Another School Shooting in America

[u/Real-Work-1953]

[u/Historical-Juice-433]

School year just fucking started. Unreal

[u/TheMaybeMan_ → u/Historical-Juice-433]

I’m in high school a half hour from Apalachee and several of my classmates are trying to avoid coming in tomorrow. It’s ridiculous that I can’t walk around in my own high school without threat of deadly violence. The concept that we can’t fix the problem when the US accounts for over 2/3 of the world’s mass shootings is crazy.

[u/Tofufist4150 → u/TheMaybeMan_]

As a non-American, it's beyond my imagination every student should fear about being killed by random crazy guys.

[u/sleepyplatipus → u/Tofufist4150]

I was reading this was the 385th mass shooting in the US this year. It means an average of 1.5 shootings a day.

And this is by the definition of mass shootings that means 4 or more people getting shot. So maybe it doesn’t even account for smaller ones.

EDIT too add: to all those “oh must of these are gangs/ghettos/whatever, it’s also the 45th SCHOOL incident this year. But go off.

Source on US mass shootings in 2024.

Edit 2: As gun defenders are still @ing me because apparently even one school shooting a year isn’t bad enough, and they absolutely cannot read at all that I have very explicitly stated definitions and posted sources, I shall also add:

In 2024 there have been 35 school shootings in the US, DEFINED AS:

The source defines school shootings as incidents of gun violence which occurred on school property, from kindergartens through colleges/universities, and at least one person was shot, not including the shooter. School property includes, but is not limited to, buildings, fields, parking lots, stadiums and buses. Accidental discharges of firearms are included, as long as at least one person is shot, but not if the sole shooter is law enforcement or school security.

EDIT 3:

The absolute rockstar u/garbage-pro-sposal was so kind as to fond a source that also indicates that most sources, INCLUDING THE FBI:

DO NOT count GANG RELATED SHOOTINGS, DRUGS RELATED SHOOTINGS and family related shootings as PART OF MASS SHOOTINGS.

So for all saying that most mass shootings numbers are from gangs: those are literally not counted.

[u/Tofufist4150 → u/sleepyplatipus]

Geez... It really depressed me.

[u/MakersOnTheRock → u/Historical-Juice-433]

This. It's been two days for my kids and this already happens? Why the hell America. Let's get our shit together.

This is absolutely unacceptable.

[u/Many-Acanthaceae-146]

Are those firefighters with body armor?

[u/SPACE_NAPPA → u/Many-Acanthaceae-146]

Firefighter here. We have body armor and helmets now for active shooter situations because we are starting to respond with police into possibly the "warm" zone when the shooter is either barricaded/arrested etc. Because unfortunately this happens too regularly in this country enough data was gathered that victims are bleeding out before help can get to them.

[u/atchet → u/SPACE_NAPPA]

FF/Medic in the Northeast US and same. Active shooter policy in most departments I know of for the last six or seven years has been to train for "warm zone" entry, usually with a second wave team and to begin triage, basic GSW treatment and CASEVAC from there.

[u/SPACE_NAPPA → u/atchet]

Yeah, for us the WMD bags came off our trucks and the vests/helmets/ifaks went on. Crazy stuff.

[u/Inevitable-Rush-2752 → u/SPACE_NAPPA]

I have nothing but love, respect, and undying gratitude for all of you firefighters who posted replies about the body armor. I did not know about this yet, and I am stunned that we’ve come to this.

Much love, a Pk-8 educator

[u/Revolutionary-Spite9 → u/Inevitable-Rush-2752]

seriously. this made me tear up. so grateful to each person who works in these fields. can’t believe it’s come to this.

[u/testthetemp → u/SPACE_NAPPA]

What's a WMD bag? Stuff to deal with a weapon of mass destruction?

[u/SPACE_NAPPA → u/testthetemp]

Correct. They came about after 9/11. They just contained suits and respirators as well as a drug called Atropine for us. Because it was feared that a chemical weapon attack could cause something called SLUDGE. Not to get too graphic but that basically causes bodily fluid to come out of every orifice of your body. The Atropine helps stop that so we would be able to actually function and help people. We still have them we just don't keep them on our trucks anymore.

[u/ninebillionnames → u/SPACE_NAPPA]

that was a fucking wild paragraph

[u/PlaguesAngel → u/ninebillionnames]

Was a fun time to be working. I recall getting my anthrax & live smallpox vaccines, I recall the Antrax vaccine recalling sucking, smallpox ya just had to leave it alone.

The basic atropine kit was for a Sarin gas attacks & the “good” kits on the trucks had Mark 1 NAAK DUAL auto injectors which was multipurpose for Sarin, VX, Tabun & Samun chemical nerve agents. Always wanted to take those Mark 1’s home whenever we had to toss em because of the expiration date like a weird hoarder.

I worked from 2006-2014 and recall several WMD trainings and drills due to our metropolitan center. The large scale mass cass training events with homeland security, state guard, fema, state police, etc also incorporated lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina on command center establishment, fore/aft staging grounds were quite the solemn yet interesting times.

Sad to hear those kits being swapped for fucking body armor, straight pathetic imo….

[u/chalor182 → u/SPACE_NAPPA]

Good ol parasympathetic cascade

[u/Soberboy → u/atchet]

Man performing triage in a school must be a horrible feeling. Nothing but respect for firefighters and medics.

[u/Lunchie420 → u/atchet]

Armor supplier here, we have also unfortunately heard of scattered events where EMS and Fire are being actively targeted. We've been supplying to several departments locally as a proactive measure.

[u/nospamkhanman → u/SPACE_NAPPA]

When I was in the Marines we were taught that the vast majority of battlefield deaths were due to treatable blood loss. Something like over 80%.

Most of our first aid training was how to stop the bleeding.

Dying instantly from a gunshot is actually rare.

[u/FuckTripleH → u/nospamkhanman]

We are at a stage wherein unless you're shot in the head or heart we can basically stabilize any injury provided bleeding is stopped so the only sensible priority of combat medics is to stop bleeding and keep sending oxygen to their brain.

