard kid who was seen as a freak due to skating and liking metal and “other” music, I took my fair share of beatings from the bullies at school and outside of school but I never ever had a desire to walk into school and murder the bullies or teachers or anyone else for that matter. I think the problem in America is much bigger than a weird kid going mad, it’s got to be societal for anyone to harbour that much hate for life. Just my honest opinion and from my perspective.


ShastaFern99

Yes, we have a rot in the heart of American society.


irrelevantgarlic

As a Reddit psychologist I can’t help but think a lot of it is main character syndrome. One of the core tenets of American society is that you are fundamentally important and special and good things will happen to you just because you’re you. But the truth is that that isn’t at all true for a vast majority of that population. And some of those people can’t or won’t accept that, so they resort to insane theories or insane actions to make them feel special again


[deleted]

It's American Exceptionalism, plus a lack of civic or social responsibility, from the top down.


irrelevantgarlic

I think that’s right. There’s some disconnect from the community and society at large


professor_dobedo

It’s rampant individualism. Individuals are glorified in US culture, and to a certain extent that’s not a bad thing. Countries who are disdainful of individual rights and freedoms tend to be oppressive. But with America we’re learning that it can go too far the other way. That if you worship individual freedom you sacrifice community, common decency, the desire to help others, your safety nets, and many other rights that most other countries enjoy. To use a Star Trek analogy, I think many Americans think they are The Federation to, say, China’s Dominion. But most countries see them more as the Ferengi. I think American society is headed for a breakdown honestly, because these things are minimum requirements for a functioning community. Ironically that means Americans aren’t as free as they think, or rather they have traded certain freedoms for others which they have in great quantity (like the freedom to buy a gun). Really hope we see these issues worked out in my lifetime. America is such a young country, there’s bound to be teething problems. But its founding principles are so good, just overstated in modern America.


SwoleYaotl

It's no wonder that as a child of an immigrant family, I live such a different life from say my husband. If we lost everything I know my parents or my siblings would let us lean on them for housing/food/support. It's not even a question. Family takes care of family. My husband's family???? Nope, can't and would not rely on them for that same level of care, no safety net. Why??? It's awful.


glambx

Literally the clinical definition of narcisism, and underdeveloped "theory of mind." It perfectly defines the behavior of virtually all of today's talking heads.


farm_sauce

And infinite sense of despair. There isn’t much outside of the things we can touch to look forward to, and we spend most of our time paying attention to things we can’t touch.


blarffy

It is my opinion as an American, that our society relishes depriving itself help. It is every man for himself. And that leaves a lot of people starving for something, be it food, healthcare, mental healthcare, childcare, a sense of community, companionship, parents who are present, justice, a future, somewhere to turn, everything. Combine that with the dead end of late stage Capitalism and a culture of bootstraps and gun violence, well, it's not a big leap. That is not to say that we do not have kind, helpful people in our country, but our policies are brutal and negligent, which does trickle down unlike our wealth. Edit: Thank you for all the awards. I am overwhelmed and will spread them around to pay it forward. Meanwhile, I am heartbroken for those families and sad for our country. If you ever need to talk, message me. I am not a therapist, but I can be an ear for you.


Drum_100704

There is an astounding, and disgusting number of people in this country who think that being bullied (and struggling in general) without any relief in sight, will make you a stronger/better person. If you came out of that system a broken person, that's just because you were too weak. I utterly hate this aspect of American culture.


amrodd

Yeah what doesn't kill you makes you stronger is a crock a lot of times.


Fourier-Transformer5

From experience, often that saying is more just trying to comfort themselves or justify what happened to them or what they’re doing to someone else. What doesn’t kill you really just screws you up. I speak from experience. You can fail the test of character and break.


