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We got a return to office memo and an active shooter plan in the same week.

Hang on, you're saying a plausible scenario in the US is office workers carrying guns. How common is that?

I've been sidestepping opportunities to go to Austin on the grounds that I might be shot trying to commute to the office. Do I also need to factor in that whoever I'm talking to at the office might be carrying a gun?

I dont even know how seriously to take this comment.

First of all, active shooters can be found anywhere. Of course someone can go crazy and show up at the workplace with a gun.

Second, it depends on what you mean by common. 80% of active shooter incidents happen at work. However, you probably have less than 0.5% chances of being involved in one. Sucks when you are for sure, but these are pretty good odds.

Finally, avoiding an entire city just for that is dumb. Especially when you have way more risks in NYC or Chicago.

It's a sincere attempt to estimate the prior. Information on the US and guns is very heavily political. What american developers consider "obviously normal" about carrying guns to places developers go is probably as accurate an insight as one can find.

Probability of getting shot is related to how many guns are present. Prior to this thread I just assumed there were no guns in the office, because that's the European prior.

However I'm now thinking of the reaction to rust's no-guns-at-conferences stance where a non-zero number of people thought that was so contentious that they wouldn't go to a conference without their guns.

You say most active shootings happen at the workplace. If true, interesting in combination with the apparent frequency of school shootings.

I mentioned a specific city as I believe there's an association between Texas and revolvers which might skew the odds further.

Do they let you guys carry at least?

What kind of hellscape office has guns in it?

Maybe people'd behave extra-civil in an office in which everyone was carrying.

What a lovely working environment: please everyone, or die.

An American one, where the solution to the problem of guns is more guns.

Peace through superior firepower #murica

You got a solution? Are you going to travel back in time to prevent the second amendment from being written? Or are you going to get a 2/3rd majority of state governors to call for a constitutional convention? Maybe you can convince 2/3rd majorities of the house and senate to overturn?

Well, one could take the whole "well regulated militia" thing seriously. Or one could say that "arms" was never intended to refer to weapons capable of killing many people in a short time, which is how it has been interpreted with respect to bombs and chemical weapons.

Failing that, sure, it would be nice if people could actually think the way the founders did, and seek a collective solution. But in a country where large numbers of people absolutely insist on the unrestricted ability to cause mass death, the only possibility is that the Constitution really is a suicide pact.

Maybe in the future “well regulated” will mean that a president creates a “National militia” or deputizes anyone with a lawful firearm and no one else can buy a gun outside of the militia. Of course this militia would be right wing but I guess dictatorship is how it could end.

Back then well regulated meant equipped. English has evolved over time. Of course if one day we had six liberal judges they might use the modern meaning of regulated.

IANAL but buildings and companies are allowed to have specific policies that are stricter than national and state policies. You need any of the above.

Well yea, in the micro sense - of course.

I really want to believe you are not suggesting that a specific policy has, or will ever, stop someone from shooting up their office, but I don't see any other way to read this. Could you clarify?

Policies definitely work by creating friction. They dont stop all crimes, but they deter them. Just like locks on doors: sure people can break the locks, but often it deters them just enough not to bother.

This is why we have car door locks. Bicycle locks. Metal detectors. ID checks at stores. Unfortunately nothing is perfect.

… So you think that the friction provided by "no guns here" will even enter the mind of someone who was not stopped by the friction of "murder is illegal"?

Barret, Colt, Smith & Wesson, etc. presumably.

In the American south, just about every public place you encounter will have people carrying guns, with a few exceptions. It's just a fact of life, you might as well pack your own.

Well probably almost all of them in the states, outside of the few that have made conceal carry impossible.

I once talked with my coworkers about conceal carry. Turned out probably a good 1/8th of the office carried.

1/8th of them carried guns while going shopping or while at the office?

Yep, and probably while going for a jog or hitting the convenience store to grab a gallon of milk.

As my former firearms instructor put it: "If a bad guy ever schedules a meeting on your calendar to mug you.. you should decline and not show up. Otherwise since bad guys don't usually book ahead, always be prepared."

One of the things we train people is that just because you can carry a firearm doesn't mean you should go places you normally wouldn't. If you consider a place too dangerous to go to normally, having a firearm doesn't change that.

That’s stupid. Nobody wants guns in the office. An accident will happen long before you get an opportunity to be “heroic.”

Ping ping tables? Free coffee? I'll wfh thanks.

Onsite shooting range? I'm coming in on the weekends as well.

But compared with games and food a shooting range is such a niche perk that the required large room could be put to better uses, isn't it?

Food probably won't get me to come in. I'm on a diet so I'd probably try to avoid the temptation. Everybody has preferences. Work is a serious place to me so going to a gun range (another serious place) isn't a big context switch in the same way something fun like a game is. I can't turn off enough to enjoy a game at work, or even during working hours.

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