[u/nick_the_builder → u/FuckTripleH]

I really need to take a class.

[u/Icarus_Toast → u/nospamkhanman]

Not sure when you were in, but nowadays they're teaching us (air force) tourniquet first ask questions later. They definitely want the bleeding addressed as quickly as possible.

[u/Serious_Level5163 → u/Icarus_Toast]

This was much more popular after the beginning of GWOT. A ton of people needed tourniquets, doctors realized that it's a lot safer then they previously thought, and that amputations could be prevented if they get to definitive care within 8(ish) hours.

I'm a civilian EMT, but we went over a lot of the military history of the interventions we use in EMT school since we had some combat medics in class.

[u/loweffortfuck → u/nospamkhanman]

Buddy of mine went from volunteer firefighters to USMC, his EMT training made him the infantryman who got to stick nearby to the medic for the most part. Cause if doc went down someone had to know wtf to do beyond what y'all were taught in basic.

[u/darth_henning → u/SPACE_NAPPA]

The fact that there's actually DATA on that is fucking wild.

[u/spireup → u/darth_henning]

U.S. set to see another deadly year for mass shootings

Axios: Jul 13, 2024 — The country is still averaging over one mass shooting per day this year and could break over 500 mass shootings for the fifth year in a row.
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/13/us-2024-mass-shooting-gun-violence-data

The Gun Violence Archive said there were 72 U.S. mass shootings in month of June, bringing 2024's total to 261.

Prior to 2020, they'd never logged a month with more than 60 mass shootings. Since then it's happened 22 times.

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/us-mass-shooting-data-gun-violence-archive/

[u/G3neral_Tso → u/Many-Acanthaceae-146]

Our rural (US) fire department got a grant to buy body armor. They are first responders and felt they needed ballistic armor to do their jobs.

What a country.

[u/Infyx → u/G3neral_Tso]

In Boston there was firefighters who were ambushed. After that happened a lot of departments got ballistic vests. Our small locals here have them.

[u/ACcbe1986 → u/Infyx]

Pretty soon, the firefighters are gonna be armed.

They fight fire and they fight with fire...arms.

[u/MSPCincorporated → u/ACcbe1986]

It’s obviously for when THE FIRE IS SHOOTING AT US!!!

[u/G3neral_Tso → u/Infyx]

They actually mentioned that specific incident in the grant app.

[u/EA_Spindoctor → u/G3neral_Tso]

Guns everywhere, ban abortions, and defund education. What could go wrong?

[u/AnAverageOutdoorsman → u/EA_Spindoctor]

Talibaptists

[u/iamapizza → u/AnAverageOutdoorsman]

Sweet home talibama

[u/agk23 → u/Many-Acanthaceae-146]

“Fire” is about the last word I would want written across my bulletproof vest

[u/FIJAGDH → u/Many-Acanthaceae-146]

…and… ……shorts?

[u/minnick27 → u/FIJAGDH]

Fire is hot

[u/tx_brandon]

Shooter called and warned them there would be a shooting.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/apalachee-high-school-shooting-georgia-09-04-24#h_2b9234957810f668ee5b68f74f3deeeb

[u/oyM8cunOIbumAciggy → u/tx_brandon]

"It is not known who placed the call"

[u/fallonyourswordkaren → u/oyM8cunOIbumAciggy]

What a coincidence!

[u/PM_ME_Happy_Thinks → u/tx_brandon]

What the fuck is wrong with administration these days?

When I was in school post-columbine days of any school in the city had any threat, they'd lock down all of them

[u/daddyswatching → u/PM_ME_Happy_Thinks]

When I was in high school a kid threatened to shoot up the school and they wouldn’t cancel. They said we could stay home but it would count against us. When I was in college we had a bomb threat and same thing- wouldn’t cancel and one professor said we had to come or it would count against us.

[u/UhhhThatsFine → u/daddyswatching]

It's wild that I doubt you went to the same high school/univeristy as me, yet the same exact fact pattern happened. Unless you were in a Birmingham high school in the late 2000s and an Alabama university around the early 2010s

[u/obamasrightteste → u/UhhhThatsFine]

I think people have a hard time internalizing data that shows unfavorable outcomes. Like, people cannot bring themselves to believe mass shootings actually happen, people actually die, and those people are actually pretty random (as in did not provoke the violence somehow).

I very seriously think this same pattern happens in multiple areas, and its basically always harmful. There was a post on reddit recently about this japanese mayor who pointed out historical flood stones indicated the possibility of modern floods at that level. And everyone calling him a worrywart for it. I am sure I am horribly misremembering that story, but whatever.

[u/imanutshell → u/obamasrightteste]

I think you mean the mayor who spent billions on a Dam that people saw as pointless at the time and that was what people criticised him and he even died and was remembered for several years as a paranoid goof who wasted public funds, until the Fukushima earthquake in 2011 when it ended up saving their entire town and now people regularly visit his grave to give thanks.

I don’t remember what the stones had to do with it tbh. They do exist, but I can’t recall without looking it up again whether he saw them and decided to heed their warning because their town was below their line, or if he had actual data to go on that proved his point. (and I really should be going to bed So I’m not gonna)

But I imagine it was the latter because of having to justify spending public funds, and even though Japan is pretty traditional I doubt “Warning from our ancient Ancestors” would be a great excuse when a Govt panel asks what his town needs the money for. Although, saying that, they do love needless construction projects for bolstering employment rates so who knows 🤷‍♂️

[u/Maxievelli → u/imanutshell]

I also won’t look it up because I also need to go to bed, but it was a sea wall and river gate. Most of Japan was erecting 25-foot sea walls based on the most recent tsunami anyone could remember from the ‘30s. But the mayor of one town insisted on a 50 foot wall because he had been alive for that 25-footer in the 30s and he remembered stories from his grandparents at the time of an even larger one that they had experienced in the late 1800s. Reddit legend claims he hiked above the town and found clear evidence in the form of exposed stones and weathered rocks indicating the late-1800s tsunami his grandparents remember had been 50 feet in height. As mayor he insisted on spending far more than the other villages to erect a 50-foot seawall, ensuring ridicule at the expenditure from his own village as well as the others.

