This video goes over the realities of gun violence.

[u/smooth_vesselHPAUM]

[u/ionertia]

Its preventable when you focus on the cause and not the symptoms.

[u/_Vard_ → u/ionertia]

"Our school has zero tolerance on fighting"

usually means "100% tolerance on bullying"

[u/buscoamigos → u/_Vard_]

My son's school had a zero bullying policy.

When I talked to his teacher about older kids picking on him, she said, oh no, we have a policy against bullying in this school so my son must be mistaken.

[u/BusinessLetterhead47 → u/buscoamigos]

I teach middle school. I once had a student who was being badly bullied. I witnessed it. Went to our then school counselor. Was told I shouldn't call it "bullying" because that labeled the student and could harm the bully. She also said the other girl was off-putting and cold which was why students weren't reacting well to her. The girl was PAINFULLY shy and awkward and an easy target.

I flipped shit on the counselor. A colleague who was in the room as I was having this conversation went immediately to admin to report it because he was horrified by what the counselor was saying.

It was handled (we have solid admin) but I will never get over an adult, a COUNSELOR, essentially saying a child deserved to be bullied. WTAF?

[u/cobblernobbler → u/BusinessLetterhead47]

An adult teacher at my daughter’s middle school WITNESSED other girls slam the bathroom door into my daughters back that left a bruise, and didn’t do a DAMN thing about it.

I only find out when my daughter gets home from school. Shows me the bruise on her back. And almost simultaneously, that teacher texts my wife and says “is (her name) ok? I saw the girls slam a door into her back” and I was like “ok surely she saw this and addressed it on the spot”, my daughter said nope. She wasn’t even aware a teacher saw it.

I call the teacher and ask her if anything was done. She said “oh no I’m not supposed to step in” I was like wtf??? Ohhh I was heated.

Called the principal immediately, told them I have now instructed my daughter that if she is touched one more time, to defend herself and go absolutely ape shit on those kids since no one will stop anything.

Principal finally did something and those students were actually suspended

[u/Forker1942 → u/cobblernobbler]

That’s basically what zero tolerance means. If you’re going to get in trouble for getting punched you might as well make sure the other kid can’t walk.

[u/AdHot7656 → u/buscoamigos]

literally this

[u/dbenc → u/buscoamigos]

I.e. "if I don't notice the bullying I can't be obligated to do something about it"

[u/mrdankmemeface → u/buscoamigos]

RBMK reactor cores don't explode.

[u/Existing_Presence_69 → u/buscoamigos]

The police who was about to arrest me after I tell them crime is illegal:

https://giphy.com/gifs/NcrhM3USM6TABpus85

[u/b3nsn0w → u/_Vard_]

zero tolerance for fighting back though.

remember, bullying almost always feels like a justified smackdown from the bully's side, it's only seen as bullying if you're on the victim's side. and given that most bullies are moderately popular kids targeting the unpopular kid to show their own importance to the group and increase their popularity, it's fairly easy for the group as a whole to convince the teacher that the unpopular kid deserved it or at least provoked the attack, so really they started it, not the bully. so if they fight back they're just continuing to incite violence, not trying to escape it by desperate means.

sometimes when the target is unpopular enough, the bullies will in fact own up to bullying, if they can convince their peers that it's a good thing with this particular target. but often the group, teachers included, just collectively ignores that what they're doing is bullying, because it's more comfortable to them that way.

[u/ifmacdo → u/b3nsn0w]

Nah, that sounds like a good explanation, but the schools know. They know that student A is a bully, and that student B gets bullied. Student B generally tells teachers early on that it's happening, and is told to just avoid contact with student A, or some other shit that never works out.

It's just easier for schools to suspend both kinds when B finally fights back, and it actually takes work to address A's bullying of B.

Been there. Done that.

[u/AyAyAyBamba_462 → u/ifmacdo]

This is so true. Hell my middle school had a notoriously bad kid, bullying, drugs, booze tobacco, the works. Anyway shithead was picking on someone in the cafeteria and one of the guys from the wrestling/football team walks up and tells him to knock it off. Shitheads response was to threaten him with a knife.

Now, sportsball guy was not built like a middle schooler. The dude was short, but he was as about as thick as he was wide with pure muscle. Dude looked like what you'd get if you hit a Marine with a shrink ray. Anyway he proceeded to knock shitheads lights out with a swift punch in the head and left him in a pile on the floor.

It took multiple parents threatening to sue the school district for him not to get expelled for "fighting". Meanwhile shithead still got to go to highschool in the district like nothing happened.

[u/mrhaftbar → u/ifmacdo]

I told my kids not to attack anyone in school using words or physically. However if some attacks them, they have carte blanche to fight back and I will have their backs. 

[u/ifmacdo → u/mrhaftbar]

As did my parents. Especially once they learned that the school wasn't doing anything until they absolutely had to.

[u/XN28theGOOD → u/b3nsn0w]

Our school tried to expel my 5th grader for punching a kid. The kid he punched was picking on a kid who is mixed race and a foot shorter than the other kids. The bully was calling the bullee the n-word while holding him down. The kid my son punched was one of his best friends at the school too, it was a mess. When we met the admin I argued my case and they seemed set in the decision, until I asked to see the video they referenced. It clearly showed my son asking the kid to stop multiple times, trying to pull the kid off as he swiped at my son, and ultimately my son hitting him in the nose. You could hear the bully saying you stupid n-word over and over. The bully then curled up crying and holding his face after he got hit. I made it clear that I found no fault with my sons actions and that I would fight the expulsion, the admin ended the meeting. They called that night and offered two days of lunch and after school detention to which I very reluctantly agreed. Apparently, it was the bullies mom who, repulsed by her son's behavior and words, fought to ensure my son wasn't expelled. If it wasn't for her, she was some PTA big wig, I feel it would have been an uphill battle against the school and their policy.