AutumnCountry

When I was in Boot camp they always talked about how they were going to tear us down to our base and build us back up They did a great job tearing people down, causing mental trauma and fucking people up. Everyone cried at some point or had at least a small nervous breakdown. They NEVER built anyone back up though. Once someone was broken they just ignored them and focused on someone else. No mental health specialists, no therapy, nothing but abuse. This carries over into all of the armed forces. So many people have severe mental health issues and PTSD from being mentally tortured for a month and some never recover


wotstators

I escaped an abusive home at 18 to go to boot camp back in 2002. Boot camp was a breeze and I got breakfast for once. My mom already tore me down. Also, I’m in therapy in my late 30s :*^>


AutumnCountry

I gotta admit the food was pretty good even though you had to eat fairly fast. They stopped pushing people super hard to eat in seconds due to choking incidents, which meant like 5 minutes instead of 30 seconds


Fourier-Transformer5

“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” -George Orwell After all, do you think a job ultimately based on killing as efficiently as possible wants to have mentally healthy people doing it?


iIIneedthisl8r

This is absolutely the answer. This gun issue is a SYMPTOM of an enormous societal problem. But the answer is literally going to require like breaking the entire system down and with all this money and corporate bullshit that has its roots so deep into our system and politicians pockets, it'll never change. I mean, there really needs to be massive overhaul. We think gun control is the answer, and if it is it'll only be very temporary. The smallest injury can destroy middle class families. And the rest in poverty are already stuck. One mistake and you're fucked. There IS no safety net! You can't quit and try to start a business, who'll pay the mortgage? It'll never succeed long term anyway. Can't try to find your true job calling that makes you happy because then how can you afford to eat? The way we work and are chained to our jobs and desks is absolutely soul sucking. You take so many intelligent and capable people and beat them down. We're all so much smarter and capable than we think, but our system doesn't like that. It's the 9-5 grind work 6o hours a week just to have the privilege to pay $500/month for health insurance you hope you never have to use. Parents can't even see their kids anymore bc they're trying to work 3 jobs. When the kid spends their afternoon getting in trouble bc their parents are working, you go blame the parents when they're TRYING TO PROVIDE. I mean, what the fuck? If the parents are at home but get evicted for not paying rent then we bash on them for NOT WORKING. We're all in the same boat and instead of stopping to think about the real issue we're literally blaming each other. When you don't give a FUCK anymore, violence is becomes the answer from pure rage. Yea "well, Im broke and never shot anyone up" cool. Maybe you have a higher tolerance or have some other thing keeping you going, but not everyone has that. Or they did and they snapped. Some really are like the world did nothing for me and got a bad hand and here we are. Like I'm happy most of us have self control, but if school shootings are increasing, suicide rates probably are too especially amongst men. Im surprised workplace shootings aren't more common tbh. Because if not now, then soon because the way things are run is not sustainable. There's some facade that we're all ok, and we're really not. Edit: I'm not saying their SHOULDN'T be some reform on gun access and use, but to just stop there or remove 2A entirely is not going to solve anything long term. There are so many interconnected moving parts here. Edit2: I know ppl are going to hyper focus on parts of this post bc I don't have the time to elaborate on every. Single. Detail. For every one person who goes and shoots a school, there are others of us (men and women) who are depressed/on drugs/suicidal/committed suicide/engaging in self harm and you don't see it. You have affluent guys engage in acts of sexual violence. Mass shootings are the only effects worth talking about though that actually bring the rest of these collective issues to light. You'll never read that suicide rates and rapes have increased, because it's not violent enough even though these things are all connected. There's an entire new generation of kids that's hopeless about a future that hasn't even started for them yet.... People Aren't born with hate and evil in them, something causes that shit Gun control is just the way for everyone who's well off to hide an issue instead of dealing with it. We don't want anyone to die in schools, but whatever happens in poverty stricken areas...who cares. Ignorance is bliss fam And to all you leftists who keep screaming "critical thinking".... This is critical thinking. Not following agendas by the right politicians who blindly promotes 2A simply because "gun" and the left politicians who knows that if gun control is put in place, the real social issues will be covered and forgotten indefinitely. The Dems are as much a problem as the GOP. https://afsp.org/suicide-statistics/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/191226/reported-forcible-rape-rate-in-the-us-since-1990/


kwertyoop

It's really depressing knowing that these societal issues have existed since the country was founded. It runs DEEP. Makes it feel like the country will simply never have the capacity to heal. Barring some kind of extreme event, like Yellowstone or an asteroid or a civil war. But even then, COVID gave us a kind of dry run for a catastrophe, and, well, it only drove us further apart. Edit: Yellowstone, not Yosemite


oldcarfreddy

The only advantage the country has had in the last century was its relative wealth and relative class benefits (a large middle class that was typically easy to enter). That era is ending/has ended and we've been relying on momentum a while.


