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Utah 6th-grader in custody after bringing gun to school

If someone owned a dog, and made sweet love to it, married it etc. would you also say "What's the matter with dog/pet owners?? WTH are they thinking???":lol:

My point here is why group ALL gun owners with a single event. It does not make sense.

Oh for cryin' out loud. Parse my words, why don't you? I own a gun myself. There is absolutely NO WAY that gun would EVER be accessible to my sixth grader. Ridiculous. If you took it I was grouping all gun owners in the same way, you took it wrong. Or I wrote it wrong. That was not my intent. But this kid's parents? If he got the gun from home? Ought to be in jail for child endangerment. Are we never going to learn???
 
right! but i can visualize this happening due to the child's age.

I can visualize it happening no matter the age of the user. A child his age however can very well understand gun safety and practice it accordingly.
 
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When I was young one of the other kids brought a bullet to school, we managed to set it off in the bathroom. Not to mention the M80s we brought when we could get our hands on them, light em and flush them down the toilet (at school of course). There wasn't a boy in attendence who didn't have a pocket knife on them, and we all did stupid things with them (at school).

However, I agree the parents should be charged if it's their weapon. It's just common sense, here we have this national tragedy, the first thing a thinking person would do is to check to see that their children did not have access to the parents' guns. Safety 101.

there is another side to these events to but I think most will know where i am going.
 
He neatly illustrates the falsehood that possessing a gun makes you and your friends safer. He can't be blamed for thinking that, it's the prevailing meme. The gun's owner should be charged with child endangerment or whatever.

I did not want to be the first to say it but thanks all the same.
 
His father and/or mother should be thrown in jail. There is absolutely no freakin' WAY!!! a kid his age should have access to a gun. What's the matter with gun owners?? WTH are they thinking???

That he had a right to do it and it was ok because it would make his school and friends safer. NOT.
 
Let's not be too quick to indict all gun owners because these parents were lax. And we don't know the rest of the story yet. I agree, a kid his age shouldn't have access to a gun without meaningful supervision.

The real question is why did he think it was ok and why did he think it would make everyone safe. thats the crime around the crime.
 
I can visualize it happening no matter the age of the user. A child his age however can very well understand gun safety and practice it accordingly.

A child who's been taught to respect guns and knows how to handle them doesn't sneak one out of the house to take it to school.
 
I'm not indicting all gun owners. I'm a gun owner. But I sure as **** know better than to leave it around where a sixth-grader can get his hands on it. I don't have any kids. Don't have many kid visitors. But even when I have strangers in my house (repair people and the like), my gun is out of their reach even if they're LOOKING for it. Really. How stupid can people be?

Kid takes his mothers guns and shoots 26 people. Other families with guns and youngsters in the house don't change a thing in their house. Unbelievable.

YOu do not really want to know how stupid people can be do you? Read the Darwin report. (no not evolution)P
 
I can visualize it happening no matter the age of the user. A child his age however can very well understand gun safety and practice it accordingly.

But he doesnt know when and where to use his "gun safety and practice". That should be taught first.
 
Oh, Jesus Christ. I'm making the assumption he got this gun from home. If a gun is available to a sixth-grader, the gun owner ought to be in jail. What the **** is wrong with people??

His logic stunk.

The logic stunk beginning to end.
 
That he had a right to do it and it was ok because it would make his school and friends safer. NOT.

We don't know that at all. It adds a whole 'nother element of wrong if his parents (and/or the gun owner) thought it was okay for an obviously untrained kid to take the weapon to school. Let's not go into the ridiculous with this, at least until we've heard a bit more of the story.
 
The real question is why did he think it was ok and why did he think it would make everyone safe. thats the crime around the crime.

That's his purported excuse for bringing the gun to school and mugging around with it. We don't know how sincere or true the excuse is. We don't know who the gun belongs to or how the kid got his hands on it. Making suppositions without actual data.
 
The real question is why did he think it was ok and why did he think it would make everyone safe. thats the crime around the crime.

What happened in the mall shooting when he came across someone with a gun? Did he happen to kill himself? What do you think happened as a result because that person had a gun? Did the shooting stop?

