Dad accused of shooting kids with BB gun: ‘Sometimes he shoots me when I get in trouble’

[Changenow]

‘Sometimes he shoots me when I get in trouble’

A Bartlesville man is being held on $20,000 bond after his arrest for allegedly shooting his 8-year-old son with a BB gun as punishment for receiving bad marks in school.

....

According to the affidavit, the boy said that when he gets into trouble his father shoots him with the BB gun or he gets a “whoopin.’” The boy also said his father had shot his younger sister with the BB gun as well.

When police questioned the girl, she reportedly told them that “sometimes he shoots me when I get in trouble.”


.....

The children’s mother reportedly told police that she had also been shot and beaten with the gun on occasions when Walker was angry.

....

http://examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2008/05/09/news/news692.txt

The comments after the article are also incredible.

[slackmaster]

1. Wow, what a dickhead

He should go to prison for that.

[Squatch]

3. Go to prison for being a dickhead?

That's pretty harsh, man.

He should, however, go to prison for shooting his kid. :)

[slackmaster]

11. D'Oh!

[Rex]

2. To prison, where he can learn some anger managment.

[gatorboy]

4. Check out this little gem:

The girl described the shots as stinging and hurting and said her father once shot her in the neck when she broke a window blind. She said that at one point, when he ran out of BBs, he hit her in the head with the gun, the affidavit states. She reportedly said Walker generally shot her in the arms, legs or hands and showed officers a dark colored scar on her left hand.

[Squatch]

5. Break the window blinds? That's a pistol-whippin'.

[BrklynLib at work]

6. Sounds like something W would do, based on his childhood activities...

as described by his brother.

[Union Label]

7. Better watch out the gun nuts might rush to this fucking rednecks defense

You know how alot of them put their "GAWD given gun rights" so far in front of anything else. :crazy:

[JonQ]

9. I haven't heard anyone who supports the 2nd amendment

claiming that it gives gun owners the right to shoot children as form of punishment.

This guy is a terrible human being and I hope he gets a stiff sentence for what he did, child abuse is very serious.

But claiming this is something gun supporters would approve of and then using the words you put in their mouth against them is absurd.

[slackmaster]

12. By all means hold your breath until that happens

:hi:

[Wcross]

16. LOL. Dude, you're turning blue..........n/t

[IronLionZion]

15. LOL

:rofl:

To clear up any confusion: Union Label, I am laughing at YOU, NOT the gun nuts!

[Mojorabbit]

19. What a fucked up thing to say. n/t

[Timefortruth]

8. Those poor babies.

Maybe they'll get help in time to break the cycle.

[The Doctor.]

10. Oh come on.... what parent HASN'T thought about shooting their kids?

I mean, [i]really[/i]... it's not like he was shooting them
[i]TO DEATH[/i]. :crazy: 


(What an asshole)

[slackmaster]

13. Drowning maybe

:argh:

[AngryAmish]

14. How did this not happen in Florida?

[elehhhhna]

17. prolly Texas, then

[Changenow]

20. Oklahoma

Same difference.

[elehhhhna]

21. yep. close enough.

[Wcross]

18. I guess he ain't in the running for "father of the year" huh?

I am thankful that my dad just spanked me (rarely) when I did something wrong. I know many disagree with that kind of punishment but it didn't harm me in any way and it kept me in line.

[Truth2Tell]

22. From the Examiner comments:

Wondering wrote on May 8, 2008 5:25 PM:

I guess the local store that sold the air soft gun and the ammo for it should be prosecuted as well.,,,,,,,,,What happened to the good ol days of smacking the krap out of your kid? Oh yea I forgot we can't do that anymore because of you bleeding hearts liberals!!!!!!

I'm hearing banjo music.

[awoke_in_2003]

23. "I'm hearing banjo music"

if you hear someone say "You got a pretty mouth, boy" be very afraid :)

[The Doctor.]

24. "Good ol days of smacking the krap out of your kid"?

I'm not against a spanking as viable resort to really bad behavior, but I hope this idiot doesn't breed. That would be bad for his kids and for society.

[Truth2Tell]

25. May I respectfully disagree?

I think that the use of even mild forms of physical violence against children teaches them that violence is an acceptable tool of human interaction. I oppose that strongly.

I respect your views and those of other posters in this thread - but I feel the need to object.

My wife and I have raised / are raising three children who are often times difficult. We have managed to do just fine with no resort to violence. It is truly not necessary, and - just like in relations between nations - usually counterproductive in the long run. Not to mention that the psychological effects if even mild violence can hide themselves away for many many years.

That's all. I now return you to your regular thread.

[Changenow]

26. Maybe twice in a childhood

and only to protect them from themselves when they are very small.

It's easy to tell the kids who are spanked regularly. They hit the other kids.

[The Doctor.]

28. Or they flinch at everything.

When it is not made clear to the child for what they are being punished and why, and the parent has no consistent progression from warnings to corporal punishment but just hauls off and hits for even minor infractions, then the children either become reclusive, anxious, or trepiditious, or bolder and more aggressive.

As I've said before, it's unfortunate that so many parents spank out of anger. It really throws the perception of the use of spanking.

[The Doctor.]

27. If all children were like yours, I'm sure you'd be right.

I have a vast toolbox for dealing with various types of behavior, and the occasional swat on the rear is certainly one of those tools. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to resort to spanking a now 13 year-old. He's an intelligent, charismatic, well-adjusted, diplomatic, straight-A student. He never believe that it was 'OK' to resort to 'violence', partly, I suspect, because he didn't think it was so great when he earned a spanking.

It's a far more psychologically complex issue than you appear to realize, and with the right approach it can be effective as a deterrent and genuinely harmless. When a child learns to take his room apart with a philips' head screwdriver by the age of two one can hardly rule such measures out.

Unfortunately, many parents who resort to wanton beatings out of anger have thrown all the useful data out the window. We may not know the real effects of proper and improper spanking for years yet.

Thank you for your concern.