I know I’m going way out there into OMG territory with this one. An 11-year-old special needs student packing heat is a bad, bad thing. No question. A sixth-grader getting shot in the leg after a fellow student dropped his backpack (causing a negligent discharge of the gun therein, apparently) is wrong. But I wonder how many school-age children died in car accidents in the last week. And how much media attention each of them received. Speaking of a lack of perspective . . . “We’re in big trouble,” Susanna Rivera tells the reporter. “We have to do something. We really have to do something about this. This cannot be happening anymore.” Such a great quote about kidz ‘n guns, CBS Miami ran it twice. This wasn’t a traffic accident but you can see good intentions paving the road to hell. Again. Still.
Oh noes! I just don’t feel safe in a world full of so many “Assault” children. How many lives must be lost before we do something to take these killers off the streets?
Our world has gone so far down the rabbit hole used by the elitist royalty in Washington who are working to change our society into one they can properly control that children of America’s citizens don’t need to bring a gun to school or even non functioning replica or something looking like a gun (heard of water pistols, horrors, falling into that category). TRUE: Youngest son who was taught to shoot beginning at age 8 and spent weekend with his Dad at Gun Shows when possible; always bringing home something from the show. Monday following Gun Show, called by his school principle at local Junior High School (grade 7) that I needed to pick up my son immediately- he was being suspended for day and wouldn’t explain over the phone. Was nearly 60 miles away, but said I’d comply as fast as traffic allowed. My 12 year old crime?
Son had purchased a really nice white T-shirt at Gun Show, on front of shirt, it had ‘Ruger’ in red letters. Below was a photograph of a Redhawk revolver (recently new). Nothing else. Pointing out shirts by other students readily seen in school hallways, had gory scenes of decapitation, advising ‘grass’ and drugs were OK, scenes of mass murder glamorizing having a large ‘gut pile’, vampire activity and list went on with clothing showing many acts of depravity or illegal activity – NONE of that was against ‘school policy’ according to school principle,
GUNS were bad and therefore banned by school board (he couldn’t show the rule in writing)
GUNS were against school policy, and mere picture of a revolver was enough to have my son suspended for a day.
THAT is how far our society has gone, being molded by the Elitists who know what is best for the rest of us, to ignorant to know better, needing guidance to prevent our coming under the influence of those Evil Firearms who go around killing innocent people, etc etc. HORSE DEW PUCKY. Won’t bore the readers with the conversation as my son’s school.
Car accidents kill kids. Drowning in backyard pools kills kids. Medical malpractice slaughters more children in a month that all the school shootings in history, combined.
If there was money or power at stake, children’s deaths from those causes would be the lead. Alas, there’s no well-paying political movement to de-pool civilians or de-AMA the medical industry. On the other hand, civilian disarmament pays well.
Years of anti gun indoctrination yield the results you see here.
Liberal progressives have had free reign in our educational institutions for years. Please observe brainwashing results above at play for anyone to see who can think. And the thinking pool keeps shrinking.
There is obviously no use in pointing this out: the conversation will immediately come back to guns. Functionally speaking, we are dealing with automatons. Robots. Pavlovian Meat Machines.
Careless parents will sometimes allow children to be exposed to unnecessary risk. Hell, even careful parents will once in a while. No law can fix that. Kids have always (and probably will always) get killed in swimming pools, fires, falls, by household chemicals, etc. The world is beautiful, exciting, and endlessly fascinating. But it’s not safe.
Agreed.
But instead of simply condemming “guns”, the focus should be emphasizing parental responsibility and ownership of ones actions or lapses of judgement. In each case, someone, probably a parent, was not exercising good judgement securing their firearm. They need to step up to the plate and do a better job.
Unfortunately like the cliche; Sometimes you just can’t fix stupid.
I agree with all you wrote. It is the parents’ responsibility to take precautions. I hate the suggestion that immediately comes next, though: A one-size-fits all solution of “lock up all your guns at all times.” Yes, most should be locked up. However, I have teen daughters, not unlike one that was raped and killed in a home invasion near my home in the last couple of years. If someone breaks in while I’m not at home, I want my daughters to immediate, reliable access to at least one effective firearm. My precaution is that I’ve trained both girls for years in safety and marksmanship. For some families (and for some kids), that might not be enough. For my family, it works. Our call, not for someone else to decide.
Educating, training and instilling a sense of moral ethics with your kids are the key elements that demonstrate taking ownership of ones responsibility. That is the best you can do.
I’d venture that those elements are absent in each of the scenerios presented in the news article. It’s not the fault of the gun.
Should it be that the adult owner of the firearm in each case should be sanctioned for negligent or reckless safekeeping of their firearm? Based on the specific circumstances of each case?
“We have to do something.” It sounds to me like the teacher did, and his/her procedure worked well. As to where it came from, and how he had it? Valid question. Not all the proposed solutions, I’m sure, will be as valid.
What do we need to do? Something. It’s that simple. Why can’t we can that through our thick skulls?
Robert – since we can’t post videos you should post the video for Infant Sorrow’s “Somebody should do something”. It’s an anthem for the slacktivist.
Having a child get his hands on his parents weapon is exactly the kind of irresponsible behavior that gives all of us a bad reputation. You can spin it however you want, but the parents of the child in question need to be held accountable if their carelessness led to this situation.
I disagree slightly. Children used to be trained to use weapons, guns ,bayonets, bows whatever. Children should be taught to use weapons safley like anyone else. The parents should be responsible to teach them that much at least
I agree 100% with you, except that this kid was “special needs” , and he stuck it in his book bag and brought it to school. Very irresponsible.
No!
It doesn’t give US a bad reputation; it gives that particular gun owner a bad reputation.
It’s the grabbers who use the negligence of a few to paint ALL firearms owners as incapable of safely owning and using firearms.
Because a few drivers are reckless, rude and aggressive, does that give ALL drivers a bad reputation?
Be careful not to accept the assumptions the grabbers try to put on us.
http://www.childdeathreview.org/nationalchildmortalitydata.htm. looks like over 6,600 kids die in cars vs 138 with firearms.
So lets protect the 138… What idiot of a parent who knows their kid has special needs was irresponsible enough to leave a firearm (we can only assume a handgun from the report) unlocked and within reach of their child who clearly should not have access to it.
What are we doing to encourage the irresponsible gun owners like this to keep a lock or other device on their firearms to prevent use by unwanted parties?
It was definitely a h-an-d-gun, as the over-enunciating reporter said about 57 seconds into the video.
On the way in to work this morning, I observed two young kids in the back seat of a car, unbelted (one should have been in a car seat), driven by a woman who was tailgating everyone she came up on.
Didn’t see any children playing with guns, however…
How many children were killed at Planned Parenthood last week? Today?
Exactly
Selective outrage is a common theme among these people.
Just one comment about the original posting: instead of referring to the child as a “special needs student” the author might want to consider using the term “a student with special needs” instead. When my ex-wife tried to teach me about “Person First” language I originally thought it was PC run amok. Then I started working professionally in the field…
Today I’m a case manager for people with disabilities in a supported employment facility. The pay isn’t all that great but I love my job and know I make a difference in these folks’ lives.
Keep up the good work-TTAG rocks!
JhonnieB.
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