He passed away before he could see the 50-foot tsunami that happened a few years ago that caused massive casualties and property damage in every adjacent coastal village except his. He planted the seed for an oak tree that he never got to sit under. Cool story even though it’s very sad for everyone else

[u/Band4s4yinshoottrump → u/Maxievelli]

He insisted the wall match the height of the “tsunami stones” which told of how high the water got in that area the last tsunami. He died and his belief in history and stories saved the entire town. Agree dude was a supreme legend.

[u/kptkrunch → u/imanutshell]

The mayor's name was Kōtoku Wamura

[u/yohohoanabottleofrum → u/obamasrightteste]

This is something that I think about a lot these days. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. It's like looking around and suddenly people's heads are in the sand. Idk if it's just that I was not exposed to a lot of this thinking when I was younger, or I'm more worried about things than I should be. I moved recently and the people here all seem this way. Like, totally avoiding anything that could be interpreted as negative, but also much more negative about things that don't matter. Like, food costs are skyrocketing, schools are getting shot up, Russia is influencing elections and we're just supposed to be normal? But it goes into small things too, like, pretending even small things are like, not happening? I started a new job and am learning. I freely admit to my mistakes in an effort to learn. Like, who cares? Ultimately it'll make me better at my job. It freaks them out for some reason. Like I'm being hard on myself, but really I'm just trying to figure out where it went wrong and correct it. It feels a little like the deaf person thinking that dancing people were insane.

[u/Sithlordandsavior → u/daddyswatching]

We had a bomb threat at my work once and my manager said "Well you better do it soon, we close at 8"

[u/CrucifiedOne6868 → u/Sithlordandsavior]

Brutal lol

[u/awnawkareninah → u/PM_ME_Happy_Thinks]

For real we had a bomb threat scribbled hastily on a bathroom wall in middle school and they evacuated all of us out into the football/soccer fields while the building was swept.

[u/OramaBuffin → u/awnawkareninah]

You guys just went to the field? We had to walk to another school three blocks down lol

We had like 2 lock downs, 2 bomb threats, and a gas leak during my senior year, it was nuts. It was a source of many jokes at graduation. (I'm Canadian)

[u/oojacoboo → u/PM_ME_Happy_Thinks]

We had students calling in bomb threats from pay phones on campus in the 90s. And we’d get hours off of school while they did a search, or the rest of the day canceled. People did it to skip a test.

[u/cspinelive → u/oojacoboo]

Our schools stopped this by adding a day to the school year every time it happened. 

[u/kitsunewarlock → u/PM_ME_Happy_Thinks]

I brought an umbrella to my university in 2008 and every parent and teacher was sent an emergency text as the campus police scrambled to find me. Someone thought it was a sword.

The funny part is we had a philosophy professor bring in a katana all the time. And an unofficial kendo club that often fought after dark with cosplay prop swords.

[u/Agentkeenan78 → u/tx_brandon]

That's crazy. They asked the sheriff about this at the press conference and he wouldn't acknowledge the question.

[u/Poerflip23 → u/tx_brandon]

Every law enforcement officer, school admin, and SRO, who was aware of this and didn’t lockdown/evacuate the school has blood on their hands. They should all be fired and charged with manslaughter. Do not let them forget that they are responsible.

[u/AgarwaenArato → u/Poerflip23]

Yeah, I think since we're not passing any gun control laws, we need to start making more people responsible. We can't keep pretending this isn't a societal issue, and just the fault of the gunman.

[u/DuntadaMan → u/AgarwaenArato]

Uvalde pretty much proved nothing will ever change and no one will be held responsible.

Money has so fucking much control over our government that no change we want can be affected as long as one rich fuck doesn't want it, and a bunch of rich fucks like selling guns.

[u/AgarwaenArato → u/DuntadaMan]

The case of Ethan Crumbley at least provides precedence for any future cases. The officers at Uvalde should have faced charges but the Supreme Court decided about two decades ago that cops don't have to do their jobs.

[u/Hej_Varlden]

4 killed and 22 injuries. 14yr old shooter :( 😞

***update his father bought his AR-15 as a Christmas present six months after they were questioned about his threats to school last year.

[u/Schrodingers_RailBus → u/Hej_Varlden]

If a country has plate carriers specifically for paramedics and fire service, that really says all you need to know about the state of that society.

[u/StupendousMalice → u/Schrodingers_RailBus]

Dude. We are so far past this.

They sell plate carriers for Kindergarteners in America.

Quick, they are having a back-to-school sales:

https://tuffypacks.com/

https://www.atomicdefense.com/products/bulletproof-15-inch-kids-backpack-for-boys-girls?variant=43186694226134

Don't forget the plates sized specifically for childrens backpacks:

https://premierbodyarmor.com/collections/school-safety?srsltid=AfmBOooK21NSPfuC2oL68J9lMmh2jvcjGIlArBBflUaNzrsQDjnX-PCI

Take your pick of companies, its a growth industry.

[u/iamnotcreative → u/StupendousMalice]

Holy shit that first one is just ghoulish

[u/Accurate-Barracuda20 → u/iamnotcreative]

This should be a fucking ad from cyberpunk or GTA, not a real company

[u/tjdux → u/Accurate-Barracuda20]

Gta 6 is just real life camera footage

[u/StrobeLightRomance → u/tjdux]

It's ironic that we used to play GTA to escape reality and create unimaginable chaos, and now I just use it to take quiet drives across the evening desert to clear my head, because the NPCs in the box are more predictable than the fellow humans that surround me when I am driving in life.

GTA is my quiet place.

[u/BIGGUS_dickus_sir → u/StrobeLightRomance]

I do this too occasionally. Can trust the NPCs in the game. Can't trust humans in reality.

We've come a long way as a species. We should be, umm, proud, er.... Ya, that doesn't sound right.

