When I was in high school, my art teacher plotted a "happening" - what is now probably called "performance art." He had scripted out his own shooting by a disgruntled student, played by my best friend. I knew about it in advance. If I'd had a little more warning, I might have been able to get another blank bullet, and reversed the un-funny joke a bit.

Wait until teacher begins to get up and explain the "joke"... "I knew about this stunt - it was a blank cartrige. Now let's see what happens when I put a real bullet in..."

Seriously, nobody thought this was funny - it wasn't meant to be. It was meant to provoke an emotional response and get people thinking. It got me thinking how much I hated people being manipulative. (At that time, there had been no incidents of school shooting that I'd heard of, and kids didn't bring weapons to school. The teacher would probably have been fired in a New York minute these days.)

And to you folks who are trying to laugh at yourselves for being had, don't. You responded appropriately, and there was no reason to suspect anyone would pull such a dumb-ass stunt.