Child shoots intruder during home break-in - Port Allen, Loiusiana

[Martlet]

It has nothing to do with my or your kids and everything to do with all the other kids out there.

No it doesn't. It has everything to do with your kids, and only your kids. We had friends over to play when I was young. We knew the rules and we enforced them.

Like I said. My parents raised their children correctly.

 

[Martlet]

That's precisely why I wouldn't leave an unsecured gun in the home when I'm not there.

I'd rather have my guns locked anyways - kids home or not. It'd suck extra hard if your home was broken into and some of your pieces were missing.

It would have sucked extra hard if she'd come home to two dead kids.

 

[Kalahari]

No it doesn't. It has everything to do with your kids, and only your kids. We had friends over to play when I was young. We knew the rules and we enforced them.

Like I said. My parents raised their children correctly.

Yeah Cause a 10 year old kid sure can take on a bunch of punks who know the guy next door has an armory of unsecured guns.

It would have sucked extra hard if she'd come home to two dead kids.

How often do we hear that people who use firearms in self-defense should be more than adequately trained in doing so on this forum? And then you expect to place that burden/responsibility on a ten year old?

Teaching a child how to act responsibly at a gun range, and educating them on the safe and proper usage of firearms is far from teaching "Center of mass, Johnny, center of mass."

 

[theGringo]

I think you need a new hobby. Like getting drunk on Saturday nights, and leaving the parenting comments to old people like us who actually have 10 year olds who've been brought up properly and know how to handle firearms.

Dittos. Somebody is up past their bedtime.

 

[Kalahari]

I think you need a new hobby. Like getting drunk on Saturday nights, and leaving the parenting comments to old people like us who actually have 10 year olds who've been brought up properly and know how to handle firearms.

I've simply seen way too many good kids with "good friends" who spread word about that kind of stuff.

Dittos. Somebody is up past their bedtime.

I am so damn tired. The shoot today was awesomely exhausting.


I'm far from a parent and barely an adult, so maybe my opinion will be different 10-15 years from now. In fact, I'm sure it will be different. I think all the neighborhood rats who find out about a gun-owning home are something to consider, though.

 

[Martlet]

Yeah Cause a 10 year old kid sure can take on a bunch of punks who know the guy next door has an armory of unsecured guns.

Yeah. Martians can abduct your guns, too. If you're worried about a bunch of punks breaking into your house with your 10 yo home, you've got bigger problems than not training your children.

How often do we hear that people who use firearms in self-defense should be more than adequately trained in doing so on this forum? And then you expect to place that burden/responsibility on a ten year old?

Teaching a child how to act responsibly at a gun range, and educating them on the safe and proper usage of firearms is far from teaching "Center of mass, Johnny, center of mass."

Yeah? seemed to have worked well in this situation. Worked well when I took my deer at that age, too.

Some of us will educate our children on proper gun usage, and raise them to be trustworthy. Some of you won't. Those people SHOULD keep their guns locked up.

 

[Kalahari]

Yeah. Martians can abduct your guns, too. If you're worried about a bunch of punks breaking into your house with your 10 yo home, you've got bigger problems than not training your children.

Their children, not mine.

Some of us will educate our children on proper gun usage, and raise them to be trustworthy. Some of you won't. Those people SHOULD keep their guns locked up.

Never said I wasn't going to educate my future children, or that I'd raise them to be dishonest. Simply that I don't know their friends or schoolmates and how educated or honest they are. Until I know them well enough, I don't trust them.

 

[Erebus]

Yeah Cause a 10 year old kid sure can take on a bunch of punks who know the guy next door has an armory of unsecured guns.

If you have to worry about neighborhood kids kicking your door in while you're not home to steal your guns you really need to move.

Like right now.

And for all you speculative "luck this" and "chance that" people, this kid didn't retreat, hide, arm himself, and successfully defend himself and his little sister by luck or chance. Someone taught him what to do, whether it was Mom or someone else. That didn't all happen by chance, he learned it somewhere.