[u/StrobeLightRomance → u/BIGGUS_dickus_sir]

We've come a long way as a species

Technically correct. A downward spiral is definitely a direction of movement.

Because reality is more bizarre than a GTA story line, GTA 7 is just going to be about a peaceful Candian family of lumberjacks in 1995 right before internet went mainstream and accelerated our decline. The antagonist of the game is just this big moose that occasionally wanders on your property and crushes things with his antlers and feet. Your only real goal is to work enough to get a bigger fence, and add lights and loud speakers to your property to stop and scare the moose away.

I'd play it.

[u/AndAgain99 → u/StupendousMalice]

Canadian here - never even heard the term plate carrier before.

[u/StupendousMalice → u/AndAgain99]

You guys don't sell next gen body armor at Walmart up there? What do you use to keep your 4 year olds from getting blown apart in school?

[u/Stoibs → u/StupendousMalice]

As an Aussie who knows nothing about guns or this sort of military equipment, I learned of the phrase 'Plate Carriers', and the fact that they make school-versions of them today..

Jesus Christ.

[u/InfamousBanEvader → u/AndAgain99]

It’s the technical term for a “bullet proof vest”. The vest holds ceramic and Kevlar “plates” that actually stop bullets and can be swapped out, so they are “plate carriers”.

[u/David-S-Pumpkins → u/StupendousMalice]

And more and more defensive products for in schools. Door stoppers, in-classroom panic rooms, etc.

Anything to make money without changing a thing. Same as the wall on the border. Never worked before so let's make some money building more!

[u/Darth_Fluffy_Pants → u/Schrodingers_RailBus]

They have plate carriers specifically for students. Backpacks with kids cartoons on them that have openings for plate inserts. That's scary

[u/rampageTG → u/Hej_Varlden]

where at?

[u/jms21y → u/rampageTG]

winder, georgia

[u/StretchyPlays → u/Hej_Varlden]

If only a brave man with a gun had been there to murder a 14 year old first.

[u/SjurEido → u/StretchyPlays]

Incoming calls to arm teachers again...

[u/DjCyric → u/SjurEido]

Did this school have doors?

Is Senator Ted Cruz still trying to ban doors?

/s

[u/Constant-Plant-9378 → u/DjCyric]

Texas here. I look forward to Senator Colin Allred taking over Ted's "black job".

[u/Inevitable_Spirit451 → u/DjCyric]

Raphael is in Cancun, flew out as soon as he heard about it

[u/SouldiesButGoodies84 → u/Inevitable_Spirit451]

Technically this is GA, so it'd probably be Marjorie Taylor Green returning from the hotel gym in Acapulco and having to pretend she gives a sh*t while telling teachers to 'Get armed!'

[u/MetaverseLiz → u/StretchyPlays]

People talk about being able to shoot a gun and defend themselves, but they don't take into account the emotional toll killing another human being (like a child!) does on the brain. People train to be able to handle that aspect of war, and even then they come out with PTSD.

No one should be proud to say they carry a gun and are willing to shoot it at another person. You should be very somber and hope you never have to... unless you're a sociopath.

[u/tokes_4_DE → u/MetaverseLiz]

Well theres a LOT of sociopaths in this country. I cant tell you how many people ive talked to who carry just fantasizing about finally being able to shoot someone in "self defense".

[u/Katie1230 → u/tokes_4_DE]

That's why I'm afraid to turn around in people's driveways.

[u/perseidot → u/Katie1230]

Seriously! My dog got out of my yard, and I pulled into the driveway of the house directly behind mine to look for him. I’d been at his garage sale a week earlier.

He ran out of his house screaming at me with a handgun in one hand, and a rifle in the other.

JFC! I was in a car, in the driveway - WTF did he really think he had to defend himself against?

Just to compound the idiocy, I’m a middle aged white woman with grey hair. Clearly a crime lord there to steal his lawnmower.

Edit: I need to clarify that I don’t mean I’d be less likely to commit crime because I’m white. I’m trying to imply that the old white guy with the guns is more likely to think that.

[u/Ifritmaximus]

My children were at the elementary school down the street. They too went on lockdown. They had police with rifles and shields and police dogs. My 5 yo said to me when I got home “Did the intruder come to your school too?” Jesus… what do you even say?

[u/Lamlot → u/Ifritmaximus]

My nephew is only 4 but will start kindergarten next year. How in the world do I even start to help explain these things to him. He deserves to live in a world where this would never even be a thought. His innocence is destroyed before he is even 5 years old.

[u/meatmalis → u/Lamlot]

Idk if there is a right answer to this. My 5 year old daughter started Kindergarten last week and has an ALICE drill tomorrow (if an intruder enters the school). I explained to her that it won’t happen in her school (I know I know..) but if it was to happen she needs to know this. I’ll take potentially lying over her being afraid to go to school.. when she’s old enough to see the news, I’ll deal with it then somehow. Ugh.

[u/mdvo12 → u/meatmalis]

My girls had theirs last week for kindergarten. The one was explaining to me how they have to hide in the bathrooms from "the wolf" and that we should have a "wolf" drill at home because there are woods near our house that could have wolves.

I didn't know what to say other than, "You're probably right. Just always listen to your teacher and be quiet."

[u/supercow_ → u/mdvo12]

This is heartbreaking and infuriating that it is a thing. 

[u/Dinky356t → u/supercow_]

And then people fucking wonder why no one wants to have kids

[u/Successful_Language6 → u/mdvo12]

And someone who survived a minor school shooting (kids injured but nobody died thank god) you tell them to run at an angle and hide. And if they have a phone silence it. And if someone near them is bleeding rub their blood on you and play dead.

[u/Jdobalina → u/Lamlot]

You’re right. But unfortunately the people in charge of this nation, and many of your neighbors and countrymen don’t feel the same way. This nation’s mindset is a legitimate pathology.