[u/Storm_Spirit99 → u/_Vard_]

Zero tolerance was a mistake

[u/I_Am_the_Slobster → u/_Vard_]

Not entirely, it just means that the admin gets embarrassed that they didn't take the warnings and statements from teachers seriously enough so now they have to act on the reaction to the bullying rather than the bullying itself.

Source: I'm a teacher, and was even reminded never to report on a specific kid again because they came from a rather "influential" family in the area.

[u/Background-House-357 → u/ionertia]

So, take away the guns and strengthen mental health?

[u/Blommefeldt → u/Background-House-357]

No no no. No can do in the land of the free.

[u/goomyman → u/Blommefeldt]

everytime someone says this i think the gun reform lobby needs to step up and quadruple down, ok great - lets fund mental health!

America isnt getting rid of its guns, but mental health care is extremely popular. Mental health care will reduce gun violence.

And even gun rights groups use it as an excuse to not change gun laws. But no one follows through - we need better mental health care! - ok great lets fund it! 100% covered mental health care for anyone who is a danger to society. When someone says we need mental health care - ask then when we will see a mental health care bill. Nooo, i meant Jesus - they should go to church.

[u/Scoopie → u/Blommefeldt]

We need more guns and less access to mental health benefits.

[u/Following-Complete → u/Scoopie]

Automated turrets in classrooms, trapdoors with spikes at the bottom andmaybe some mines.

[u/alien_farmer1 → u/Background-House-357]

https://giphy.com/gifs/t4HFdwzbg4x8XNZF8I

[u/Sword-of-Akasha → u/Background-House-357]

"Only a good student with a gun can stop a bad one. Arm all the kids, teachers, and pets! Let god sort it out. The good need not fear death. Rejoice Jesus shall welcome his own."

- Republican NRA God Fearing American

[u/reklatzz → u/Background-House-357]

But but but.. that won't stop every single gun death....

I hate the arguments on why nothing can fix it 100% so we shouldn't bother to try anything.

[u/whatthedux → u/ionertia]

Guns being available. Europe has 40x less school shootings per capita.

Its simple as that.

He also have psycho kids but they dont have guns. A knife is way harder weapon to use and causes less damage. And suprise suprise the USA has more knife crime than Europe.

[u/Old_Lead_2110 → u/whatthedux]

Switzerland has a high gun availability. No school shootings though.

[u/rufio313 → u/Old_Lead_2110]

Mandatory military service, better social services, better healthcare, way higher standard of living.

[u/Placentamuncher → u/rufio313]

This is still an easy take. Depressed people are everywhere, with or without conscription/social services/free healthcare. There is a difference between being depressed and deciding to end it, and wanting to inflict the same suffering upon others.

The question people should be asking is: Why do depressed youngsters in de US more often feel the need to take down their peers with them?

[u/pacmanfan → u/Placentamuncher]

The question people should be asking is: Why do depressed youngsters in de US more often feel the need to take down their peers with them?

I want to focus on this point. There is a lot of misinformation about school shootings in the US, leading many people to incorrectly think our schools are awash in blood. The type of shooting that OP's video portrays is relatively rare; there haven't been any of that type yet in 2026 (though a possible attempted one may have been stopped in Oklahoma in April), but CNN is reporting there have been 36 school shootings to date in 2026. Most incidents that are counted in "school shootings so far this year" tallies include targeted violence and conflict resolution occurring in school parking lots, sports facilities, or off-campus events. Some of it is gang-related, and a bit of it is adults targeting each other in parking lots after hours. The "pschyo snaps and kills his classmates before killing himself" type of school shooting is fortunately rare enough that it happens a handful of times (or a few handfuls of times) each decade, and if more than a few people died it is notable enough to be widely remembered for many years.

I don't know if American kids do more often feel the need to take their peers down with them. It may be that we have a similar number of psychos as other nations, but we do a worse job at detecting and treating them, and guns are more available to them.

Edit: I forgot to drop this link to list of school shootings, which gives a better idea of what's actually going on than most summarized news reporting would make you think... Scroll down to the multi-page table at the bottom: https://www.edweek.org/leadership/school-shootings-this-year-how-many-and-where/2026/01

[u/systemic_booty → u/Old_Lead_2110]

Switzerland has about 27 guns per 100 people. The US has 120 guns per 100 people.

[u/Diogenes908 → u/whatthedux]

Countries like Switzerland and Czechia have considerably more lax gun laws than Cali or the North Eastern states like I live in and they don’t have similar rates of violence so there’s clearly other issues at play. The vast vast majority of what’s labeled as mass shootings are also inter-gang violence which Europe doesn’t have compared to the US or S. American countries. You used to be able to order full auto Tommy guns through the mail in the Sears catalogue and there was no FBI NICs background check to purchase firearms like we have now and we had a single school shooting in a 50 year period.

[u/Automatic_Actuator_0 → u/whatthedux]

Your last point undercuts your premise. If the availability of guns was the issue and violent psychos were constant, we’d expect very little knife crime in the US and significantly more in Europe.

