General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBreaking: Parents gave their elementary school kid a gun to take to school.
West Kearns Elementary School in Utah. Parents gave their elementary school kid a gun to take to school for "self protection" and possibly the protection of other students....this on local ABC4 news tonight. Thanks for the supporting links below.
Good God. This escalation is insane!
I noticed a one liner on the Consumer Protection notice when Jarts (lawn darts) were banned, and it said, "It is illegal to sell or re-sell an item that has been recalled". ....just thinking there may be an answer to assult rifles, and guns that use magazines with 20-30 bullets, how about a consumer protection recall?
Fridays Child
(23,998 posts)Bicoastal
(12,645 posts)People are nucking futz.
virgogal
(10,178 posts)LAGC
(5,330 posts)I mean, if the kid is trained.
We'd see kidnappings by strangers end overnight!
In all seriousness though, at least let the teachers be armed.
Things are getting crazy out there, and there's no way to put the genie (guns) back in the bottle, so the only solution is for schools to protect themselves.
At least let the adults be armed!
gollygee
(22,336 posts)No, we'd see accidental shootings at schools.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)to drive all their friends away in a getaway car?
Jeezus.
And no, do not put guns in the arms of school personnel or teachers, either. No, NO, NO. When you have a problem, you don't make it worse.
ComplimentarySwine
(515 posts)Putting your head in the sand and ignoring the problem? Do you REALLY think guns are going to go away regardless of what laws are passed?
frazzled
(18,402 posts)Look at my sig line: renew the assault weapons ban. I don't give a good goddam if you think that won't stop anything. To not pass such a law is, as you put it, akin to "putting your head in the sand and ignoring the problem." And I won't be bullied out of that position. It's right, I know it's right, and it's going to happen. So you'll just have to deal with it.
You realize that it is completely insane to suggest, even in jest, that you should put a gun in the hand of a young child. That, my friend, is the most irresponsible thing I have ever heard. It's dangerous, it's offensive (especially in light of all the children who died), and it is just plain stupid.
"Things are getting crazy out there, and there's no way to put the genie (guns) back in the bottle"
Um, yes there is.
ComplimentarySwine
(515 posts)Do you really think that guns are going to go away regardless of what laws are passed?
sanatanadharma
(3,699 posts)...there is no way that we will ever end slavery,
give women the vote,
end prohibition (oh, wait- begin prohibition)
ComplimentarySwine
(515 posts)As I recall, it took a brutal civil war to finally close out slavery, and descrimination arguably continues through today...
sanatanadharma
(3,699 posts)...disarm everyone. Since the gun-idolaters seem to be suggesting that means war, so be it.
ComplimentarySwine
(515 posts)If the government can't keep drugs and weapons out of prisons, how do you ever expect them to keep them out of the hands of "free" people?
ElboRuum
(4,717 posts)At one point in this country, nearly every adult smoked. Heavily. The health concerns of smoking became known and that began the anti-smoking movement.
It started out small, and it took decades to build, but the collective will was there and it remained. Now the numbers of smokers have dwindled. As a smoker myself, I find some of what I must deal with occasionally annoying, but I can't argue with the benefits to individuals and society at large for taking this stance. The benefits are real and profound.
The genie won't be going back into the bottle today or tomorrow, but so long as the collective will is toward tighter control and access to firearms, that genie WILL be put back in. The fact is that the human cost at the societal level to near absent gun regulation to access and use, at this moment, is too high to for that society to bear.
The problem with all of this is that "responsible gun ownership" should be not just some statement of esoterica, a flimsy platitude offered up by those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. I believe that there are responsible gun owners. However, just saying so doesn't make it so in any given case.
If you want to drive a car in this country, you need to pass a competency test and a knowledge test dealing with the rules of the road. You must pass an eye exam or have the appropriate corrective lenses. You must have proof of insurance, just in the event that you do inflict property or personal damage with your car. There are different classes of licenses for different types of vehicles, after all we wouldn't someone who knows only how to drive a car to get behind the wheel of a semi, would we? When you buy or sell a car, you must make the appropriate records of sale and transfer of title.