[u/RandomTask008 → u/Ifritmaximus]

When my oldest was in kindergarten, they had to do active shooter drills. When eating dinner, she told us about it "I'd run up to the bad guy and punch them!" A little 40lb kid telling me this. I'm a grown ass man that took every ounce of restraint to not burst into tears. We. Are. Failing. Our. Children. I have guns that I use to hunt. It's simply too easy to get firearms in this country. I also race (cars) as a hobby. It's cost me -way- more in safety and training to get my racing license because *news flash*, organizations recognize racing as dangerous.

And cons simply don't care. The lives of our children are worth it so they can larp around and pretend to be billy badass.

[u/LeviTheRelentless]

The unfortunate thing is that this will be forgotten in two weeks. Thoughts and prayers with no real action taken. Rinse and repeat until the next one. Becoming desensitized to school shootings is a US only thing.

[u/bobsbottlerocket → u/LeviTheRelentless]

the real truth is that for the people not directly affected, this will be forgotten by tomorrow

[u/otherwise_data]

the shooter was fourteen. where are we failing these kids?

[u/TeutonJon78 → u/otherwise_data]

Pretty much everywhere.

[u/XenithShade → u/TeutonJon78]

And they wonder why birth rates are falling.

[u/TheBeckofKevin → u/XenithShade]

Yeah, I'll avoid ranting too long, but we are a collective organism. We are so deeply connected and interwoven to such an extent that an alien would have no choice but to ignore what we see as individualism. The fact that none of us can do anything alone should be enough proof. "I can fix my own car" not without parts manufactured thousands of miles away, created with ore mined by people thousands of miles away etc etc.

Birthrates are falling because we collectively feel the stress. Its just basics in any kind of system. You get more hawks when there are more rabbits, you get less when there are less rabbits. The pressures on our society are pushing people to revert. Its why there was a baby boom in the 50s. Population was crushed post WWII, opportunity was plenty, time for more babies.

We like to think we're all making our own choices, but more than likely if you were surrounded by people who also felt optimistic and were having tons of children, you too would feel compelled to join in. But we have destroyed communities, destroyed small local businesses. Travel and work has devastated the sense of belonging. Most people don't even know their neighbors. Its a lot of compounding factors. The world has changed but more importantly we live as that changed world. Its a bit like pretending we are different from the traffic we are in. We are the lower birthrate. We are the failed education system, the increased homelessness.

Its just tough out there, and we have a poor mentality for what it means to be human. We dismiss community at every turn, but then have no where to turn. Its self destruction for the human collective.

[u/TeddyBugbear → u/TheBeckofKevin]

Literally our biggest advantage as a species is how well we can work together, and we've spent a long, long time being convinced that you can only ever be out for yourself.

[u/TheBeckofKevin → u/TeddyBugbear]

Yeah, we have somehow built systems (or allowed those systems to flourish) in manners directly against our own best interest. The best thing you can probably do today is go look someone in the eye and tell them how they're doing a great job or give someone a smile and a hug. Its incredibly human, and we are starved by our own society. Stuck in boxes, waiting in line, ignoring everything and everyone around us. Its really crazy.

Imagine if everyone realized just how important everyone else is to them.

[u/EagerSleeper → u/TeddyBugbear]

being convinced that you can only ever be out for yourself.

Because they make it seem like that's what it takes. To take everything for yourself at any cost, then pull the ladder up behind you for the next folks.

[u/EmuCanoe → u/TheBeckofKevin]

This is spot on.

[u/babycuddlebunny → u/otherwise_data]

Just yesterday a 4yo was shot and killed by another child in my hometown. Two 4yos, a 9yo, and a 10yo were left home alone at midnight with a loaded gun accessible. And now one of them is dead. Because a parent couldn't bother to be a parent. It's horrible here.

[u/forever_a10ne → u/otherwise_data]

Quality of education, physical and mental healthcare, hunger, any hope for achieving the American dream, etc

[u/sandybarefeet → u/forever_a10ne]

Yes, and all of those things should be worked on in this country.

But please don't forget to put "ridiculously easy access to guns" on that list. Every other country has some or all of those problems you listed too. But chronic mass shootings are exclusively a United States problem.

There is only one major difference between the US and other countries. And we all know what that is. No more deflecting, we need to look it square in eyes and quit ignoring it.

[u/BabyStockholmSyndrom → u/otherwise_data]

Look around. My kids are already feeling anxiety in elementary school because of shooter drills. We work constantly to just stay afloat and we make more than we ever have. We haven't moved or done anything different in the 11 years in our home. Make more money and in more debt than ever.

People worried about a fucking pronoun more than kids getting shot monthly. Parents forcibly pushing the current hate filled politics onto their little kids and teaching them to hate from a young age.

We let a group of education hating people take control of the country. Teachers are treated like shit by parents and the kids of these types of parents.

And on and on and on

[u/acfox13 → u/otherwise_data]

There's a lot of normalized abuse, neglect, and dehumanization going on. It's why you're seeing a rise in adult children going no contact with their "parents". They're walking away from the normalized toxic dysfunction.

The gop want the abuse to keep going bc they know that's what primes people into having an authoritarian follower personality.

Links to explore:

authoritarian follower personality (mini dictators that simp for other dictators): https://www.issendai.com/psychology/estrangement/summary.html#authoritarian

Bob Altemeyer's site: https://theauthoritarians.org/

The Eight Criteria for Thought Reform (aka the authoritarian playbook): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Reform_and_the_Psychology_of_Totalism

John Bradshaw's 1985 program discussing how normalized abuse and neglect in the family of origin primes the brain to participate in group abuse up to and including genocide: https://youtu.be/B0TJHygOAlw?si=_pQp8aMMpTy0C7U0

Theramin Trees - great resource on abuse tactics like: emotional blackmail, double binds, drama disguised as "help", degrading "love", infantalization, etc. and adding this link to spiritual bypassing, as it's one of abuser's favorite tactics.

22 Unspoken Rules of Toxic Systems (of people) - dysfunctional families and dysfunctional groups all have the same toxic "rules"

Issendai's site on estrangement: https://www.issendai.com/psychology/estrangement/missing-missing-reasons.html - This speaks to how normalized abuse is to them, they don't even recognize that they've done anything wrong.