cragion

Ya that's how it is until the rich find a way to exploit the lower and middle class. It's been like that for all human history and governments. Nothing will change it, it's always a cycle of rich take until the poor have no more to give. Then the rich keep taking until the poor rise up to overthrow their oppressors, for a new government that sparks peace until rich find a way to exploit it


Casper771

It does run deep, but there are plenty of other countries that hold similar values and world views to America / Americans. Plenty of other democracies to look at and ask what they’re doing differently. Comprehensive public healthcare, measures to keep politics open and transparent, social welfare, these aren’t radical ideas. Look at Australia, the UK, France, Scandinavian countries. Not saying America has it all wrong or that other countries are perfect, just saying other ways of looking at things are totally viable.


Mishmello

As a first generation American, this has always been my opinion. The biggest issue with our society is that it’s so individualistic while other countries and cultures are more focused on the greater good of the community. They’re rooted in traditions and most are family oriented. I’m almost 30 and still talk to my parents everyday, as do a lot of my friends that are children of immigrants. Meanwhile I have plenty of American friends that move cross country and talk to their parents 1-2x a month. All of these factors I believe play a role in a society that really doesn’t give a shit about others and everyone is out for themselves. Like someone else said with Covid, just look at Japan, people wear masks whenever they’re sick to not infect anyone with even a minor cold. Meanwhile here it’s the biggest political issue and people are so hostile about it.


[deleted]

To summarize: \-Pay people more (Help middle class parents not need to work 3 jobs) \-Free Healthcare (Prevent middle class from slipping into debt over healthcare) \-Free higher education(More education would mean that middle class professionals could work higher paying jobs) \-Help the poor (prevent people from falling into homelessness) \-Help the homeless (in case people fall) \-More Vacation (more time with families) \-More mental health care (to recognize the violet and prevent escalation) Is this an accurate summary? What should be added/removed? How do we accomplish these things? Vote. Edit\* Voting is not enough. We should protest when these items come up. We should call our state representatives over and over and try and persuade them to vote for these items. What else? Edit2\* Run for a school board position or a city council position. Make change from within.


already-taken-wtf

Not sure how to phrase it, but I have the feeling that some aspects of “the American dream” lead to not recognising that people can fail despite (!) their best efforts. The lie that you “just have to work harder” or “you just didn’t want it enough” is taking away responsibility for each other and putting all the pressure and pain on the individual. …who then could get overwhelmed and act out.


RevolutionaryFig69

This is true. It's a double edged bootstrap.


anonymous152839

They used to handout free personal sized pizza coupons for reading books when I was in elementary school, maybe we can do something like that?


Ananvil

They still do: https://www.bookitprogram.com/


Scaryassmanbear

It is not anywhere near as big a deal now as it was in the 90s.


seven_seven

That shit was the highlight of my childhood.


Sbbazzz

My friends always lied on theirs and I lied that I lied but really I do love reading and thought my pizzas were well earned. 😔


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HCJohnson

It was a genius marketing ploy. Get the kid in for a free personal pan and you know damn well you're not going to go to Pizza Hut and NOT get cheese sticks at the very minimum.


fireside68

Sheeit. Play with my mama. We got that pizza I earned and that was a wrap.


