Please Don't Shoot Me

[Flack]

I worried about a lot of things as a kid, but getting shot was never one of them. In high school I worried that I would never get a girlfriend, or that my car would break down. In grade school I worried about getting picked on or beat up by a series of bullies. But never did I worry about one of those bullies, or even a stranger, shooting me.

Last year when my daughter was a senior in high school, we got a text on Sunday from our neighbor advising us to keep our daughter home from school the following Monday. Our neighbor "knew a guy who knew a guy" on the local police force who said they had received credible information that a student had stolen guns from his parents, disappeared, and was planning to shoot up the school Monday morning. Ultimately school was cancelled that Monday and the student was apprehended. Multiple times throughout the year, the school went on lockdown -- sometimes as drills, sometimes not -- and the kids have been trained in the "Run/Hide/Fight" response, the same way our parents were taught to "Duck and Cover" in case of a nuclear attack. Even at my work, "response to active shooter training" has been added to our annual tornado and fire drills. Employees need to know what to do if a tornado arrives, or if their building catches on fire, or if a coworker shows up and decides to shoot everyone.

Last month, a scuffle broke out at a local high school football game. One of the students involved in the disagreement apparently went to his car to retrieve a gun and returned to the stadium where he began shooting. Four people were shot in all, only one of which was directly involved in the ruckus. Two had the misfortune of standing nearby, and one man was shot in the chest by a security guard as he was trying to break up the fight. (That'll learn ya.) The teenager who was involved in the dispute was "shot in the groin" and died. A fifteen-year-old was arrested and charged with second degree murder. In addition to the shootings, multiple other injuries were sustained as thousands of people fled the stands, including broken arms and legs as people were trampled during the stampede.

Last night less than a month later, shots rang out at the Oklahoma State Fair. Details are still coming in but it appears, like last month's shooting, a verbal altercation escalated to shots being fired. The Oklahoma State Fair is a gun-free zone; visitors walk through scanners and security is still baffled as to how the gun got in, although it's safe to assume it wasn't the only one there. Chaos erupted as shots were fired and people began shouting "active shooter!" sending thousands of people scattering to their cars and all trying to exit the fair's single land exit at the same time. If there's any good news about this shooting at all it's that it apparently cut Vince Neil's performance at the fair short.

When I was coming of age I watched movies like Boys in the Hood and New Jack Hustler, and never worried about getting shot because the settings of those films didn't look like where I lived. I didn't go to Compton, or the Bronx. But I do go to high school football games, and I do go to the fair. And the people getting shot there aren't just the targets of the shooting -- it's random, innocent bystanders. It's people with the audacity to attend outdoor events, or go out in public.

It's me.

[Casual Observer]

The only thing that was exciting about watching "The Joker" on IMAX was the fear that someone would pull an Aurora.

There's a restaurant called El Taco Boom half a block from my complex that had it's window shot out a month or two ago with luckily none of the customers inside hurt.

Were it not for drinking and sleeping in, my wife and I would have been at the Gilroy Garlic Festival when a 19-year-old Santino William Legan snuck in through a hole in the fence and started shooting. Killed 3 and shot another 17 people who just wanted some garlic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilroy_Ga ... l_shooting

Authorities stated that a WASR-10 semi-automatic rifle was used,[13] a Romanian variant of the AK-47.[2] It was equipped with a 75-round drum magazine. The gunman was also wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying five extra magazines of 40 rounds each.[5]

The gunman opened fire on festival-goers near an inflatable slide, ultimately shooting 39 rounds.

We can't do anything cuz the 2nd amendment. We can however have something like this tech: www.sos-tech.com Been having fun cold calling heads of security and offering continuous autonomous AI/CV monitoring that hooks into the cameras and watches for guns, knives, known bad individuals, anyone not allowed to be there and instantly connects to 911 with video/maps/location, custom emergency workflows automate everything from notifications to door locks/sirens/etc. It's a pretty cool tech.

For me, staying as much away from people as possible the last few years has kept me healthy and not shot yet. I do carry mace in my neighborhood in case one of the meth/fent heads goes nuts.