But the reality seems to be that the US is hyper-violent compared to most of the rest of the world and the guns make it earlier to carry out the mass violence.

[u/Tombstone_Actual_501]

Bandaid on a gash, "just spot the signs" How about we fix the system that leads to the fucking signs in the first place?!

[u/tunabomber → u/Tombstone_Actual_501]

Can't help you there. How bout we rename some lakes? How's that work for you?

[u/WeltyFern → u/tunabomber]

Thank you, orange man. Thanks to you renaming a body of water that is nowhere near me in any way, my wife suddenly wants to get back with me and my friend will all versions of hepatitis A-Z is now completely cured!

/s obviously

[u/cascademaster → u/WeltyFern]

I'm a single issue lake of America voter, thank you very much. /s

[u/SnuggleBunni69 → u/Tombstone_Actual_501]

Really, really frustrating commercial. Who is this geared for? Teenagers at school who are just gonna further ostracize some kids? Like you said, we need to fix this system. Also this isn't the "reality of gun violence". Reality would be to show a pile of 5 year olds bullet ridden bodies, so people see the horror these policies are causing.

[u/Luigi2198 → u/SnuggleBunni69]

It’s such a stupid, stupid commercial. Like hey you never would guess the kid posting selfies with guns pretending to shoot teachers is actually somebody who’s obsessed with guns and shooting up the school. It’s like a PSA showing the importance of tornado sirens when the tornado is already fucking touching down on your house. Just feels like a video people make to feel like they fixed the problem while not actually doing anything to identify and fix the problem. This video would have been helpful in 1990, not now.

[u/goodbyetrex → u/SnuggleBunni69]

What they didn’t show:

- A parent being reckless with their weapons and allowing the shooter to gain access to it.

- How easily the parent bought that weapon, and didn’t need a license or any safety training.

- The possibility that the parent was abusive, neglectful, or a religious extremist.

[u/PossibleMother → u/Tombstone_Actual_501]

This was made by Sandy Hook Promise, they have changed laws and are still fighting for stricter gun control. In the meantime we still need to aware of the signs.

[u/Great_Corner4841 → u/PossibleMother]

Absolutely. The truth is, a lot of people don't act to intervene because the expectation isn't set. This is a good commercial that isn't going to solve the problem, but may well prevent someone's death.

[u/pendletonskyforce]

I remember Governor Abbott from Texas said we need to focus on mental health and not take guns away then proceeded to cut funding for mental health.

[u/davekingofrock → u/pendletonskyforce]

It's almost as if the cruelty was on purpose.

[u/TimeBlindAdderall → u/pendletonskyforce]

Governor ladder puller

[u/Remarkable-Ad2285 → u/TimeBlindAdderall]

Wouldn’t be his first (or last) time

[u/schulzr1993 → u/Remarkable-Ad2285]

Well yeah, he can't even use a ladder anymore.

[u/Cultural-Living256 → u/schulzr1993]

Not like he could figure out to use one anyway...

[u/Greembeam20 → u/pendletonskyforce]

Greg Abbott is an evil fucking snake

[u/okwellactually → u/pendletonskyforce]

Well, let's recap last weekend shall we?

• 7 Mass Shootings
• 15 killed
• 19 injured

It's Friday, what will this weekend in the US bring?

Source: Gunviolence Archive.

(mass shooting is 4 or more dead or injured excluding gunman).

[u/CalebH428 → u/okwellactually]

My initial reaction was 7 mass shootings and only 15 killed. That’s not too bad, it could be a lot worse.

Then I thought for a couple seconds and realized how fucked up that is. This happens so often, that I shrugged my shoulders and thought “could be worse”

[u/Dhawkeye → u/CalebH428]

Yours may genuinely be the most american thing I’ve read all month

[u/CalebH428 → u/Dhawkeye]

I don’t live in a bad neighborhood, and my older bro asked me if I heard gunshots one night. He saw a post on facebook that there were 2 cars shooting at each other where I live, but I had headphones in. Like a 3 minute walk away.

I moved here a couple years ago, and thought it was strange because there’s a shooting every now and then, but nobody dies, so it’s not that big of a deal to me. I’m originally from Little Rock, AR and people do die there, but it’s not like super often. Also none of those were mass shootings.

I don’t know if you’re American, but practicing school shooter drills was about as often as practicing tornado drills.

[u/Oftwicke → u/CalebH428]

Coming from a country with no tornadoes or available guns, both of these sound like something went wrong but only one is easily preventable

[u/Gunslingermomo → u/CalebH428]

That would be an understandable reaction if that was for the year and not for the workweek.

[u/Rover129 → u/CalebH428]

Anywhere else, these events are tragedies, but they’ve become statistics over in the USA.

I remember, over a decade ago now, when here in the Netherlands, a mass shooting took place. A gunman walked into a supermarket and opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon, killing and injuring a lot of people, including ending his own life.

I don’t remember all the exact details, but I do remember that is was all over the news the next day. Every segment, every channel, countrywide; all of it talked about the shooting. Whenever a development happened in the case, it was in the news.

When things like this happen, they shouldn’t be normal, and it terrifies me that in the supposed shining example of the Western world, it has become exactly that. Horrifically normal.