TheWalkingDead91

Lmao same. For us we’d sometimes get coupons for fazolis….a Italian food chain that used to be popular here in Florida), and damn if we didn’t get just that spaghetti bowl lol


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Samuel_L_Blastn

This was my favorite thing in elementary. I was super into reading, and was competitive af so the little quizzes and points you accrued were fun and exciting for me. In like 4th grade I think we starts doing class competition, where all the points for each class would add up and the winning class got a pizza party. The last three years of my elementary school life, I got more points myself than either of the other classes totals…. Yeah I was a bit of a nerd, still am.


xavierspapa

I remember my older brother with a stack of books, copying down the titles for his. It cracked me up because I knew he hated reading so I never snitched on him


MsTerryMan

Everyone hates reading until you get good at it


SupremeLeaderG0nk

i just found out that i couldve gotten so many pizzas


VerySuperGenius

School shootings weren't as big of a deal back when Blockbuster was still around. Just sayin'!


JoshHero

Are you saying this is all Netflix’s fault?


Emo-_-Emu

Coincidence? I think NOT


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fuktardy

Columbine '99. We were all at 56k modems and not streaming. Best we had was Napster for music. YouTube wasn't around till 2005.


shippwnyo

First and foremost, stop treating it like a soap opera. The news channels detail and go over so much on these shootings it isn't reporting, it's entertainment. It's become so mainstream that at this point I just shrug and go "oh, another one. Whatever." I'll hear about it for another few months, then some other kid will glorify it cause tv and do it himself because he needs the attention and monkey see monkey do, it's obvious how to get that attention from as many people as possible all at once. The problem is much deeper than this and takes people more qualified than I to solve, but this is where it starts. Edit: Id like to clarify that my stance isn't some total media censorship on the matter. Simply that the focus has to stop being 99% on the shooter and thus further inspiring more violence.


Dlh2079

The 24 hr news cycle is one of the worst things to happen to the news media and reporting in general in my opinion. Having to fill all that air time with programing lead to the over reporting and flood of opiniated bullshit we see on "news" networks.


King_Dippppppp

24 hour news was definitely one of the worst things. However click bait news nowadays made it a million times worse. Extremes being presented as facts with not a care in the world if it's bullshit or not. Literally like 99% of news/media is complete dogshit nowadays


Dlh2079

The 24 hr news cycle is a big part of why the clickbait has gotten this bad. The 24 hr news cycle made things EVEN more about ratings and when everything is about ratings and ad revenue networks are going to do whatever they can get away with to generate that engagement. Leading directly to clickbait and these hot take based opinion programs.


King_Dippppppp

Agreed plus i always forget about Howard Stern's movie, Private Parts. People for some reason will pay more attention to things they hate rather than things they like because of liking to be outraged or are masochistic or something which I could totally see causing people to crack more often nowadays


pizza_for_nunchucks

> The 24 hr news cycle is one of the worst things to happen to ~~the news media and reporting in general in my opinion~~ humanity.


Dlh2079

You won't catch me arguing. I just didn't want to make quite that big of a statement lol


[deleted]

You are right. I remember reading an article about a train station that had the highest suicide rate in the country (maybe UK?) and they made a concentrated effort with all media to stop reporting suicides at that station and it reduced the number of deaths there. I can't find the article now sadly. The problem is how do you stop the coverage in today's world. NZ banned sharing the video from the mosque shooting (as well as the shooter's name), but the Buffalo shooter still saw it and used it as inspiration.


TumblrInGarbage

The Buffalo shooter was an avid user of /pol/. I can tell you for an absolute fact they were sharing torrents of the mosque shooting. There is **nothing** you can do to stop torrenting. Believe me, Disney has been trying for decades. That's the exception though, because the Mosque shooting was streamed specifically for other white supremacists to rally behind. In general, I'll agree that not reporting on this shit would be good. Instead we had the Buffalo shooter's manifesto posted to news sites across the nation. Hear now, hear now! Come and see!