"The Brainwashing of my Dad" 2015 documentary: https://youtu.be/FS52QdHNTh8?si=EWjyrrp_7aSRRAoT

"Never Split the Difference" by Chris Voss. He was the lead FBI hostage negotiator and his tactics work well on setting boundaries with "difficult people". https://www.blackswanltd.com/never-split-the-difference

[u/otherwise_data]

if 20 dead 6 and 7 year old children didn’t change anything in 2012, nothing will.

[u/Watch_me_give → u/otherwise_data]

Exactly. Once Sandy Hook did nothing, it was over.

[u/Kimby303 → u/Watch_me_give]

And they say we're the greatest country on Earth. #Bullshit

[u/Great_White_Samurai → u/otherwise_data]

Yep that's when I realized that conservatives wouldn't change

[u/zqfmgb123 → u/Great_White_Samurai]

conservatives wouldn't change

it's in the name "conserve", keep the same. Of course they won't change.

[u/GoodMornEveGoodNight → u/Great_White_Samurai]

When Trump got shot at and there were no calls for gun reforms, that’s when it really sank in.

[u/BKlounge93 → u/GoodMornEveGoodNight]

Wild that Trump is more scared of the gun lobby than the actual guns

[u/Brianm650 → u/otherwise_data]

Bullshit. All these old fucks who are dead set on the status quo are going to die. Hopefully of pancreatic cancer but none of them will live forever and all those kids who had to endure active shooter drills since kindergarten are eligible to vote in larger and larger numbers. Fuck this shitty fucking defeatist shit. 

This is the 557th school shooting since 2000.

265 of these occurred during the 2010s.

For the 2020s we are already at 207. The rate of this bullshit is accelerating and something has to change.

[u/Disturbing_Trend_666 → u/otherwise_data]

Correct. That was the exact day I lost hope for any positive social change in America. I send my kids to school each and every day knowing it could be their last and knowing that nobody else would care.

[u/kgm2s-2 → u/Disturbing_Trend_666]

I was in high school at the time of Columbine. While it wasn't the first, something about it felt like a crack in the dam...it felt as if something fundamental had changed setting America down a one-way street. When Sandy Hook happened, I knew the dam had burst.

[u/tlovelace86]

How did a 14yo boy kid bring a AR w/ 60rd mag to school? Surely his Spiderman backpack was sagging a little.... Charge the parents as well.

[u/paperthinpatience → u/tlovelace86]

Yep, they did it with Ethan Crumbleys parents. Same should apply here if the parents were negligent

[u/MayDay521 → u/paperthinpatience]

I don't think it's a "if". I fail to see how the parents can't be held responsible on at least negligence, allowing a child to have such easy and unsupervised access to a gun.

I live in GA, not far from this school, and people's attitudes about guns around here is frighteningly flippant. I wish children didn't have to die like this for us to learn a lesson, which we are apparently really bad at learning since this keeps happening.

[u/paperthinpatience → u/MayDay521]

I feel you. I’m from Alabama. Gun culture and lack of gun safety here is similar.

[u/KWilt → u/tlovelace86]

How? Well, first you gotta call the school first, give them a heads up so they can accommodate you...

[u/DenseStomach6605 → u/KWilt]

This isn’t the first time a warning didn’t do shit. Won’t be the last either

[u/Lizzie_Boredom → u/KWilt]

I hope the people who ignored the call never forgive themselves.

[u/Texas1010 → u/tlovelace86]

This is what I don't get. We see school shootings all the time and yet nothing about the parents. How are these children getting access to assault rifles? How are they bringing them to school? This is gross negligence on the parents' part and there needs to be serious consequences.

[u/bubba1834]

[u/Electronic_Motor_422]

They will ban schools before banning guns

[u/a_v_o_r → u/Electronic_Motor_422]

Didn't they already start with books?

[u/plippyploopp → u/a_v_o_r]

Tbf almost everything starts with books

[u/Jolly_Ad_2363 → u/a_v_o_r]

Books contain ideas. Ideas scare them

[u/Misfitg]

Call Marjorie Taylor greens office and tell her she is part of the reason this keeps happening. Seven zero six two two six five three two zero extension two

[u/looking4astronauts → u/Misfitg]

She’s probably already on her way to bully some of the survivors

[u/Misfitg → u/looking4astronauts]

Exactly. Please everyone. Inundate her office with calls. Call kemp’s office. He is the one who signed into law that you don’t need a permit to carry a weapon in public.

[u/Flimsy-Activity9787 → u/Misfitg]

Imagine needing a license to drive a car with training but not one to carry a gun. Jesus Christ.

[u/a_shootin_star → u/Flimsy-Activity9787]

Imagine being able to enlist in the army with training to go kill people but not purchase alcohol until 21 years old. The lack of consistency hurts.

[u/ptwonline → u/looking4astronauts]

She probably had the fundraising e-mail written up and ready to go even before the shooting since she knew another would be along soon enough.

[u/Sharp-Anywhere-5834 → u/Misfitg]

Hey so I actually called and got on the phone with a person and asked what MTG thought about the recent school shooting in Georgia and what are her views on public safety regarding the violent slaughter of children in American education. The voice on the phone told me to keep an eye out on social media for updates on MTGs opinion. I’m so disappointed in our government

[u/karlrasmussenMD → u/Misfitg]

The number is currently not available. She's such a joke

[u/my-coffee-needs-me → u/karlrasmussenMD]

The phone number for the US Capitol Switchboard is 202-224-3121. Call and ask for the office of the Representative or Senator that you want to talk to. They'll transfer you right away. Be polite to the staffer who answers the phone.

[u/Izanagi85 → u/my-coffee-needs-me]

That's the important part. Be polite to the staffer

[u/Misfitg → u/Misfitg]

Please everyone. Call her office. Call kemp’s office. This has to stop. No longer can our children be murdered.