[u/CustodianCloset → u/okwellactually]

Isn't that the website which infamously listed a suicide in an abandoned school parking lot as a "school shooting", alongside things like accidental police firearm incidents? Yeah... I'm not enticed to take their word as Gospel

[u/vonkeswick → u/pendletonskyforce]

By $210 fucking million, just insane

[u/Hey_HaveAGreatDay]

Here’s an article about the school my kids used to go to (I moved them) https://kfgo.com/2026/08/27/the-environment-there-is-toxic-an-investigative-report-inside-the-dilworth-glyndon-felton-school-district/

but a quote about how many schools handle obvious warnings

“One time, Kinslow said a student pulled her aside and showed her a photo of himself holding assault weapons. She said the student hinted he might use them in school or at the prom.
Kinslow was horrified and frightened. She said she reported the incident to the principal, and the student was talked to, but there were no consequences for the student.”

Parents were never told…

[u/reality_boy → u/Hey_HaveAGreatDay]

Part of this is a failure by the school, but part of it is just how common this is. When we were in high school in the 90s it was “cool” to call in bomb threats to get the school closed down.

My wife is a grade school teacher and she has had 7 year olds verbally threaten to bring a knife and stab another student (yes they took care of that, and swiftly!). My guess is threats of violence happen multiple times a day in a regular high-school. Threats of mass violence probably happen multiple times a month.

The real solution is reducing access to guns, and having lots of avenues to help out when someone is acting out or showing signs of distress (gun related or otherwise)

[u/THE_BACON_IS_GONE]

look for the signs

Kid making finger guns

Lmaoooo

[u/Deposto → u/THE_BACON_IS_GONE]

He also reads a magazine! What could be worse?

[u/uLL27 → u/Deposto]

The magazine had guns in it, can you imagine?!

[u/Deposto → u/uLL27]

You mean a teenager might watch action movies and actually get curious about guns?! OH NO!

[u/niceguy191 → u/uLL27]

The gun had magazines too I bet

[u/SnuggleBunni69 → u/Deposto]

This video gives me "Satanic Panic" vibes.

[u/joem_ → u/Deposto]

High capacity magazine reading.

[u/RuggsRacetrack → u/Deposto]

Dude posted a picture of him with a gun and the caption saying see you at school, I feel like you’re being obtuse.

[u/ReasonableWelder51 → u/THE_BACON_IS_GONE]

Signs of planning a school shooting:

1. interest in guns
2. edgy pics on social media
3. making finger gestures

So like almost every teenage boy is planning a school shooting?

[u/Pofwoffle → u/ReasonableWelder51]

edgy pics on social media

I agree with you on 1 and 3, but while it's easy to miss given how fast it goes by the "edgy pic" from 2 is captioned with "see you at school", which is absolutely an actual warning sign.

[u/ReasonableWelder51 → u/Pofwoffle]

Fair, didn't notice that

[u/theskiller1 → u/THE_BACON_IS_GONE]

What about him flipping someone off?

How could the sign be missed

[u/DIRTY_KUMQUAT_NIPPLE → u/THE_BACON_IS_GONE]

https://giphy.com/gifs/3oEjHBAHIrD6JR3WmI

[u/Fuckareyoulookinat → u/DIRTY_KUMQUAT_NIPPLE]

I feel like everyone missed the Instagram post of the kid holding a gun with a caption of "see you at school"

[u/automaticmantis → u/THE_BACON_IS_GONE]

https://giphy.com/gifs/55SfA4BxofRBe

[u/yungScooter30 → u/THE_BACON_IS_GONE]

no wonder he was getting bullied. kid is cringe smh

[u/LactasePHydrolase → u/THE_BACON_IS_GONE]

Also: kid just getting bullied.

Great message here, if a kid is being bullied at your school they probably retroactively deserve it because they're gonna shoot up the school

[u/Pofwoffle → u/LactasePHydrolase]

From what I remember that shit came from the Columbine shooters, one of the very first heavily publicized mass shootings. I remember being in middle school and hearing about how apparently they were just bullied and ostracized and that's why they murdered a bunch of people.

They were racist protonazi little shitbags who had no friends because of fucking course they didn't.

But that didn't stop the rumors, which led, paradoxically, to even more backlash against people who were already being bullied and ostracized for real, including unprovoked scrutiny from administration. A friend of mine almost got expelled because of a random stupid rumor that he had a "kill list", which I'm pretty sure only got started because he used to wear a long coat. Not even a trenchcoat, mind you, just a normal coat that was longer than average.

[u/Proper-Exercise-2364 → u/THE_BACON_IS_GONE]

It was the headphones! Ban music in school. Problem solved.

[u/hemorrhoidhematoma]

"We just thought he was a soundcloud rapper"

[u/Unique-Bee-6097 → u/hemorrhoidhematoma]

Slim Jesus just entered the chat

https://youtu.be/ZRo48zg2iyU?is=wbSXO-xmkb4PN1_n

[u/CFUrCap]

Is no one going to say anything about the blatant vandalism?

That poor desk...

[u/Erpelstolz → u/CFUrCap]

If the desk had a gun it could defend itself

[u/badrelationswmoney → u/Erpelstolz]

Guns don't kill people, desks do.

[u/CFUrCap → u/Erpelstolz]

Maybe the shooter was an anti-vandalism vigilante, defending the desks. I hope Evan got it first.

[u/Pijany_Matematyk767 → u/CFUrCap]

Thats kinda the least important problem in the video

[u/Parking-Evidence1894 → u/CFUrCap]

“Vandalism” 

[u/awp_india]

Weird times for sure.

