52 Brutally Honest Reactions To The Gun Situation In America That Will Make You Think
The horrific mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida, has reignited protests for meaningful political action in the United States. According to Quinnipiac Poll, an independent, non-partisan public opinion poll, currently 66% of American voters support stricter gun laws, and it's the highest level ever measured. People are expressing their thoughts about these issues all over the internet, and some are resonating with the public so much, Bored Panda has decided to compile them into a list.
From brutally honest jokes to interesting insights, the entries below will certainly stir your thoughts about the uncomfortable debate American society needs to have. Scroll down to check them out, and upvote your favorites!
(h/t collegehumor)
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A kid should never have to worry about such a thing. Yet still, this is really happening. Heart-breaking. I think if I had a child and was in this situation, I couldn't hold up my brave parent face and would have broken down crying, that my baby is thinking about things like this. It even hurts me that a child I do not even know, is thinking about things like this.
That should pretty much cover everything, don't you think? 00-OMG-5a9...e90153.gif 
America has 4.4 percent of the world’s population, but almost half of the civilian-owned guns around the world.
Exactly puritan American. Kill each other but god forbid you have consensual pleasure
Australians don't know whether to laugh or cry. We are horrified by what we are hearing. Since gun control was enacted back in the 1990s we have NOT HAD ONE MASS SHOOTING! Domestic shootings have crashed and now, pretty much the only people with illegal guns are the criminals who will get them no matter what we do. Only Australians legally allowed guns are defence force personnel (and not in public) police (in public) farmers (only on their farm) security guards (only on the armoured vehicle) commercial shooters (only in their trucks) sporting shooters (only at the gun club/rifle range). Police here check their gun owners in their own districts every two years and every single licensed gun has to be accounted for and the storage comply with regulations - gun and ammo separately kept.
Every adult in the USA who does not support these child survivors should be ashamed.
Teachers don't want to handle guns. They're there to educate, not kill.
A teacher in Utah shot herself in the bathroom by accident in 2014. You can watch Youtube videos of enraged teachers smashing instruments or throwing things at students. I don't trust anybody with a gun in such a tense situation -- even a teacher.
I can't believe the people at the NRA had the guts to do this...they want to show that celebrities are on their side? really?
Bill O'Reilly is a pig. He's discounting the reactions of children who've been shot at or had friends die, and given more credence to the adults who watch this happen and refuse to protect them. He must be in the pocket of the NRA
I wonder if he would've continued to stand up for the NRA had the shooter walked into his children's school and shot them dead.
"The teacher's galactic republic"! where can we sign up as a teacher's Jedi school?
had a teacher toss a chalk board eraser at our heads once because we were talking in class and he wanted us to shut up. yeah. Lets get that guy a gun.
Not to mention, most of the school shooters commit suicide or are pushing for suicide by cop anyway, so ANYONE having a gun at the school wouldn't help.
I know it can be unpopular. I’m from Brazil, where guns aren’t easily purchased as in USA. I’m against such an easy way to get your hands on powerful guns, but the problem is more deep rooted. The true problem is not the guns. The true problem is that a person have a killing will in his heart. Are we ignoring the fact that someone -wanted- to kill a lot of teenagers? Why? There is more than just guns wrong in United States. There is killings with knives and rocks too. We need to work on creating children that don’t want to kill others. A society that doesn’t let violence grow. Armed or not.
of course, and that teacher will have to live with that for the rest of her or his life. Teachers teach students about life; they should never be expected to take a life.
I wonder how he'd feel if someone walked into his grand kids schools and shot them. But its sad to even think that the death of his own child might change his heart while the death of 200 other children have had no effect. Its sad....
Did you know, that practically ALL young people with voting rights in the UK voted against Brexit? It, in the end is their world WE are in control of. Why can't we just give them a bigger focus.
18 school shootings since the beginning of the year! Its only FEBRUARY 23rd! exclusing holidays and weekends, thats almost 1 school shooting a day not to mention how have occured since I started this post! but hey, in total thats still less than 500 children right? Its just a few! a few?? Any number higher than 0 is too many!
Schooled by the teenagers who are smarter and mored eloquent and more emotionally balanced that this moron.
Teens. You don't know the amount of havoc the power of angry, well-spoken teenagers can create. These kids are the future of America.
I agree and share the same brain.... call me insane , I will not kill a single soul unless they ban gun-control , here in Holland where I live I survived every school easily because no-one was pointing a gun at me but no matter how high you go up there , there's never a curved horizon to see I swear....
If Trump see this, he will retweet it to further his agenda. He's just that clueless.
Better yet, send all those who so staunchly protect their 2nd amendment to Afghanistan.They can prove that having a gun betters your odds to staying alive against others with guns. Once I see how they fare, maybe I'll change my mind.