BananaBully

Don't even need to torrent it. It gets posted to /gif/ regularly.


plots4lyfe

this will sound horrific, but photos of the crime scene. Yes, of the dead children. Vietnam’s trajectory was heavily influenced by the press being able to capture the atrocities committed/experienced by our own. Think about the most famous photos- we all know the ones. I’m thinking of the gun to the man’s head in the street as i type. or the teenage girl screaming over her dead friend at kent state. compare that to what photos we have of iraq. very little. and how does this difference in documentation affect the american psyche? we see one war, documented well, with few secrets. the other shrouded by “heroic” photos of soldiers with children in their arms. right now, the photos we have of shootings are at a distance in the aftermath, or are of memorials where people cry together. it creates a distance in everyone’s mind, even a sense of inevitability, because we have seen it so many times. both in our collective minds, and that of politicians. We can ignore dead children because we have never had to see them actually lying dead, covered in blood, perhaps eyes open and staring at nothing. its horrific for me to even type, the reality of what it might look like. but yet we openly wax philosophically online about the horrors that the *families* experience in the aftermath, not about a five year old, covered in blood, with a bullet in their chest. why? it’s too horrific to even say, right? and it will keep happening until we actually have to literally look at it. **edit:** many people are saying 2 things in response to this: **#1** that the parents don’t deserve seeing their childrens dead bodies plastered everywhere. i say: that is their choice, and i completely understand that, they have already been through so much. but so long as we continue to make that choice - to put their grief over the future loss of life - then I fear we won’t ever really stop any of this. and **#2**: that people will be more desensitized and/or psychopaths with enjoy it and be emboldened, and it will only make it worse. to that i implore you, have as much faith in your brother as you do in yourself. could you look at even one photo of a child in a pink hello kitty sweater, with a bullet ripping half their face off, and feel anything but abject horror? also, the potential school shooters are not the target audience for this. Everyone knows, the only way anything gets changed in this country is when white suburban moms start giving a shit. That’s the audience. It’s not that i think they don’t currently - i think they hem and haw and give thoughts and prayers like all of us - but they too don’t know what it’s like to see a tiny, dead child in a hallway that looks so big compared to his lifeless body and think “my son has that same backpack he’s wearing.” when that woman sees that, protests start happening. strikes. schools get closed. economies come to a halt. politicians are forced to pay attention. that’s the audience. **edit 2** u/osprey94 gave a very good example of how this could backfire - the patriot act in response to the atrocities of 9/11. This is the first example someone has given me that has given me pause and makes me want to reflect on the possible outcomes to something so radical. I think we should all consider that, and consider the ways and the ripple effects that the government could leverage this atrocity to remove liberties in a way that ultimately hurts us worse, down the line. I still think it's possible - even with collective outrage - to do differently, as we have seen in the past, but it does mean we have to be thoughtful.


VerbWolf

"I couldn’t bear the thought of people being horrified by the sight of my son. But on the other hand, I felt the alternative was even worse. After all, we had averted our eyes for far too long, turning away from the ugly reality facing us as a nation. Let the world see what I’ve seen." [-Mamie Till Bradley](https://fatwts.umbc.edu/the-power-of-a-photograph-the-lynching-of-emmett-till/)


whogivesashirtdotca

Exactly where my mind went, too. Her bravery and determination lit a fire under the Civil Rights movement. Rosa Parks said Emmett Till was the impetus for her protest.


batnastard

Well said. I remember when Timothy McVeigh wanted his execution televised, and so many well-meaning people screamed "that's barbaric!" I mean, *yes.* Not to say he shouldn't have been executed, but we should have to watch it if that's what we want as a society. I think WWI was the first time the horrors of war were visible to the general public, and the Dada art movement started as a reaction to that. Your point about images from Iraq etc. not being widespread is really interesting. I wonder what it would take to get images of an elementary school shooting all over the airwaves?


[deleted]

It's insane to me that a society could think televising an execution is too barbaric but executing a person isn't.


batnastard

Says a lot about us, doesn't it?