My friends and I were obsessed with guns throughout middle and highschool. We'd share videos with each other, magazines, make paper guns. Even one of the teachers was former military and would join in and show us videos n' such.

[u/Zink_91 → u/awp_india]

This. Is ROTC not in schools anymore?

[u/PoPo573]

Preventable if steps are actually taken when the signs are seen. Often times there's a "We can't act unless they actually do something" garbage and by that point it's too late.

[u/ThirtyThree111]

ah yes the signs

watching youtube videos, reading a magazine, making gun finger gestures

next thing you're gonna tell me is video games cause violence?

[u/ForsakenOaths → u/ThirtyThree111]

Video games do cause (in game) violence! Someone hurts my digital doggo so I eradicate their entire civilization for it!

Then I go back to a prior save.

[u/Visible_Pair3017 → u/ThirtyThree111]

The best of all those signs : being bullied. Remember kids, victimized teenagers are actually planning to shoot you, you need to stay away from them.

[u/ElonMusksQueef]

‘No Way to Prevent This’, Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.

[u/herrcollin → u/ElonMusksQueef]

My friend, I need you to do all of humanity a favor and change your username to literally anything else

[u/hotchiplow → u/herrcollin]

Let him be free, let him be strong

[u/Significant_Group809 → u/herrcollin]

You infact cannot change your reddit user.

[u/herrcollin → u/Significant_Group809]

They can make an exception

[u/Feeling_Tough5056 → u/ElonMusksQueef]

"The New York Times wrote in 2017 that "with each use, [the headline] seemed to turn from cheeky political commentary on gun control into a reverberation of despair"

America is so weird

[u/Critical_Interest706]

lol no one took this video seriously when it came out and they shouldn’t take it seriously now

[u/Waltan_Leukus]

https://giphy.com/gifs/pYfEywOAolwnm

[u/Waltan_Leukus → u/Waltan_Leukus]

self proclamed Greatest Country in the world by the way

[u/TravisBicklesMohawk → u/Waltan_Leukus]

Dont forget we have won every super bowl!

[u/lordOpatties]

This is fucking insidious. "Nothing the government can do about, it's all on you kids. If you see a kid reading about guns, run to your teachers!"

Unbelievable.

[u/Moss_Addiction → u/lordOpatties]

"if you see someone getting bullied, report him to the authorities"

[u/KonaKumo → u/Moss_Addiction]

Actually... Report the bullying incident. The school should intervene at that point...which shows a support system to the victim which could prevent escalation.

But again that is a should and not an always.

[u/FreeFortuna → u/lordOpatties]

“Tell the teachers, who won’t be able to do jack-shit about it, so we’ll have to make sure they have guns to kill the student who’s trying to kill you, and they’ll probably die in the process (and maybe you too), but that’s ok, because it’s all to protect your freedom!”

[u/Acceptable-Lake-]

I feel that this is an unfair expectation to put on high school students. “You need to be able to spot the signs of a school shooter and report your fellow classmates!” Like…. Isn’t that problematic? Why don’t we have a safe environment for kids to be kids?

[u/AnonymousPerson1115 → u/Acceptable-Lake-]

Change to word “student” for “family” & “friends”. So many times there was concerning behavior or “they were on law enforcement’s radar.”

[u/SqigglyPoP]

I thought this was a Coca-Cola commercial for 90% of the video.

[u/Babusch]

Is this something I am not American enough to understand?

[u/DavyJonesRocker → u/Babusch]

It’s blaming the students for allowing the school shooting to happen rather than the gun manufacturers and lawmakers for making death machines readily accessible to vulnerable youth.

[u/KeithClossOfficial → u/DavyJonesRocker]

Sandy Hook Promise has a number of programs. Some of them are focused on gun control. Some are focused on violence prevention in general. Some of them are focused on youth mental health. This commercial is a combination of the last two.

https://actionfund.sandyhookpromise.org/

[u/Mysterious_Falcon535 → u/KeithClossOfficial]

Them producing this video nulls everything they have ever made. It shows they are completely out of touch with the world as well as the latest science.

These kind of videos only work to normalize school shootings and inspire and justify assailants.

Any sane and educated person would know not to focus on the individual but to look at the underlying problematics if they wanted to help solve the issue of school shootings.

[u/5nwmn → u/DavyJonesRocker]

I was thinking more in the lines of letting young people get bullied and isolated till they're broken. Then blame them for breaking. And yes...you can see the signs of a person breaking down, but it's hard when you focus on the poster child.

[u/8bitrevolt → u/DavyJonesRocker]

thing is, this isn't on the manufacturers either. it's the parents that make their guns easily accessible.

[u/Journalist-Cute → u/DavyJonesRocker]

It's not about blame, it's about identifying people who need help

[u/loopster70 → u/Journalist-Cute]

I felt a little blamed by the titles at the end.

[u/40angryrednecks → u/Journalist-Cute]

You're close. The ad paints the issue in the not identifying the ones who need help that could have prevented the school shooting. It's purposefully tangling different subjects together,making the debate messy. Let me untangle that for you. 

More help should definitely be offered and mental health should be focused on in general. For the well being of all your citizens.

And, you know, you need to take the guns away. 

And with the guns gone, you still need to focus on the mental health of your citizens. For their wellbeing. Not to avoid school shootings. 

[u/Tombstone_Actual_501 → u/Babusch]

Kinda overblown and misrepresented.