The general rule according to the statistics that in areas with guns people are safer than areas without. If the child could handle the gun safety and is trained to use the gun he could very well defuse a situation. I'm not saying kids should handle such a task, or that we should expect such a thing, but at his age he is capable of doing such a task.

A good example of the general rule is house burglaries. In the US 18% of burglaries happen when someone is home while in Europe where guns are banned 60% happen when people are home.
 
I'm not saying kids should handle such a task, or that we should expect such a thing, but at his age he is capable of doing such a task.

That's probably the most ridiculous post I've ever read on Debate Politics.
 
But he doesnt know when and where to use his "gun safety and practice". That should be taught first.

I don't see how that makes sense. It wouldn't make a difference where the child is if he is able to handle the gun safely. Why do you think rules that are outside of gun safety have anything to do with it?
 
Speculation, but let's go with the kid's explanation. He brought the gun to school to keep his classmates safe.

Plausible train of thought:
"26 people died because a gun man shot them at school" >>> why didn't anybody stop him? >>> "He had guns. All they could do was hide as quickly as possible" >>> so if somebody else had a gun, they could have stopped him from killing all those kids? >>> "I suppose that's possible." >>> *I don't want people at school to die, so I'm going to take protection*

The kid is 11. Even if he's been given proper training and knows how to handle a gun safely, he's still just 11. There's still a level of irrationality involved there that lends to making bad choices. That's why we don't let 11 year olds drink, drive, vote, operate heavy machinery, or live independently of their parents.

The kid screwed up. The parents probably screwed up to. But I don't think he was dumb, and I don't think we can conclude that the parents did NOTHING to educate the kid on gun safety. I think there's strong evidence to say they didn't do enough, particularly if the claim from the other student proves true.
 
That's probably the most ridiculous post I've ever read on Debate Politics.

Why though? At his age he is a capable of it, is he not? I didn't say we should expect it or that we should allow it, but all the same, kids his age can do exactly that and have done similar type things in the past.
 
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That's probably the most ridiculous post I've ever read on Debate Politics.

You haven't been reading very many posts, then.

I get this is a touchy issue....but the emotional, knee-jerk, hyperbolic reactions aren't really helping anything.
 
That's his purported excuse for bringing the gun to school and mugging around with it. We don't know how sincere or true the excuse is. We don't know who the gun belongs to or how the kid got his hands on it. Making suppositions without actual data.

the gun belonged to his parents.
 
Why though?

An 11-year-old's brain is 10-11 years from being fully cooked. Many scientists believe that critical decision-making skills aren't fully developed until age 25. An 11-year-old is still looking for monsters under his bed, for God's sake.

Really? What the ****'s the matter with people??
 
I don't see how that makes sense. It wouldn't make a difference where the child is if he is able to handle the gun safely. Why do you think rules that are outside of gun safety have anything to do with it?

Gun safety should include WHERE NOT TO take your gun. Court house, Airport, police station, and in this case, a school.
 
You haven't been reading very many posts, then.

I get this is a touchy issue....but the emotional, knee-jerk, hyperbolic reactions aren't really helping anything.

I call 'em like I see 'em. To say that an 11-year-old is capable of defending himself or his classmates by bringing a gun to school is ridiculous.
 
An 11-year-old's brain is 10-11 years from being fully cooked. Many scientists believe that critical decision-making skills aren't fully developed until age 25. An 11-year-old is still looking for monsters under his bed, for God's sake.

Really? What the ****'s the matter with people??

Ah.. Sixth graders still look for monsters under their beds? Anyway, wouldn't you point basically include anyone under twenty-five?
 
After perusing this thread, I have come to the following conclusion - A few people really believe that guns and bullets are thinking beings, and it's their fault. Sheesh!!
 
I call 'em like I see 'em. To say that an 11-year-old is capable of defending himself or his classmates by bringing a gun to school is ridiculous.

And yet we've seen several news stories in the last few months about children very close to 11 protecting themselves and their families from harm by using guns. So obviously it's ridiculous to make blanket statements about the ability of an 11 year old child.
 
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