I think the reason more any-year-olds don’t shoot people is because they don’t have access to guns at the right moment. We’re all capable of killing at the right moment if we happen to have a gun in our hand. And sure, kids might have more of these moments.
Now, this kid actually sought after a gun. That is concerning. But yes, more punishment should go towards the parent who welcomed the presence of a gun at home in the first place.
I really want to roast my kids right now but I should also read the room.
I do wish people would stop blithely assuming that their kid wouldn’t murder anyone.
If you have ever seen a gun, then you have thought about using it to kill someone.
I’m not sure this is true.
As an example, my understanding is that it is a real worry that “green” inexperienced troops may not be able to shoot the enemy in their first battle.
Here I am talking about a single moment. I think spending extended time in an abusive environment is able to turn more people, possibly almost anybody, into a killer. But in that case we are dealing with a personality warped by a hostile environment.
Especially given all the violent video games and movies that show killing without lasting repercussions.
I was thinking more of temporary insanity.
Being bullied, for example, or catching your wife cheating with someone.
I had a post where I found the bit about an unsecured gun endangering a minor several posts back, along with a link to the relevant section of VA code.
I’m not an expert on VA law though… just found it noodling around. If she got multiple convictions and served back-to-back sentences I would not be sad about the sentencing, but really ANY jail time makes the point… even if it’s only 30 days.
lol no
I wish parents wouldn’t take their kids to shooting ranges.
If you asked my kid what a gun does, she could tell you that it’s a deadly weapon. But a lot of things are “deadly” to her-- snakes, arson, mushrooms, swords, knives, bows, fireballs, earthquakes, wild animals, starvation, etc. I don’t know if she’d realize that a gun is special without being shown…
But yes, sure, also shooter games.
Ianad of psychiatry, but i seem to remember terms socio/psychopaths aren’t used to diagnose kids.
sociopaths and psychopaths are always so easy to identify in hind sight.
But look at all the normal kids and adults who haven’t committed murder, half of them have mental issues, and the other half are heavily medicated.
In my wife’s family, it is apparently tradition that at a young age, when a child starts to show interest in the gun, you take the child out back (or wherever you go plinking) with a favorite toy, to demonstrate the first rule of gun safety: that you never point the gun at something you don’t want destroyed.
I think it’s a rather traumatic way to teach the lesson…but it is apparently quite effective.
As far as taking kids to ranges…one reason you might want them to go to the ranges is that, at least at reputable ranges, you are obliged to learn the rules for safe gun handling before you can approach the firing line. Good range officers ensure those rules are enforced.
That’s hilarious.
But that’s a good example-- It’s a perfect object lesson in the power they have to commit murder.
Of course 99.999% of kids aren’t going to do it. But demonstrating that power is the first step (imo).
I have a friend with several guns. The guns are trigger locked and in a safe because he knows kids are dumb and impulsive.
Nope. I’m sure I’ve lived a very sheltered life, and I’m also a big fat fraidy cat. When I was a kid I was a little fraidy kitten. I think the worst I ever did was kick some boys in the shins. I know my dad had a gun and I assume he kept it locked up but it never ever occurred to me to go find it even for those rotten boys.
I have shot a gun. I tried to shoot skeet. It was amusing. There is photographic evidence. I missed by a mile.
Maybe I just have a lack of desensitivity, from not having grown up around guns?? I also live a sheltered life. And didn’t touch a gun until after college when a friend randomly brought a glock out to demonstrate the basics-- how to hold, load, cock, check, not to point it at people, etc.
And it just felt plainly that this thing is used to kill people. I didn’t want to kill anyone. And I wasn’t suicidal. But it became clear-- not just mentally but emotionally-- that I could do so with that gun. That the power to kill was literally in the palm of my hand.
All of the violent TV shows, movies, and games didn’t make it as clear as actually holding a gun. Those are all just stories, and for the most part quite silly-- but this was real and immediate.
Maybe I’m just a bit of a weirdo and think about death more than most people. But obviously people are weirdly fascinated by guns, and I think their weird fascination revolves around death too.
Anyway… I just think people assume they are teaching “gun safety” when really they are also teaching “this is how you kill somebody”, and that lesson also matters a lot.
I had a similar reaction when I held a gun for the first time (at a friends place in the woods while in college) and a second time in 2016 at a gun range some other friends drug me out to so I could understand why they did not like Hillary.
lol
if I had a gun I’ll probably end up killing someone at some point
The odds go up for sure.