Um RaY1, is there a self esteem issue you have ? Small hands? Small cerebrum? Just small ..uh..issues that a gun makes you feel 'protected'?
I signed up to be a teacher, not a police officer. It is time for the lawmakers to stop looking how to fill their pockets from the NRA. Arming me won't solve your problem, but banning assault weapons and reopening mental hospitals will. I am sick and tired of everything revolving around money.
Seriously, I'm tired of everything being about money too...
Not just about money, but about short-term profits for specific people.
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Assault weapons are already banned.
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You gotta be kidding me! Let's force responsible gun owners to give up their right to bear arms and leave only the criminals will have guns. Wanna take them away from the criminals? Nice try, the guns won't be registered. Taking guns away from people won't solve the problem. The NRA educated people on the proper way to use, handle, and carry a gun. The NRA isn't just a bunch of red neck republicans who wanna shoot everything up. And FYI, to the people who didn't know, being republican has nothing to do with owning a gun. (Just thought I'd educate you a bit) you're welcome.
A "responsible" gun owner would not bring a weapon of war into a peaceful civilian population. And people are not talking about taking away rifles or handguns. Neither of those can kill 17 teachers and students in 7 minutes.
Oh Stephanie. Your profile, you sell children for food? Really. Yes republicans are for not having women's rights and for having guns. Those are the main 2 issues. Oh yes except giving great tax advantages to the wealthy and deceiving the red necks. That would be you Stephanie, unless you make over 1,000.000. A year
This May Be person is a complete idiot. Their society comment is so stupid it doesn't deserve a response. And they clearly Don't Know Jack schitt about handguns, to suggest that you couldn't kill 17 people with a pistol? Really? WTF kinda pistol have you ever seen a revolver? A well-trained person could do a lot more damage with a pistol than the average person could with a AR-15.
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@May Be - An AR-15 is not a weapon of war, although it looks like some of them.
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Weapons aren't the problem. We had more guns per capita 50-100 years ago and we didn't have this problem. The problem is the destruction of the nuclear family by the left, and bullshit idea that it's completely ok to be a single mom. No its not ok boys need a father to teach them how to be men. Clearly Hollywood and all the other Media haven't been teaching them, that's a Man's job.
How many children have to die to get gun laws changed? go ahead politicians, keep it up, the generations after you already know what to do with you.
What am I missing? Who needs an assault rifle besides the military?
Joyce, can you please define what constitutes an "assault rifle"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle
Fracas Paul, thank you for proving my point. As that article clearly states, assault rifles are "selective fire" weapons (do you think Joyce--or most of the people commenting here--know what "selective fire" means?) whose ownership is already heavily restricted by present laws. No mass shooting in the US has ever been committed with an "assault rifle". Sensible debate about firearm regulation in the US is hampered by people's (often willfull) ignorance of the very subject they feel so passionately about.
My teacher, after the Florida shooting, said this bit of rationality: "If any more Arming Teachers stuff goes through, I'm quitting. My job description does not include taking a bullet for a kid". Don't force this stuff on teachers.
Two teachers took bullets for the kids in this shooting. And they didn't have guns. They didn't quit. Brave people died trying to shield these kids.
I guess you've never had yard duty. Gun or no gun, teachers break up fights; break up drug deals; and get their lives threatened on a daily basis. My father says of all theories of when this happened, his opinion was unscrewing the desks from the floors. The first 2 years he taught in the late 60s, the desks were screwed to the floor. They started doing this "move the desks around," "everyone get in a circle" stuff, and behavior tanked. In 40 years, he saw students kill each other with their fists; he broke up drug deals on yard duty; he lost a shoulder muscle and had to have AIDS tests for several years after breaking up a "girl fight"; etc. My BIL once had a student arrested for assault for taking a swing at him. My wife had a student arrested for assault for taking a swing at her. She also had students threatening her on a daily basis at multiple schools, and the administration would do nothing.
What's wrong with kids in your country?
Sounds like all the teachers in your family could have used a gun or two (and your dad, a screwdriver)...
Um... not in my chunk of America. We're slightly safer than what you're describing.
It won't MAKE teachers carry concealed, it will LET them!
Oh, it will LET hem? So surely hiring policy will no doubt never include asking pointed questions like "what`s your grouping look like under stress shootings?" right? Instead of a teachers ability to teach, hiring will be done by the teachers shooting proficiency and willingness to carry a gun.
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Your teacher sounds like a pussy.
...My sister is a special education teacher in New Mexico and as a family member, I oppose the suggestion that teachers should be given a gun to protect herself or her students. She is not hired to kill people, she is hired to educate people. She should not arm herself because a school should be a safe place for teachers and students. These school shootings are meaningless and the situation is not being handled or being prevented properly by the government. The president's suggestion was very careless and not very well-thought of. Even if he blames the media for the 'fake news', media is a double edged sword and he should not state things that could be taken out of context. That just shows how weak his mind works if he is not careful with the words he says.