[u/camwow13 → u/Misfitg]

They don't give a flying fuck. This has happened a zillion times before and they don't care. They know their constituents will gleefully vote them back in.

The only way it changes is if you vote them out.

[u/Eagle_Kebab]

'No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

[u/threecolorless → u/Eagle_Kebab]

I've been successfully conditioned into barely registering even an instant of grief when I read one of these headlines. Congratulations Land of the Free, you win.

[u/DigbyChickenZone → u/threecolorless]

I just wonder how many children died, and know to not believe the numbers of shooters while the police is still clearing out the area.

Horrifying incidents like this are so common, this little handbook/cheatsheet [made over a decade ago] is unfortunately a good resource

Edit: That is from this 2013 episode, OnTheMedia has multiple breaking news consumers handbooks

Such as

Health and fitness and celebrity "expert" edition

Stock market changes

Terrorism

Storms

[u/FuckTripleH → u/threecolorless]

For me the immediate thought is "I hope it's just single digits". And then a sense of total disgust at myself when I feel relieved that it is.

[u/DrPlexel1234 → u/Eagle_Kebab]

385 mass shootings in 2024 already too. Hmm wondering on a method to prevent this.

[u/boardin1 → u/DrPlexel1234]

“We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas!”

[u/truequeenbananarama → u/boardin1]

I think about this quote more often then I'd like to admit. again the Simpsons did it lol

[u/Smrtguy85 → u/truequeenbananarama]

A Simpsons quote I often think about is one from Grampa. After Homer coaches the football team to victory, Marge turns to Grampa and says, “Aren’t your proud of your son?” Grampa shrugs his shoulders, says “You’d think so, wouldn’t you,” then turns around and falls asleep in the bleachers.

I think about that Grampa line a lot. Most times in sarcastic situations, but also in times like this.

“Another school shooting. Kids and teachers are dead and traumatized. Don’t you think it’s about time we passed some laws to make this harder to keep happening?”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you.”

[u/johnny_cash_money → u/truequeenbananarama]

Here's another quote I hate to keep rolling over.

"The coffins full of kindergartners, is this what you call free?" - Rise Against. People Live Here.

[u/Frosty252 → u/Eagle_Kebab]

WE NEED MORE THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!!

[u/level_17_paladin → u/Eagle_Kebab]

The media should start showing the bodies.

[u/bearrosaurus → u/level_17_paladin]

People keep saying we’re “desensitized” to school shootings.

Fuck no

We are sheltered from them

Many of these events have had coverage, but have you ever heard a child scream from it? Forget about bodies, have you ever even seen so much as a bloodstain? Everything about these attacks is sanitized to spare viewers.

Every now and then the LOL made from blood from Uvalde is posted on Reddit and the admins take it down.

[u/creamycolslaw → u/bearrosaurus]

I agree. They need to show the horrific, uncensored imagery. I recently saw some graphic photos from a school shooting that didn’t even show any bodies, just blood, and I was sick to my stomach.

[u/Venator_X21J → u/bearrosaurus]

The pictures that had been released after some of the more “high profile” school shootings over the past couple years and the one in Vegas, just the aftermath itself, is some of the most nauseating things I’ve ever seen. And that’s from someone who’s already had the displeasure of being shown a cartel decapitation.

No, people need to see the bodies. The revolting amount of blood caked on the floors. The average person stays blind to those things, they just see footage of cops at the school entrance, maybe some pictures of the kids themselves… But not the actual horror show inside, the reality of the situation, even foreign wars get more transparent coverage than this.

[u/its_kgs_not_lbs → u/Venator_X21J]

There was a mass shooting out here in Allen, Texas a few years ago where some nutjob opened fire in an outdoor shopping mall with an assault rifle. He killed an entire family by trapping them into a corner and mowing them down. Terrible.

Well, some guy decided to live stream on social media the aftermath including the bodies of the family, which included small children.

The family was stacked on top of each other with brain matter, blood, etc. all over. It was absolutely horrific. I've seen alot, including finding my own father deceased as a young teen. This event however has been burned into my brain for life. I can't unsee it.

[u/ExistingPosition5742 → u/Venator_X21J]

Make every fucking profiteer tour the scene. Bring them from their boardrooms and their C suites. 

[u/CptDrips → u/ExistingPosition5742]

Most C suites are actual psychopaths. I doubt it would do much good.

[u/WorldsWorstTroll]

When I was teaching, all classrooms had a five-gallon bucket in my classroom that was filled with sawdust for kids to use as a toilet just in case there was a shooting and we were in lockdown for an extended time.

Is this standard issue for any other job in the country? in the world?

[u/xelabagus → u/WorldsWorstTroll]

No, we don't do active shooter drills

[u/PeeePaaaw]

this was at my high school. absolutely tragic

[u/Propupperpetter → u/PeeePaaaw]

I'm glad you're physically okay. Take care of your mental health too.

[u/overusedandunfunny → u/Propupperpetter]

They're 22yo, they're not actively attending the school anymore....i hope

[u/PeeePaaaw → u/overusedandunfunny]

yeah i typed this message out poorly. its just crazy seeing this happen in your town ya know. Knew lots of people, mainly teachers.

[u/Sageknight34]

It's funny how the NRA will start saying that this is the Democrats fault and strict gun laws would not have help but then want to use the Swiss as an example of gun ownership. Yet the Swiss have some of the toughest gun laws and do a lot to promote gun safety and safe ownership.

[u/lostcauz707 → u/Sageknight34]

The issue is the system.

So we have rampant gun ownership and gun violence.

We have mental health issues that aren't taken care of by our healthcare system.

We have schools that don't have the resources to take care of kids.

We have parents that don't get time off from work or to have kids, (only country in the world without federally mandated paid parental leave and one of three without federally mandated paid time off).

We are overworked, underpaid, etc. Attention is paid to the stock market more than the next generation or even previous gens who are working all of it.

And yet, instead of fixing any of these issues, the ultimatum is, okay, just make guns more difficult to obtain, and then we don't even do that.

