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Comment by bayraktar | Hacker News Reader

Being as they of course "just can't" do anything to stop people from bringing guns into schools -- in a way, this makes a certain kind of sense for them.

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Can we please stop with this lazy take? “ID your child in case of bad things” kits and programs have been around since at least the early 90s[1] if not earlier. Blockbuster used to have a program where in addition to fingerprinting your kid, you’d make a video tape about them [2] and school based programs have been around since at least the 80s [3]. This sort of lazy “no one would ever worry about their kids safety if it wasn’t for guns” hot take doesn’t do anything at all to contribute to the general discourse.

[1] https://www.mcgruffsafekit.com/ [2] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-08-07-me-81-sto... [3] https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/22/us/fingerprinting-of-chil...

Looking at the bigger picture - would seem that the Texas state legislature's unwillingness to tackle the issue of overly permissive firearm access is the "lazy take" to be concerned about.

I am a limey brit, when I was at school there was another boy with some pretty serious mental health issues, social issues, issues at home. No one bullied him. But I remember watching him and realising there was a non-zero chance he would kill himself that week/month/year. It must be weird being in the US and doing the same sad calculation but adding a "maybe killing us too" factor. Watching him and wondering why he is wearing a long coat on such a warm day etc...

I went to high school in the US in the 1970s. I remember at least three incidents we heard about with students bringing guns to school. No shootings at my school, though. Another school in the same city did have a shooting incident at that time, pissed off student opened fire in shop class.

We (students) knew back then who was disturbed, who would likely carry a gun or knife to school, who might pull a weapon in a cafeteria argument. We all did that "sad calculation" you mention.

When it came time for my own kids to go to school we opted out and homeschooled. Not so much out of fear of mass shootings, but because schools are terrible environments for children in so many ways, and it's easy to do better than what passes for "education" in the US.

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