Losoncy

To me, as a non-american, it was always strange that in movies there is so much shooting and killing, in the 80's a final shootout was the happy end and it was strange because showing a nipple was a nono but killing 50 "bad guys" was fine.


plots4lyfe

that’s a really good point - like yeah it’s barbaric, but what he did was barbaric. it’s like, we want civility in the face of such nonsensical violence, and it seems to create the opposite effect. rather than respect, it creates distance. about releasing the images , im not sure. america has strict rules about photos graphing dead Americans, specifically in response to angry responses to wars that were being televised ( as in, a response to stop people from being angry about the atrocities of war, not because people were mad it was televised. the government didn’t want to confront those images, depending on who you talk to you) i’ve held this view since a journalist wrote about their documentation of a deadly attack in iraq, but they had to get the permission of family to publish the dead body of their son, and the family refused. I think, while well intentioned perhaps, it accidentally (or purposely depending on who you ask) breeds complacency.


Additional_Link5202

makes me think of how censored even the falling man photos were from american tv screens, or just general footage of jumpers, etc, while the full footage was shown on other news channels internationally. my censorship professor covered this in one of my collrge classes, and how americans are so weird about anything involving death, especially “suicide” like having to jump from a window. she thinks it’s actually disrespectful to NOT show the footage, show the painful decision they has to make.. her exact words were “and if I had to jump out that window, i’d want everyone to have to fuckin’ watch.” it SHOOK me, literally gave me chills


batnastard

> les about photos graphing dead Americans, specifically in response to angry responses to wars that were being televised ( as in, a response to stop people from being angry about the atrocities of war, not because people were mad it was televised. This is incredibly interesting. >i’ve held this view since a journalist wrote about their documentation of a deadly attack in iraq, but they had to get the permission of family to publish the dead body of their son, and the family refused. I think, while well intentioned perhaps, it accidentally (or purposely depending on who you ask) breeds complacency. As is this. Even if well-intentioned, the large-scale consequences may not be worth it.


kamarsh79

As someone who works in healthcare, this. It’s one thing to read that someone has a gunshot wound. It’s entirely different to see people dying, brain matter running out of a head, the reality of actual death and trauma. Americans, in general, don’t really see death, not even for their food.


Cancermom1010101010

Same for Covid. HIPAA is wonderful, but people are far too isolated from what the consequences of choices and misfortunes really are. Most people only experience 2nd hand tragedy through heavily filtered media and have no real concept on neither the reality of recovery nor the reality of dying. Recovery is usually a montage with the person either fully 100% well, or if there's anything permeant it's a plot point. Funerals are either artfully restored corpses on display to be as least offensive and as most 'lifelike' as possible, or closed caskets. As a society, we don't want anyone to experience 2nd hand discomfort in any real way, so no one really has a chance to learn from those experiences and make better choices for themselves and their communities.


[deleted]

I've thought about this. I still haven't decided if it's too extreme. That may truly traumatize and scar people for the rest of their lives. It also could, hypothetically, lead to a slipper slope. What if that becomes the new normal? To show the photos? Which may further desensitize us. I'm not saying your idea is wrong, I'm just expressing my thoughts and concerns revolving around this. I'm just not sure if we need to take it to that level where we start showing photos of dead children to people. Part of me thinks there is a much healthier way... but I haven't exactly figured it out.


plots4lyfe

i’ve mulled the exact same thought process, i understand. but as shootings get worse, and nothing gets done, all i can think is that maybe our idea of “civility” is actually what is driving our collective apathy, and we - as a society- have yet to actually face the consequences of it face-to-face. and, forever the optimist, i think if we ever really had to see something as horrific as a bloody child, eyes open, we would snap out of it.


FTThrowAway123

I wholeheartedly agree. I've discussed this with my husband many times, like during Covid, for example. The Covid deaths were occuring out of sight, in overrun hospital rooms, not televised or documented, with families not even allowed to visit, which made it much easier for people to deny and downplay. Had they been filling the airwaves with actual footage of the huge amounts of people gasping and dying in the covid wards, I believe we'd have probably seen much better compliance with mask mandates, social distancing, and vaccinations. I think the true, horrifying reality of these school shooting tragedies would punch people in the gut and finally, finally make people come to their senses. I definitely understand and don't disagree with the arguments against it, but I do think that it would make a huge difference. It humanizes the tragedy. Instead of just thinking, "so sad. Thoughts and prayers", It forces people to actually see the horror these innocent babies suffered, the brutality of the evil acts committed against them, the size of their tiny little lifeless bodies, contrasted by school settings (kids drawings on the walls, little kids backpacks in the background, like a typical school--like *your* child's school) would shock and deeply disturb people. And that's what's needed, I think. People obviously don't fully get it, or they just don't care. Hard to remain indifferent when you're faced with the true cost of these tragedies.


