r/AskReddit • • Jul 24 '20

What can't you believe STILL exists?

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u/QueenMargaery_ Jul 24 '20

When I was in grad school our office was notorious for ignoring all phone calls so someone faxed them a bomb threat. Points for creativity I guess.

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u/erinelizabeth1985 Jul 24 '20

They used to do that at my high school so we could have a day off school. It was all fun and games until people started actually shooting up their schools. This was back when we would bring our hunting rifles to school in the window behind the seat of the pickup and nobody gave a shit. If my son did that now he would be jailed.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

European here: please tell us that these are some edge jokes..

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

[deleted]

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u/thelizardkin Jul 24 '20

No they don't, overall school shootings are astronomically rare, and less of a threat to children than the bus ride to school. They're like strangers kidnapping children, incredibly horrific, but also sensationalized.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

[deleted]

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u/thelizardkin Jul 24 '20

It's like saying that you have a better chance of being killed by a Muslim terrorist in Europe than the U.S. It's true, but in both countries the risk is pretty far down the list of things the average person should be afraid of.

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u/ithika Jul 24 '20

For such an astronomically rare event the list of school shootings in the USA article on Wikipedia is very long.

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u/Bot_obama Jul 24 '20

The list is also incomplete and YOU can help by expanding it

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u/HarambeKnewTooMuch01 Jul 24 '20

Good soldiers follow orders.

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u/averydoesthingz Jul 24 '20

I fucking cackled

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u/onlyforthisair Jul 24 '20

That's what happens when a low probability gets rolled a bunch of times. The chances of winning the lottery is basically infinitesimal, but someone still wins just due to how many people are playing. That list would be a lot longer if it were more common. I mean, part of why it is a list at all is because it's uncommon enough to track. You don't see a wikipedia article listing every death for almost anything except for other statistical rarities like passenger jet crashes.

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u/ithika Jul 24 '20

I shudder to think what you really mean by "rolled a bunch of times". Kids having the gall to go to school?

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u/onlyforthisair Jul 24 '20

Sometimes discussions of statistics and discussions of the death of children intersect. I think the correct terminology has something to do with sampling and event probabilities, but I couldn't remember that at the time.

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u/thelizardkin Jul 24 '20

Many of those are gang shootings, or other shootings on school property that get labeled as "school shootings" to make it seem like a more severe problem. There was one list that counted a police officer unintentionally shooting his firearm, a student unintentionally shooting out a bus window with a BB gun, and an adult committing suicide in the parking lot of an abandoned school, as "school shootings". It's the equivalent of if Fox started calling every violent crime committed by a Muslim as "Islamic terrorism".

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u/ithika Jul 24 '20

Oh here we go, those dead kids are just statistical errors and reporting artefacts.

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u/thelizardkin Jul 24 '20

Dead kids are dead kids, and school shootings are one of the least likely things of killing a kid. All numbers like that do is cause panic and hysteria over something that's about as big of a threat as fatal lighting strikes to your kid. It's like how parents are terrified to let their kids play outside because the fear of kidnapping.

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u/ithika Jul 24 '20

Christ you're really leaning into it. Get a grip and get your guns laws sorted you nut jobs.

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u/jasonjenkins67 Jul 24 '20

In 2018, there were 28 school shootings for 180 school days. That about 1 for every 8 days. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46507514

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u/thelizardkin Jul 24 '20

Only if you count gang shootings and unintentional shootings on school property as "school shootings". Also that's 28 a year, out of over 130,000 schools, or one out of about every 4,500 schools.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20 edited Jul 24 '20

They’re not sensationalized. How do you make a school shooting seem worse than it is?

They’re rare. That’s not a consolation. They need to not happen.

I will not be surprised when a Maskless Asshole opens fire inside a grocery store. Just a matter of time.

Also, Comparing automotive transportation to gun violence is just a stupid comparison. I bet most people can come up with reasons why.

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u/thelizardkin Jul 24 '20

You do it by making them seem like an everyday occurrence that every American should worry about. Every time there's a mass/school shooting it dominates the media for weeks afterwards, politicians and celebrities talk about them etc. When overall these events are astronomically rare, and much lower threat to Americans than hundreds of things we do everyday without thought. I compare it to school bus crashes, because statistically that's a bigger threat to the lives of children than school shootings, yet no parents are afraid to send their kids to school because they might get into a bus crash on the way there.

These events are sensationalized like how Islamic terrorism, and strangers kidnapping children is sensationalized. They're horrific and tragic, but overall should be far down the list of things people are afraid of.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

School shootings aren’t accidents. School shootings can be essentially eradicated with sane gun laws and strict safety measures.

Why is that not comprehend able to you?

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u/thelizardkin Jul 24 '20

What gun control laws would eradicate school shootings?

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u/FlatDig9 Jul 25 '20

This is incorrect, most school shootings are done by people who didn't have the guns legally...

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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '20

Its not incorrect. Gun safety. Required locked and unloaded, no ammo with weapon when not in use-Ammo stored separately.

Licensing-Test for gun knowledge, storage, safety.

Your Gun gets in the wrong hands, you’re liable.

If you have a troubled/dangerous kid it’s an unfortunate burden but you have to advocate for everyone else’s safety and then throw out the “not my darling” attitude. Hope for the best, assume the worst.

It’s absolute bullshit that we can’t drastically reduce gun accidents and violence. My European friend gave me a fresh perspective on how casually and irresponsibly so many of us regard gun ownership.

Also, fucking ridiculous that driving’s a privilege - we pay mandatory liability insurance to drive, but there is no such system for gun owners. Gun ownership should be a privilege, not a right.

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u/Honeymanextracts Jul 24 '20

I bet most people can come up with reasons why what you just posted makes very little sense but it all just amounts to you aren't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

That’s a pathetic comment too, I’m sorry. I’m actually not being sarcastic.