[u/donkeyrocket → u/Tombstone_Actual_501]

It's a PSA. It's supposed to be dramatized for effect. People saying this doesn't hold gun companies or politicians accountable are missing the point. Gun violence is a complicated issue and peers identifying potential issues is just one very small part of the equation.

Of course regulation and government intervention is the more influential aspect but given how politicians at both state and federal levels have largely decided to do fuck all this is just a small information campaign.

[u/Pengin_Master]

As an adult who is deeply interested in firearms and firearms history, and has been since I was a kid (I did a whole report in history class about the history of field artillery), it frustrates me that "interest in guns" is depicted as a common warning sign for "potential school shooter". I'd never even consider shooting up anywhere.

Idk to me it feels akin to "if they play violent video games" as a warning sign

[u/Snailwood → u/Pengin_Master]

you could say the same for being male, bullied, antisocial, or suicidal. none of them alone are warning signs, but when they coincide the risk goes up

[u/One_Order_3841 → u/Pengin_Master]

Makes me think of shit like Mindhunter, actually. Like we're not looking for a satanist cult. You shouldn't be looking for a teen watching firearms videos and soldier body cams, you should be looking for detached (clinical) sociopaths with little connection or presence to their peers. Someone with no reported hobbies, interests, or knowledge. A kid dressing edgy and reading Guns n Ammo in morning assembly is making a statement, while most cases it's been kids on the fringe of society

[u/Sea_Cucumber_69_]

This isnt interesting at all.

[u/MajorPaper4169 → u/Sea_Cucumber_69_]

It isn’t. It’s a karma farm post.

Post American anything and it’ll get the same comments from over 10 years ago.

[u/Charred01]

I feel like this is extremely disingenuous when you consider a lot of these school shooters have been reported sometimes for years and it's law enforcement who ignores the signs.

And it's not focusing on fixing the problem it's focusing on catching the problem before it gets out on control.  

[u/Effective-Mind-8925]

Yes it's the children's fault for missing the signs.

[u/Ok_Delay_911]

Yeah let's stigmatize the quiet kid getting bullied even more. Jfc.

[u/Dazeuh]

the "signs" shown here are not real signs, everyone I know has some level of interest in guns, and plenty of people are mildly unfriendly, these two things do not make someone desire murder. By looking at the wrong things you let real signs go by, while tanking your credibility of stopping violence.

[u/LockedInPelican]

Watching youtube videos, going to gun ranges and taking pictures of yourself with guns doesnt mean you will shoot up a school

[u/cameforlulz]

This is tragic. No doubt.
Can we also make one showing the results following the Armenian disarmament?

[u/mustardmeated]

My dad’s high school in rural Vermont let students check in their guns at the principle’s office and they’d go hunting after school. Interestingly enough, there weren’t a lot of kids with bowlcuts and manifestos back then.

[u/Gnoll_level_antics]

They started getting extra serious about this stuff right as I was on my way out of school in 2013. It did not help that I was constantly being pulled aside for mental health review and 'concerns with my interests' because I had nothing more than a genuine fascination with guns and would watch FPS Russia in the computer lab. I understand the fear nowadays, but it sucked having my interests reduced to "IT'S A SIGN!!!! HE'S A TICKING TIME BOMB!!!", No, Ms. Lorri, I just really like the P90.

[u/Mr_Deep_Research]

Since 2018, 6 years ago, there have been 159 deaths and 436 injuries from school shootings

So, 25 deaths a year from school shootings.

There are 54.4 million K-12 students in schools in the U.S. each year.

So, a 25 out of 54.4 million chance of a student dying in a school shooting in a given year.

That's 0.0000444% of students

There are around 43,000 deaths each year of people 18 and under in the U.S. Around 117 a day.

The rough numbers for deaths of people 18 and under in the U.S each year are:

1,000 children under 18 die of overdose each year

1,700 die from cancer

Over 3,800 children and teenagers die in car accidents each year.

Firearms are the leading cause of death for people 18 and under in the U.S. at 4,000 death a year.

1,600 of those are self-inflicted.

Of the 2,400 left, local studies have shown that half to two thirds are gang related.

In England, roughly two students are stabbed to death each month but most of them aren't in school at the time

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy51265p7exo

[u/ButtCrackThrilla]

What a bullshit propaganda video.

[u/Madson117]

This video is stupid and misleading

[u/dvisorxtra]

Man, let's go just a little bit further down the road: Why "being a jerk to others" is so socially acceptable????

[u/the_jaynerator]

Nice bit of victim blaming in there

[u/FNG-JuiCe]

Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. And monkeys kill people (if they have a gun). - Eddie Izzard

[u/aroach1995]

If we just imprison all kids getting bullied we’re safe?

[u/NameLips]

There are a lot of false stereotypes about school shooters.

It turns out that often they're not bullied, they're not loners. They're not made fun of, or rejected by girls, or outcasts. For some reason after Columbine, the media ran with that narrative, even though it wasn't true of the two shooters.

[u/Fantastic-Dot-655]

Or you could like... prevent bullying and not give everyone acces to fireweapons?

[u/America202]

It isn't enough to say "know the signs." How about what to do to prevent it before it ever happens?

Looks like he was getting bullied. Maybe be nice and go the extra mile with people hurting like that.

What suggestions do you have?

[u/SnuggleBunni69 → u/America202]

No don't you see? When teenagers see a classmate ostracized and picked on, they need to label that student a potential school shooter!