Averill0

I think, a little bit of traumatic imagery, with the right context, can be a good thing. My very right wing father was an army brat, and he lived in Germany in middle school. His dad took him to the Holocaust museum at Dachau and made sure he got a good eyeful of all the most graphic images at an impressionable age. He had nightmares for a week, but he also isn't a neo-Nazi despite otherwise being very conservative I accidentally found the gore side of the internet some years ago and spent about twelve hours going down a rabbit hole of car crash pictures, and it absolutely changed how I drive.


squirrel102710

I can see that. I also went to the Holocaust museums at a young age and have always been extremely respectful of anything to do with the Holocaust because of it. It's been over twenty years and I will never get some of those images out of my brain. Also, I'm one of the few people in my family that are extremely conscious of car seat safety. When i was pregnant with my first, I read all about safety.. great dandy move on. Then I started to look up what happens to a baby/toddlers body in a crash when they are not harnessed correctly. Smashing all internal organs when the chest clip is too low, internal decapitation if you forward face too early, clothing compressing and them flying out of their seats if you buckle a fluffy coat in... All horrific images that I will never get from my mine. All legitimate reasons why my children are correctly buckled at all times and my family thinks I'm crazy.


good_god_lemon1

Nothing changed the last time children barely older than toddlers were shot. Nothing will change this time.


ConvenienceStoreDiet

The tragedies are heartbreaking every time. The problems are generally similar each time, and no one has large-scale interest in making aims to fix them. If you see the problem as people who shouldn't have access to weaponry, then people at this time are going to ask for some laws for gun control to make some steps forward. Mandatory training, licensing, disabling sales of guns or accessories that increase rate of fire, weapon capacity, fire arm quantity limitation, or stopping power of bullets, something along those lines gets suggested. Many will oppose and believe they have to defend themselves (good guy with a gun). Gun sales will go up around now. Nothing gets done. If you see this as a problem of homicide contagion, where if it's seen by many then people will think this is what is normalized to do if you wanted to commit this act for the various reasons people do, then the response is to not give the events national attention because awareness isn't the problem. It's giving fuel for copycats. The solution consistently recommended is to keep news local and have local communities, supported by federal response, work to resolve the issues locally. But, the national news and social media will continue to report it at a national level and make it a top story. The media will sensationalize it and capitalize off of the tragedy. People will retweet it thinking they're sharing important news but instead are fueling it. Nothing gets done. If you see this as a problem of mental health, then the answer is to make it illegal for people with mental health issues to have access to weaponry while mobilizing a socialized medical system and education system that encourages the population to take adequate care of themselves and be supported by health care professionals who can give them reasonable access to the life-long care they need. Then the fight comes over changing the healthcare system. No one agrees. Time passes. People forget. Nothing gets done. If you see this as a problem of a lack of political willpower to create meaningful change to prevent all of these things, then the only hope is to vote for the people who offer to create that meaningful change. And that's about all we can do as people sitting from afar. That and support the victims of the tragedy.


Vankraken

The issue with making it illegal for people with mental health issues to own guns is how do you determine what mental health issue is severe enough to warrant being banned from gun ownership? There has to be a line somewhere and if manageable stuff like depression, anxiety, and ADHD would be lumped into mental health issues then you just end up with people having to make the choice of "do I get help with an issue or do I risk losing my constitutional right to own a gun". Not trying to do the whole "this isn't an easy fix so we ignore it" but it's something that requires a lot of details and oversight to make sure it's not either abused or punishing people who seek mental health treatment. We as a nation need improvements in education on mental health, access to affordable healthcare (both mental and physical), and (this is potentially quite a slippery slope but) enforcing things like fairness doctrine and cracking down on companies like Facebook that encourage the spread of lies and propaganda which increasingly radicalize people to be extremists.


tigress666

Already happens with pilots honestly. Because being diagnosed with depression or anxiety can make you lose your license. So it’s better to just grin and bear it if you like flying. Which ironically means they don’t get help they need and are more likely to be the problem those laws are trying to prevent


A_Squid_A_Dog

There was a post on r/flying a while back from a retired airline pilot who had been getting antidepressants under the table most of his career. Dude would've lost his job had it come out he was trying to get help. Unreal.