In a similar vein, you should have to prove your responsibility to own and use a firearm. Use whatever measures you like, but it is ludicrous that any jackass in this country can get a gun for any reason with a minimum of effort and no proof of competency with regard to its operation or understanding of the law regarding its use. The collective will should be at least the level of burden of proof of responsibility for the ownership and operation of a motor vehicle, something whose incidental capability of lethality is somehow more worrisome than something whose primary purpose is lethality.
sellitman
(11,606 posts)Folks with your outlook are the problem, not the solution.
Ilsa
(61,694 posts)With a gun, at a shooting range, and he had been shooting since he was about 7 years old.
They are kuds. They screw up. They aren't mature enough to carry out this level of responsibility consistently at that age.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)MichiganVote
(21,086 posts)Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)Giving an elementary school kid a firearm for protection is the dictionary definition of "batshit crazy"
And your alternative suggestion, that a 60-year-old English teacher should be packing heat in the classroom is only slightly less idiotic. At what point did we decide that at every moment of every day in every location in every town in America, we're all living in a potential crossfire.
Fuck that shit. I don't believe in banning guns, but I'd rather ban guns rather than go there.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)teams off the ever-pressing hunt for pot plants in the back yards of chemo grannies, and put them to work guarding our schools instead?
LAGC
(5,330 posts)Works for me!
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)And luckily for another class-mate, it was. Little asshole pointed at his head and told him he was going to kill him. And no adult should be armed IMO. It's just crazy to think about.
Fridays Child
(23,998 posts)If guns are accessible to him in his home, that's pretty awful but I don't see anything about his parents giving him the gun. If you have a link for that, fine. Otherwise, would you consider changing your post title?
niyad
(113,259 posts)apparently was not safely stored somewhere inaccessible.
Fridays Child
(23,998 posts)...is a different issue, don't you think?
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)---------
Fridays Child
(23,998 posts)...is fundamentally the same thing, or just as bad, as parents actually giving their children firearms to take to school?
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)YES You Betcha
And that is why parents of kids who allow their kids to have any access to guns SHOULD GO TO JAIL. Take a gun to school = Parents IN jail. This would go a long way to addressing the issue.
Their child himself or others will be just as dead if the gun is loaded--regardless of the parent's level of complicity.
NO difference, NO excuses.
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)Obviously the gun was somehow accessible to the child.
Agreed.
That is a bad thing, of course. It doesn't not follow that any allegation against the parents is okay.
The issue here has nothing to do with the parents, it is about the OP willfully misleading people... lying, if you will.
That is never okay, not matter how good the cause or whether it tells a "larger truth" or whatever.
Falsehoods are these things that intellectually honest people don't stand for in any context.
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)earthside
(6,960 posts)... to be his all-powerful, invisible protector.
kiva
(4,373 posts)None of the links given say that the parents approved or even knew about this - this is enough of a hot button issue without getting into the question of adults stupid enough to send a child to school with a weapon. Now the whole question of adults who are stupid enough to let an 11 year old get ahold of a gun is another question...
Chorophyll
(5,179 posts)We are a nation of idiots. God Help America.
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)There's nothing in the story about parents giving him the gun
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)struggle4progress
(118,278 posts)to school because of the recent massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Conn. where 26 people were killed, including 20 students. The 11-year-old boy wanted to protect himself and his friend in case something like that rampage occurred at his school, officials said ... http://www.ksl.com/?sid=23430406&nid=148
Superbot
(59 posts)And they loose their right to own any guns. That is ridiculous.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)...it is the only way this will change.
glinda
(14,807 posts)proud2BlibKansan
(96,793 posts)Really stupid idea.
We People
(619 posts)I thought that, after Columbine, schools in most states instituted a Zero Tolerance Policy for ANY kind of weapon - including even a plastic knife (seriously). I guess all these people suggesting that school personnel be armed either don't have kids or know any teachers, or else their state doesn't have ZT in place.
liberalmuse
(18,672 posts)So this story is not in the least surprising.
rbrnmw
(7,160 posts)And not in a good way
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)I think nail clippers get you expelled. A gun would get you expelled and probably criminally prosecuted.
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)Enough of America's culture of stupid! It has got to stop!
anonymous444
(1 post)Please check your facts before you post things. I am closely affiliated with the school, and as of right now, it is UNCLEAR where the student got the gun.
Fridays Child
(23,998 posts)To no avail.
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)The news was on in the background and someone above provided a fox13 article that says the same thing....mr. 1 post