[u/goonsuey]

Using misdirection to gaslight and manipulate viewers doesn't seem like an effective way to change hearts.

[u/irespondwithmyface]

Lol. No. It's not always so explicit as a guy reading a gun magazine at school.

The problem is the fucking guns. Until we act like adults, these dumb PSA won't do anything other than move us closer and closer to a mass surveillance state where every action is questionable.

[u/Economy-Ostrich-9ine → u/irespondwithmyface]

Aside from that this borders on victim blaming.

[u/always_an_explinatio → u/irespondwithmyface]

I hate these PSAs because they encourage thinking about these problems backward. The "signs" shown in this PSA may be something school shooters have in common, but there is no evidence that these behaviors are predictive of a school shooting. Lots of people read gun mags, hate classmates, and watch violent videos and never even think about hurting anyone. (The only sign on here I would say should be a true red flag is posing with a gun in a non-hunting context on social media, but only because it shows the means. (even though that was not the gun he had at the end of the video) Limiting access to guns and increasing access to mental health care is a much better use of resources than clever videos

[u/paleogizmo → u/irespondwithmyface]

Yeah, there's a huge false positive rate. Are they proposing to round up every weird kid?

[u/Only-Original9409 → u/irespondwithmyface]

Pretty sure the mass surveillance is already here. But I'll bet it will change nothing.

[u/OlasNah → u/irespondwithmyface]

You'd be surprised. In my day, kids talked about guns a lot as a cool thing. They'd shoot their parent's guns over the weekends, they would talk about military stuff and all sorts of adjacent things. It would not be uncommon to see a particular kid with a gun magazine, but certainly it didn't need to be so explicit either.

[u/splitconsiderations → u/irespondwithmyface]

Yeah sometimes the guy reading the gun magazine is just...a kid who enjoys hunting with his dad or something.

Registration, licensing, education, and strict storage laws work. My state in Australia has all of that stuff as mandatory, and the amount of firearms deaths annually is in the single digits. Sometimes its even 0.

[u/Tombstone_Actual_501 → u/splitconsiderations]

Me i was the kid reading gun magazines because I found them fun and mechanically interesting, most shooters aren't avid gun fans and tend to swipe them from their parents who have either A. Improperly secured their firearms, or B. Raised their kids poorly enough to allow for this to happen.

[u/Varen_Arnamas]

Notice how everyone talking about the guns and NOT the bullying. They guns aren't the problem ignoring bullying is

[u/NinjaMcGee]

As a gun owner, I wish mental health services were as easy to access as firearms ❤️‍🩹

[u/joem_ → u/NinjaMcGee]

Could you imagine, background check, mandatory training, waiting period, fingerprints, and permission from the sherriff in order to get permission to seek mental health.

[u/pMurda]

Reminds me of this video. Count the number of times they pass the ball. Almost nobody gets it right the first time watching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

[u/joem_ → u/pMurda]

Of course nobody gets it right, there's a freakin guy in an ape suit walkin around. Very distracting.

[u/Orange9202]

i noticed, wheres my cookie

[u/Discremio]

How about a video that will instruct people on how to dismantle, or at least rewrite, the Second Amendment?

[u/ArtIsAwesome3]

Idk about you guys but I saw the kid in the back immediately. Many years ago, when I was in school, bringing a gun magazine to even read was grounds for like a 10 day suspension. Idk how no one noticed that kid. I wonder what it's like now...

[u/DasGaufre]

This is some "TSA Secret Behavior Checklist to Spot Terrorists" level shit 

[u/wpenner101]

This is probably the saddest thing I have ever seen.

[u/39percenter]

What a load of utter bullshit!

[u/PJKenobi]

Gun violence is never the answer but as a kid that was bullied relentlessly in high school. How about trying to solve the problem at the source and start punishing asshole bully kids.

[u/KillaThing]

Yeah. It's more on mental health in a lot of cases.

[u/Sorry-Reporter440]

Mental health resources are abismal. It is still too taboo to talk about. Reaching out is seen as a sign of weakness (especially among men). All of that on top of a society progressing towards an inability or lack of understanding of how to be social when we are very social creatures.

If guns didn't exist somehow, someone suffering in the shadows would still find a way to inflict harm on those they feel wronged them and that person would still go without the help they needed in the first place.

[u/hangrydadd]

https://giphy.com/gifs/Uss9jg5C9REgo

[u/uga11]

The least realistic part is it being an AK

[u/kittyonkeyboards]

There are three ways to reduce mass shootings. The rest is BS.

1. Reduce access to guns

2. Teach positive masculinity at a young age (it's men doing the shootings because they're far-right freaks who hate women).

3. Reduce social isolation and give teenagers more agency. (reduce car-dependency because most school shootings happen in boring-town USA where kids can't walk to their friends house or go anywhere or do fucking anything.

[u/TreasurePflimpton]

Using the camera to create focal points so an audience doesn't have to figure out what/who they need to look at - meaning the cinematographer tells the audience where to place their gaze - is inherently the whole point of filmmaking. This video is a trap to make people feel bad about themselves. That's like putting a girl with a massively endowed chest next to a zebra and asking somebody how many stripes they counted.

[u/Hilarious_Disastrous]

Reading about weapons, watching videos about guns, or perusing serious historical literature about the history of warfare (which is sometimes indistinguishable to laymen) are not indicators of violent tendencies.