There is an insane difference between a country where people are actually happy with their overall welfare and financial situation owning guns vs one that is based on putting people against each other so half will work as wage slaves while a quarter work as actual slaves in the system whether through prison or poverty wages, so the last quarter can be nice and comfy.

The answer we get instead is thoughts and prayers and the same TV and video games other countries have are secretly the cause, but only in the US.

[u/Sageknight34 → u/lostcauz707]

That is true. I literally talked to a guy who from Canada says he's on vacation for a month. It seems irrelevant, but guess what it's relevant because people need a break to work on their own health and care. People in the US get called lazy, but we often overwork and underpaid, and the family suffers.

[u/osasuna]

No children have ever died in a mass reading, yet they are trying to ban books instead of guns.

[u/somepieforyou → u/osasuna]

An educated public is a dangerous public

[u/oksowhatsthedeal]

"We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas."

America after every school shooting.

[u/thecroc11]

Where even the firemen need to wear combat helmets. What a fucking insane country.

[u/whitechristianjesus]

I'm convinced that anyone who appears taken aback by this is simply feigning surprise. We knew this was going to happen the same way that we know that the next one will happen. School shootings are now as much a part of our cultural identity as apple pie, baseball, and cowboys. We watch these events play out in real time and do absolutely nothing about it at the local, state, and federal levels. It's routine.

• School shooting happens
• 1-2 weeks of news coverage, media events
• Shooting falls out of coverage until anniversary, trial/hearing, book release, etc.
• New shooting takes place
• Rinse and repeat

This is who we are as a country and it's so fucking disgusting.

[u/Unlucky_Internal9686 → u/whitechristianjesus]

I think we’re down to 1-2 days of coverage at this point 

[u/AristaWatson → u/whitechristianjesus]

I’m tired. I’ve tried so much to be a source of positive change. I’ve contributed to my area by creating free curriculum for parenting, easing homelessness, creating better police training that does not promote violence as the first tactic, etc. I’ve voted every election I was able to partake in. I’ve worked with our mayor on multiple projects only for them to have all dropped. This is someone I campaigned a lot for who is very democratic.

Nobody cares. No one is trying. Most people will come here to vocalize contempt for the situations we are in but will not do anything about it. They just accept it. We have two major political parties that are just flat out jokes. I’m just…I can’t do this anymore. Wow. 🥲

[u/mabutosays]

4 dead seems like barely newsworthy anymore

[u/PaulOwnzU → u/mabutosays]

Meanwhile 4 dead from mass stabbing makes news from other countries due to being so much rarer.

[u/sausage_ditka_bulls → u/PaulOwnzU]

And gun nuts will use stabbings as a reason as to why we need guns

[u/the_silent_redditor → u/sausage_ditka_bulls]

I laugh when I see these bizarre comments reporting the UK as some insane, knife-ridden, communist hellhole.

The US has higher knife-crime than the UK.

People are fed nonsense and brainwashed when it comes to guns for the purposes of furthering political interests.

Those poor kids.

[u/ColoAFJay]

They’ve tried to solve this problem by doing nothing every time there’s a school shooting. So why is it still happening?

[u/dimfringes]

must be more of those post-birth abortions I keep hearing about

[u/paperthinpatience → u/dimfringes]

No, these are okay because guns /s

[u/[deleted]]

I just looked it up and there are multiple sites that reported the first calls coming in at 9:30am, but authorities only arriving at 10:23...but, now sites are deleting the reports of a 9:30am call to report the shootings...you can still see it in some of the blurb previews when googling, but then it will not longer state when the first call came in and when authorities arrived...

I'm really interested to find out why this report is being changed?

[u/DubLParaDidL → u/[deleted]]

It's very common whenever there is a crisis for there to be conflicting information. This is all happening at a rapid rate in real time, it's not realistic to expect the media or the authorities to be able to fact check all these details in the moment. There's actually quite a few good articles online explaining how conflicting and mistaken reports occur during crisis and how that leads to misinformation and conspiracy theories. Just like during that shooting in Vegas, a bunch of people kept saying that there was a second shooter based off of some lighting in a different window. That was debunked not long after the shooting, but that's not something they can debunk in the moment. There are so many variables in the moment that it's inevitable to get conflicting reports, details incorrect, etc. If you go back and sort through any crisis whether it's a mass shooting or similar, there's always a difference between the initial reporting and what comes out after things have calmed down. It's actually incredibly common, but the internet and people with agendas have made everything even more sloppy

[u/RubrumLuna2]

Georgia Governor just signed a bill into law: no license needed for concealed carry. Just what we need.

[u/whichwitch9]

Sadly, the first response needs to be to protect the students. Report and call out any disinformation you see. Put anyone spreading rumors and conspiracy theories on blast. We know almost nothing at this point about the shooting itself.

However, we do know survivors and families from previous school shootings have been harassed. Freedom of speech does not prevent you from calling other people out when they spread nonsense. It does not need to go around unchecked like it did with Sandy Hook. We know there's families who are going to be dealing with a terrible loss. They don't need to be dealing with Alex Jones types on top of it. Protect them in the best way you can: halting the spread of conspiracy theories surrounding their loved ones.

[u/Negative_Extreme_858]

The most powerful country in the world and can’t protect its own kids

[u/fart400]

As Donald Trump endorses the NRA behind bullet proof glass.

[u/bungalow_brendo]

If we aren’t going to make any changes to prevent this from happening, can we just give school faculty a raise? because effectively every day they go to work their lives on the line now.

[u/Icy-Tooth-9167]

Spend almost a trillion on defense every year but can’t protect our kids at school. What a fucking joke of a country we live in.

[u/Fishin_Ad5356]

Wtf didn’t school just start

[u/Quirky_Discipline297]

Are Uvalde Police safe???

How about that cop that parked outside the Florida school shooting? Is he okay???

[u/irascible_Clown]

Damn never thought would see my hometown in one of these. I know 4 people with kids who go to that school and they all said their kid was ok. This is such a sad day

[u/MisterET]

Is that firefighter like 3 feet tall?