And those creeps didn't chase those kids up into a bedroom closet to pat them on the head. Had he not done EXACTLY what he did we would be reading about 2 dead kids.

If you prefer to keep your kids ignorant and defenseless than I pity your kids as they won't be able to do what this kid did if they ever need to.

I question why you put more faith in the mercy of the criminals that just kicked your door in and chased your kids through the house than you put in the education and discipline you should be instilling in your kids. Perhaps I've just answered my own question.

 

[Martlet]

Never said I wasn't going to educate my future children, or that I'd raise them to be dishonest. Simply that I don't know their friends or schoolmates and how educated or honest they are. Until I know them well enough, I don't trust them.

You don't have to trust them if you trust yours.

 

[Grendel]

You don't have to trust them if you trust yours.

Yep. They know all the rules.My kids will not tell you where the guns are.

They will also kick your ass if you go near where the guns are or any other area that's private.

They enjoy their time shooting with me far more then they enjoy their friends. They know any time they want to see or handle a gun, they ask and they see or handle them.

If you went through my house right now, there's a two rifles with ammo I fired yesterday, a smith 686 revolver, a smith 460 and other pistols, all within reach.

You know something? My kids don't care: Guns aren't special, they're not abnormal, they are tools to be used in the correct way, as all tools should be.


My three year old can pick up a revolver, correctly check to see if it's loaded and carry it correctly to the proper adult, if she needs to move it. All normal for her.

 

[Warrior102]

Assachusets version:

Mother was charged with failure to properly secure the weapon. She was found guilty, is serving 5-10 years in Walpole and the children are in Protective Services custody.

Meanwhile, the 'victims' are preparing a law suit, saying they had no reason to be shot as they were just looking for money to help them get by.

Don't forget kids charged with discharging a firearm within 500' of a building or dwelling.......I really hate this state.

 

[cekim]

Teaching a child how to act responsibly at a gun range, and educating them on the safe and proper usage of firearms is far from teaching "Center of mass, Johnny, center of mass."

No, its "aim small, miss small"

You don't have kids IIRC right?

Some kids can handle it at 8 some still can't handle it when they are 35...

I know people who started baby sitting at 11 (and no one found this unusual at the time)...

I grew up in a home with an unlocked pistol... No one died... Friends were not told it was there... It was not a toy...

Since we are infantilizing adults these days (with socialist governance), I guess it comes as no surprise that we are doing it as much if not more so with kids...

You know, this points out that maybe a key problem in our culture is that boomers waited so long to breed? Had they had kids earlier, they would have learned years ago that they aren't raw eggs and won't crack if you look at them wrong...

 

[radioman]

We had guns in my home from day one. My sister and I were left alone regularly with no trouble.

My dad taught me to drive his pick up when I was 8. I drove it around the property getting wood cleaning up etc...all the time when he or my mother was home. Sometimes my friends rode in the truck with me doing chores. When I was home alone not once did I ever grab the keys and go for a joy ride nor did my many friends ever ask me to do so. My dad taught me well and kids are just as teachable today. All we need to do is put in the effort. Kids grow up to reflect the investment there parents put into them.

 

[Kalahari]

You don't have kids IIRC right?

Nope. Won't for a few years at least. And as I've said already, I'm sure my thinking will be different when I do have a ten year old. But even the best of kids don't always have the best judgment of character, and we all know how curious kids can be. It isn't the child of the home, its his friend who's never seen/touched/shot a gun and wants to play with it that I'd be worried about.

Some kids can handle it at 8 some still can't handle it when they are 35...

This is certainly true. There are definitely 10 years old who are capable of being home alone with a gun. I don't think on average, though, I'd want a 10 year old "guarding" a home full of unsecured firearms.

I grew up in a home with an unlocked pistol... No one died... Friends were not told it was there... It was not a toy...

Yes, and I hate to sound like an anti, but we also hear all the time about kids and friends of kids stumbling upon guns and "BANG." It can go both ways. The kids who are in those tragic accidents are the ones who are uneducated, which means they are probably the son or daughter of parents who haven't taught their kids about firearm safety. I'm not worried about the kid who goes to the range with dad every weekend, its the one who goes "oohh, what's this?!"