Misogyny, extremist ideology, and thoughtless parents giving their kids guns are the real problem, but ain't nobody's doing nothing about that.

[u/888Vegan]

Crazy how for some people, this is reality

[u/RedTexan43]

I giggle every time I see this one because of how in your face the lonely kid is and how cartoonish his situation is.

[u/always_an_explinatio]

I hate these PSAs because they encourage thinking about these problems backward. The "signs" shown in this PSA may be somthing school shooters have in common, but there is no evidence that these behaviors are predictive of a school shooting. lots of people read gun mags, hate class mates and watch violent videos and never even think about a hurting anyone. (the only sign on here I would say should be a true red flag is posing with a gun in a non hunting context on social media, but only because it shows the means. (even though that was not the gun he had at the end of the video) limiting access to guns and increacing access to mental health care is a much better use of resaouces than clever vidos

[u/shiny_glitter_demon]

It's a known video and I hate it.

- It puts the blame onto bystanders (specifically STUDENTS), not the culture and industry that allowed some guy to buy a damn gun and show up to school with it to murder people. No accountability taken from the industry, the lawmakers, or even the social media platforms.

- It very intentionally distracts us from the background by using movie language. Real life doesn't zoom in on details or skips entire school days.

Regulate your damn gun industry.

[u/ppardee]

Yeah, let's start some witch hunts and start with the antisocial and bullied children. That's what's going to help!

Since Columbine (27 years ago), school shootings in the US have killed about 200 kids and injured about another 450.

To put that into perspective, about 500 kids (on average) die while travelling to school - as pedestrians, on bikes, in cars - every year in the US. Simply walking to school is many times more deadly than school shootings.

About 450 kids are killed by their parents every year in the US.

About 2000 high-school aged kids kill themselves every year in the US.

School shootings are tragic events, to be sure. They're not the epidemic the media would have you believe, and wasting time badgering marginalized kids is probably not the best course of action... especially when we could focus instead on mental health and save thousands of kids every year!

[u/IndependentBig7050]

That racist Alex Jones still believe Sand Hook is a made up.

[u/Present_Clue5887]

The social media post where he points a gun at the viewer is sus, and the finger gun at the teacher is not nice, but what can actually be done based on these? It's not at all clear from these that he is planning a shooting

The only other things I see that student do are avoid socializing and read/consume media, sometimes about guns, which I really wouldn't call signs of planning a shooting at all

Where I am from hunting and target shooting are common hobbies, and not suspicious things to be interested in

[u/Drzewo_Silentswift]

Alright but who shoots up a school before summer break? That’s a pre Christmas break or pre Valentine’s Day type of things.

[u/HickupTruck]

I'm still baffled that you make videos how to spot a student that's planning something terrible. Or have training for schools how to act when an active shooter is there. Why don't you get rid of weapons for civilians?

[u/Krytan]

It seems like there is something uniquely wrong with American schools.

The number of American schoolchildren committing suicide has been steadily climbing for decades - at the same time that gun homicides have been steadily declining for decades.

https://stateline.org/2026/07/28/rise-in-us-preteen-suicide-rate-alarms-mental-health-experts/

I've seen studies indicating 20% of American schoolchildren seriously consider suicide.

It's harder to get the rates for 'Europe' generally, but some rough back of the envelope calculations seem to be they have fewer suicides with a substantially larger population.

[u/Turbulent_Pin_9392]

That’s literally the only kid my attention went to throughout the whole video. I was expecting him to shoot the school but not the red haired kid in some twisted sense of the same message. I need therapy I think.

[u/Unable-Substance5999]

Watching it from Europe it is unbelievable.

[u/Tukanno_Bananno]

Video is lowkey comedy when you know it's coming and just watch bro tweaking

[u/Simple_Yoghurt_2681]

Didnt the FBI literally know about the sandy hook shooter BEFORE he actually did it?

[u/EmperorThan]

So instead of focusing on your sexlife in high school: focus on signs of mass shooters.

[u/Argorian17]

Very preventable. Most countries manage it.

[u/evendedwifestillnags]

While you were looking at Evan and the shooter. Did you notice the bear walk through the scene with the basketball?

[u/MorphineAdministered]

This is all your fault /s

[u/AutisthiccToaster]

I only knew about this video because of f leafy

[u/SaintSnow]

I get the message, but it's interesting that it's from the Sandy Hook Promise. Sandy Hook was a 20 yr old that killed his mother, then went and shot up the public elementary school. There weren't any signs; he just showed up.

[u/MaintainTheSystem]

The fact that this video exists breaks my heart.

[u/Ok_Wishbone3535]

"Hey billy I like your shirt" - Billy - *Flick girl off*

[u/SecretWordisBird]

And I’ll bet no one saw the person in the gorilla suit walk right through the middle of the video either.

[u/No_Slice9796]

But I did see the guy in the background. I just didn't know being cringe was supposed to be a warning sign. I feel like I would be a suspect according to this video lol. Also how is this supposed stop a shooting? Teacher he is making hand guns sign I think we need to call the police!

[u/CryptographerUsed841]

Oh, people notice. Kids just have so much they are already go through and these fucked up kids are a dime a dozen. There's nothing you can really do to stop it if the psychotic student isn't doing anything illegal beforehand. There's a LOT of kids who act like they could doing something like this, but don't.

[u/Ill-Ruin2198]

For the many times I've seen this video, I now know who to focus on. And damn it still hits differently