There are just SO MANY things wrong with a shocking number of Americans... So many things... My neck is hurting from all the headshaking this post caused me.
The comment by the 8 year old really sticks with me. I hope the adults in this country will get behind the momentum and positive energy from the students in Florida. If we can't motivate Congress now, What is it going to take? I hope more republicans lose in the 2018 elections. I hope these students keep on, keepin' on. I have their back. I'm with Barack.
Here's an idea - anyone that wants to own a gun must first serve time in the military. Not only would it provide training and structure, it would boost our armed forces exponentially. If you're caught with a gun without having served then you'd be sentenced to serve, rather than jail. Of course we'd have to grandfather in the seniors...
Its a good theory until you, potentially, have half the population suffering from PTSD (assuming that people would actually be sent off to fight as the country is currently 'at war'. Also, the streets would be empty and the economy could suffer from the amount of people going thru military training to own a gun. It could however deter a lot of people from wanting to own a gun. How about instead that anyone who owns a gun has to keep it stored at their gun range?
How about mandatory military service like Israel or Switzerland? How about mandatory gun ownership?
Even Swiss mandatory gun ownership is limited to reservists, 99.8% of whom are not permitted to keep ammunition at home. They also have strict gun regulation, same with Norway, Finland, Australia, UK, New Zealand, most of Europe. Seems to work for them...
Switzerland is getting a problem with their water. All the bullets decay and get into the groundwater.
I'm going to post this multiple times in hope that you see it. Stephanie Hutner - I am a former police officer and I own guns. I definitely will not be needing my neighbor to help me. You comment is really awful - you would hope that when someone needs help that they don't get the help they need. YOU'RE the moron.
Stephanie Hutner - I am a former police officer and I own guns. I definitely will not be needing my neighbor to help me. You comment is really awful - you would hope that when someone needs help that they don't get the help they need. YOU'RE the moron.
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You're the moron who will run to your gun owning neighbor's house if something horrible happens. And I hope to god your neighbor doesn't help you.
Being Anti-AR15 is not like being anti-gun. It's kinda like being anti-rape but not anti-sex.
Jack, I'm afraid that analogy doesn't really hold water. A better one might be, "saying you shoot an AR-15 is like saying you blow your nose with Kleenex". There is nothing special or magical about the AR-15 that makes it more dangerous or scary than other firearms, it is just ubiquitous b/c it is affordable, reliable, easy to maintain, etc.
This week, my 12 year old daughter was witness to the insanity that our SOCIAL PROBLEM here in America has come to. Of all places this was on her SCHOOL BUS. An aggravated teen-aged boy was doing everything possible to get on that bus because he had a problem with one of the students who rode it. Banging loudly on the outside of the bus, cursing and making threats of extreme violence against all bus riders, circling the bus like a predator, his final threat was to get his gun and shoot the young passengers, he turned to run and get said gun, but our quick thinking driver was already in motion, phone in hand, moving the bus to a safer place, while also dialing 911. Three police cars were on the scene in mere minutes, surrounding the troubled youth and restoring safety once again. These children are preschoolers, elementary aged children through high school aged, and they were ALL terrified. My daughter held three kindergarteners on her lap, hugging them close until the crying ended.
Jeeeeze. Your poor daughter. That is the sort of incident that leaves you scarred for life. I think id consider emigrating after that
I've only visited this site a few times and was unaware it is a liberal POS sounding board. The "gun problem" is a problem on both sides not just Republicans you morons. Liberals had 8 years of Oduma to do something while shootings happened on his watch and what did they do. Nothing. This is truly a mental health issue which is not being addressed. Stricter gun laws, background checks, waiting times, whatever, I'm for it but until you are able to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally unstable you will never fix this.
Even in Obama's first term he did not have a filibuster proof senate majority, and he'd go on to lose both houses soon after. What he did do was sign dozens (literally dozens!) of executive orders on gun safety, all of which were obviously rescinded by president Trump. You've got conservative democrats in purple states who need to keep in gun owners' good graces and zero republicans willing to cross the NRA on ANY gun control measure. He wasn't going to get anything pushed through congress. Sandy Hook was to be America's tipping point, but even a bunch of dead six year old's wasn't enough to tip the balance. Keep regurgitating the same old GOP/NRA talking points, keep blaming the democrats. You are clueless. The rest of the world has lost the last bit of respect for the US over the mishandling of school shootings. Every country has crazy people, one country has school shooter drills.
Is that one country Finland?
Gman, I wouldn't call this site a liberal "sounding board"... more like a liberal echo chamber.
