STRIKESWITHAGUN FOUND SAFE!

On November 2, Canadian police in Alberta posted a missing persons report for 25-year-old resident Rayjay Strikeswithagun, saying he had last been seen on October 28.

More from Culture Alberta:

Police described him as 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black hooded sweater, blue jeans and Nike runners. Police said he has a medical condition and asked anyone who'd seen him to call the detachment or Crime Stoppers.
It was a standard missing person notice, the kind Alberta RCMP posts several times a week. Most get a few hundred shares and disappear once the person turns up.

But not in this case. In this case, the notice went viral.

Some people asked if the account was a parody. Some made jokes. And a lot of others pushed back, pointing out that Strikes With A Gun is a real Blackfoot name with real history, and that a missing man with a medical condition isn't a punchline.

Actually, it is.

You can't expect normal English speakers to look at the name "Strikeswithagun" and not chuckle.

(It's okay to laugh, Canadians.)

The name comes from a native tradition of naming people after an event or heroic deed. One of Strikeswithagun's ancestors must have loved black powder, and that guy's nickname got recorded as a surname by the British government.

The name isn't rare in Blackfoot country. Gayle Strikes-With-A-Gun, raised on Piikani Nation, was elected the nation's first female chief in 2011 after 25 years as a teacher, principal and superintendent.

See, we can laugh and learn a fun fact about history.