Students in Louisiana thought this math symbol looked like a gun. Police were called

Miami Herald ^ | SCOTT BERSON

[Impala64ssa]

A discussion among students at Oberlin High School in Oberlin, La., about a mathematical symbol led to a police investigation and a search of one of the student’s homes, according to the Allen Parish Sheriff’s Office.

On the afternoon of Feb. 20, detectives investigated a report of terroristic threats at the school, where they learned that a student had been completing a math problem that required drawing the square-root sign.

Students in the group began commenting that the symbol, which represents a number that when multiplied by itself equals another number, looked like a gun.

After several students made comments along those lines, another student said something the sheriff’s office said could have sounded like a threat out of context.

Police searched the student’s home, where they found no guns or any evidence that he had any access to guns. Authorities also wrote there was no evidence the student had any intent to commit harm.

“The student used extremely poor judgment in making the comment, but in light of the actual circumstances, there was clearly no evidence to support criminal charges,” the department wrote, adding that the school board had been contacted to determine any disciplinary action for the student.

The investigation came about a week after a gunman opened fire in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Valentine’s Day, killing 17 people and wounding 14 more.

The mass shooting sparked a wave of reported threats against other schools across the country — threats that are still coming in by the day and have set local parents, students and emergency officials on high alert.

In the Miami area alone, school threats jumped from one a week to as many as 50 a day, the Miami Herald reported.

Still, many on social media thought the reaction to the “threat” in Oberlin was more than a little overblown.

[ilgipper]

Folks, we officially live in Idiocracy. This generation in high school is proof positive.

[fhayek]

I always thought New York State looked like a snowmobile.

[going hot]

OK looks like a “bang” flag

[Gene Eric]

Only if Cruz expressed his affinity to the square root...

[Gene Eric]

Yup...

[grey_whiskers]

Wait until they do the sqrt(-1). It not only looks like a gun ,but it’s irrational...!

[grey_whiskers]

Worthless. Pics. You know the drill.

[windsorknot]

The anti-gun hysteria takes us to another dimension.
*Cue Twilight Zone theme*

[Scrambler Bob]

A kid has 39 police visits to his house...Calls to police about his actions and threats...Reports to FBI about him...and NOTHING is done....
= = =

But somebody calls Swat from 1/2 way across the US, and an innocent man dies.

[Datom]

Yeah, looks like an assault rifle to me.
____________________________________________________________

You are right. Appears to have a collapsible stock also.

[Kalamata]

>>kid has 39 police visits to his house...Calls to police about his actions and threats...Reports to FBI about him...and NOTHING is done...
*************************************************
Sounds like they are very incompetent, but really they’re not. Just like some people thought Obama was incompetent but in reality, he was working hard at successfully planting termites into every aspect of American life and government.

The “black hats” seek out troubled kids; groom, drug, mind-control them (Did they ever actually stop their MK-Ultra program?), and keep them on the back burner until they have use for them (timing). They call whoever figures out their nefarious acts “conspiracy theorists”. Evil and quite effective. However, despite their Youtube and Twitter censorship, number of patriots who believe this to be plausible is growing.

[taxesareforever]

We had to get rid of the n word and now it appears we have to get rid of the g word.

[Steve Van Doorn]

Here is a sound file on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31_sZQu0o9Q

[Steve Van Doorn]

oops disregard that wrong thread

[Swordmaker]

It’s just as disturbing the students didn’t recognize a square root symbol.

How about the journalist who describes it completely backassward?

"Students in the group began commenting that the symbol, which represents a number that when multiplied by itself equals another number, looked like a gun.

The author of this article could not even just call it by its correct name, the radical, or a square root symbol.

With this zero gun tolerance policy idiocy, the stupid journalist, the thread from the MSNBC idiots claiming a good reason to not have armed guards in schools is because the bad guy’s rifle shoots bullets 3x faster than the guard’s handgun bullets, the high school kids who last week were eating Tide Pods are now the wisest people on the planet to consult on gun policy, while other wise teenagers go on a violent rioting rampages to protest violence, why do I feel I must have fallen through a space/time wormhole into another dimension where anyone with an IQ above 60 is considered a genius?

The stupid is so overwhelming it’s as if there’s a huge looming dust storm of dumbness that has befallen our nation and clogged our thinking. I feel like I’m wading through at least a foot and a half of drifted dirt that’s just dropped from the minds of these complete dunderheads. The really shocking and depressing fact in all this is how ignorant they are of how truly STUPID they are. . . they are convinced of their brilliance and their superiority.

[Swordmaker]

Oklahoma could be a gun as well!

Nah, Oklahoma is a meat cleaver! A much more up-close and personal weapon for mayhem and murder.

[VMI70]

“But somebody calls Swat from 1/2 way across the US, and an innocent man dies.”

Haven’t heard that story. Could you please elaborate?

[Scrambler Bob]

https://www.pcgamer.com/kansas-swatter-faces-involuntary-manslaughter-charge/

Tyler Barriss, who instigated the swatting that led police to kill an unarmed man in Wichita, Kansas in December, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, according to Glixel, as well as giving false alarm and interference with law enforcement officers. Barriss, who has previously faced charges of making fake bomb threats, was arrested in California on December 29 and extradited to Kansas yesterday.

[simpson96]

“Where does it say they didn’t know what it was?”

If they knew what it was, and still caused all this commotion just because they thought it looked like a gun - that’s even more pathetic.

[Lucky2]

Oops, my bad LOL. But still, the level of stupid is amazing.