 

[cekim]

Yes, and I hate to sound like an anti, but we also hear all the time about kids and friends of kids stumbling upon guns and "BANG." It can go both ways.

But you don't hear about the thousands of homes where the kids knew the gun was there and knew that it was not to be played with and knew that friends were not to go into the room/place where it was kept...

You hear the sensationalized exceptions to the rule - and rarely do you hear an account of what level of awareness and training the child had...

I take issue with a blanket statement of "it can go both says" implying that the odds are 50:50... They are most certainly not... And with something like 41% of households (last I heard) having a firearm, clearly, there are lots of safe homes out there not making headlines...

As for character, I've known quite a few 8 year olds with more character than your average adult... Frankly, people seem to lose a lot of "character" between the ages of 15 and 25

 

[Kalahari]

But you don't hear about the thousands of homes where the kids knew the gun was there and knew that it was not to be played with and knew that friends were not to go into the room/place where it was kept...

You hear the sensationalized exceptions to the rule - and rarely do you hear an account of what level of awareness and training the child had...

You're absolutely right. I suppose I see it as an unnecessary risk. Cases like this, however, obviously dispute that.

I take issue with a blanket statement of "it can go both says" implying that the odds are 50:50... They are most certainly not... And with something like 41% of households (last I heard) having a firearm, clearly, there are lots of safe homes out there not making headlines...

That was not the intent - clearly the odds are not 50/50. And yes, 41% of households have firearms, but that's not 41% of households with unsecured firearms and a ten year old boy.



I think there's a lot of variables that go into the equation of whether I'd keep a gun unsecured with my kid at home. Safe neighborhood? Good friends? Attentive neighbors? Etc. The more I think about it the less I'm willing to make a blanket statement that it is wrong or right to leave the kid home alone. It seems too circumstantial.

 

[cekim]

You're absolutely right. I suppose I see it as an unnecessary risk. Cases like this, however, obviously dispute that.

Well, I would say that having a locked firearm when adults are home is an unnecessary risk...

Personally, unless I felt I had adequately prepared my kids to defend themselves, I'd be locking things up when I was not around too...

They may reach that level of preparedness at a rather young age, but they aren't there yet...

But the situation in MA where they have to be locked up while you sleep but are still in the house is absurd...

No one is saying you shouldn't use common sense and adjust security to the situation (your kids, potential for visitors, etc...). You don't leave the chainsaw, torch and plasma cutter in the play-room...

The issue is the blanket requirement by the state to have them always locked and then blanket statements by the state's subjects that this is a good thing because they "cannot imagine what irresponsible parent would leave a 10yo alone with a gun".

This mentality of "unnecessary risks" and "cost of liberty too high" is what is killing us...

Common-frocking-sense is the order of the day and Darwin will weed out the bad eggs...

 

[Kalahari]

Well, I would say that having a locked firearm when adults are home is an unnecessary risk...

Agreed...

Personally, unless I felt I had adequately prepared my kids do defend themselves, I'd be locking things up when I was not around too...

That's pretty much where I stand.

The issue is the blanket requirement by the state to have them always locked and then blanket statements by the state's subjects that this is a good thing because they "cannot imagine what irresponsible parent would leave a 10yo alone with a gun".

I've never stated that I'd want a law saying that guns must be locked when parents are away, or anything remotely similar. What goes on in an individuals home is of no business to the state.

This mentality of "unnecessary risks" and "cost of liberty too high" is what is killing us...

Unnecessary risks are never a good thing; that is in their definition. But nowhere did I say that because I may feel it is an unnecessary risk do I believe that it should become law. Certainly there are things I would not do but I still think should be perfectly legal - drugs, cigarettes, etc. Cigarettes seem like a pretty unnecessary risk to me. But I wouldn't outlaw them. And I wouldn't outlaw unsecured guns when adults aren't home.