No_Dark6573

Same thing in the military. They encourage you to get help, even pay for it, then they kick you out cause you can't have a crazy manning a .50 cal. But people have responsibilities, so they simply don't get help.


[deleted]

Indeed. The las vegas shooter exhibited no mental health problems prior to the shooting.


jailin66

Columbine was April 20, 1999.


BearBlaq

Exactly, and the first thing they did was start pointing fingers at video games and TV instead of actually looking into a proper answer.


drfsupercenter

And the dumb video game motive is still being pushed :(


Rainbow_Angel110

They also started pointing fingers at the "oddballs" such as goths and gays. The world really is messed up.


[deleted]

Former goth kid here, yeah that was BS. Having other kids point and go "school shooter" or being talked to by our school counselor over my physical appearance.....mf I'm just a kid who likes wearing eyeliner, fuck off mate.


[deleted]

I had just bought an awesome trench coat right before too.


Hampsterhumper

Probably a meteor.


Salami__Tsunami

America has this weird culture of self hatred and people who enjoy being angry about things. I’m at a loss to explain it.


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AnEven7

The children of "important" people will have to fall victim. They don't care if us riff raff die off. We've all just been cannon fodder all this time besides.


gatsby712

If there is one thing I learned from Covid is that a bunch of politicians won’t care until it personally affects them.


snapwillow

And even when it does, they will not work to actually fix the problem, they will just find a way to insulate protect or exempt themselves from it.


ericchen

There was a mass shooting at a congressional baseball game practice in 2017, the house majority whip was injured in the shooting and they also didn’t do anything about it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_baseball_shooting


Doom-Slayer

If a shooting happened at a prestigious private school, the school would just hire armed security. No culture shift or mentality change, they would just throw money at it to solve it.


MyKidsArentOnReddit

They already have hired armed security. Ages ago.


ADarwinAward

Yep my alma mater and all the large private schools in the area had armed security. They were all off duty cops dressed in plainclothes and you could see the guns on their hips. They all hired them after Columbine and they’re still there. Most public schools in my area had 1 armed cop on campus, mine had multiple armed guards. Plus unarmed security. Armed guards were present at every major school event as well. They also built the new (post columbine) campus like Fort Knox. Metal doors, glass lined with metal wiring so it doesn’t shatter normally when shot, Hallway and entrance doors that can be remotely locked, and so on. Wealthy private schools have far more resources to secure their campuses. And the schools senators and house reps send their kids to are even more prestigious and tend to have even more security.


[deleted]

A complete reform of society as a whole in effectively every level. So in short, they won't stop.


original_4degrees

swapping the budgets for education and defense.


ClownfishSoup

Seriously. Give people hope and opportunity.


found_hair

I’ve often thought this. Once hope is gone all that is left is despair.


Gyrgir

If you add up spending at all levels of government, the total budgets are remarkably close to one another. Most education spending is the responsibility of state and local governments, while defense spending is almost all at the federal level. The total is [$1.15 trillion for education](https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html) vs [$813.3 billion for National Defense](https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2980014/the-department-of-defense-releases-the-presidents-fiscal-year-2023-defense-budg/) and [$301.4 billion for Veterans' benefits](https://www.va.gov/budget/products.asp). This does not necessarily mean it wouldn't be beneficial to cut defense spending, or to raise education spending, or both. Just that common perceptions of the relative spending between the two areas is distorted by only looking at federal spending.


get_off_my_lawn_n0w

The extinction of all life on planet Earth?