Get woke. Republicans have had their hands in the weapons industry’s pocket would do zilch.
hate to tell you, the world is a liberal pos soundboard. alt right idiots need to stay within their fox and russian hoax safe place. out here we all think your nuts. get help
It's very simple: just ban ALL guns permanently from civilians. Give the population a 3 month period to hand in all of their weapons, after that time have the military raid every single home and retrieve any weapon that hasn't been given, and kill everybody still carrying them. Done. No more gun problems, and there won't even be any criminal with a gun, or with any way of obtaining a gun.
So what you're saying is that you want to live in a totalitarian state. I for one wouldn't want that in any shape way or form. Do as the government says or die, what's to stop them from adding something else they don't agree with under that rule? Very slippery slope you've just proposed.
Fracas Paul, after reading this asinine comment, I'm almost sorry I posted a sensible, reasoned response to your comment above... One can only hope this comment of yours was meant to be satire, but I suspect otherwise. It is very true that totalitarian societies (Nazi Germany, USSR, NK) are particularly diligent about keeping weapons out of the hands of their citizens/subjects. It is pretty disturbing when those on the Left suggest emulating such societies.
This is crazy, you hear that one of the kids you probably been teaching for years flips out and starts shooting up the school, they expect in all the confusion to get a positive ID of the shooter, you're suppose to calmly take out your hand gun and blow the this kids head off while avoiding his assult rifle fire.
Why do you people insist on arguing about "solutions" that have been proven to not work? Gun control doesn't work. It has never worked. Claims that it worked in Australia or England or France, are simply not true. The NRA contributes very little money to politicians compared to trial lawyers, teachers unions, other unions, drug companies, energy companies, etc. It's not about money, it's about votes, and a whole lot of voters who own guns and understand how ineffective gun laws are, vote against politicians who don't understand, and want to push more failed schemes as "solutions." The people quoted in this article, and most of the commenters, are living in an echo chamber, and refusing to hear the real facts. None of the "solutions" proposed would have prevented or mitigated any of the atrocities we've seen over the past 20 years, but you call me a heartless monster because I oppose these false solutions. You are not debating gun laws, you're lynching gun owners.
Umm excuse me? I literally live in a country where we had 1 mass shooting and then we brought in gun control. You must be 18 to own a gun and assault type rifles are banned. Having a gun in your hand gives you a sense of power, that you can do anything and no one can stop you particularly with assault type weapons as you don’t even need to pull back the bolt every time you fire. One big thing that is proven time and time again, power currupts. Here in Australia you are unable to get your hands on a gun that would be effective in a mass shooting so no one does it, no one feels like they have enough power in their hands to get away with it. And have you ever heard of a mass shooting anywhere that is not a war zone that has gun control? I certainly haven’t and do you know what, here in Australia we can still get guns! No one has been lynched except maybe death himself.
The history of the rest of the world does not disappear because you say it doesn't exist.
Sir, I live in Singapore, where the sale of firearms to citizens is prohibited. It has one of the lowest rates of gun-related crime in the world and there has never been a school shooting in its 50 years of history. Japan requires potential gun-owners to attend an all-day class, pass a written test, and achieve at least 95% accuracy during a shooting-range test.A mental-health evaluation at a hospital, as well as a background check, is required. Only shotguns and air rifles can be purchased, and gun owners must retake the class and the initial exam every three years. Japan seldom has more than 10 shooting deaths a year in a population of 127 million. Private ownership of handguns, semiautomatic and pump-action firearms is banned throughout the UK, and owners are required to register their weapons. The result is 50-60 gun deaths a year in England and Wales, which have a population of 56 million.
In contrast, the USA is estimated to have 101 guns per 100 people, and more than 160 times as many gun-related homicides than the UK. I don't know about you, but I do feel that there is a correlation between gun control policies and a reduction in the number of gun-related homicides.
The problem isn't that you have crazy people or moronic suicidal and self centered teenagers. The problem is these people can buy automatic military style guns...
Semi Automatic.
Only bodyguards of Very Important People should have guns. They understand this,.the rest of you are too stupid. And if you get attacked at gunpoint it's just karma for living such an insignificant life. So suck it up, losers.
Really? An inocent person getting attacked at gun point is their fault for being insignificant? WOW, just wow! If you truly believed im karma you wouldn't have made that statement.
Is this just an America thing? What were the circumstances of school shootings outside of the US?
Have you ever heard of a mass shooting in a place with gun control?
John Smith, you do realize that you just named four of the cities with the highest percentages of gang violence, right?
Um, yes, actually. Do your research. (A quick Google search will bring them up.)
Yes, it's called rampant black gang violence in Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Baltimore .... name your big urban center, controlled by Dems, with uber strict gun control laws....
Being anti-AR15 is not being anti-gun. It's kinda like being anti-rape but not being anti-sex!
Evil is always around the corner. We protect banks, jewelry stores, airports, etc. why won't we protect our children!? A sign saying gun free zone doesn't even come close to taking care of the problem. Psychos and criminals and evil people don't follow the rules!