There is something seriously wrong when we can call a 12YO a "gunman...."

[pepperbear]

......without batting an eye.


Teacher credited with disarming 12-year-old gunman at New Mexico school

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/14/police-respond-to-report-shooting-at-new-mexico-middle-school/

A 12-year-old student opened fire at a New Mexico middle school Tuesday, injuring two classmates, one critically, before a teacher talked him into dropping his weapon, authorities said.

The shooting in the school’s gym erupted at 8:11 a.m. as students were dropped off to begin the day at Berrendo Middle School in Roswell. It was not immediately clear what provoked the shooting.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez said late Tuesday that a 12-year-old boy wounded in the shooting underwent two surgeries. A 12-year-old girl who was also wounded is now in stable condition, the governor said. A staff member who was also injured refused medical attention, police said.

Martinez said the boy pointed the gun at a teacher, who talked him into dropping the weapon. The boy was taken into custody.

"I am asking that all New Mexicans please keep these two children in your prayers," an emotional Martinez said at an afternoon press conference. "We have a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old who were shot while simply sitting in their gym while waiting to go to class."

The shooter, whom authorities identified as a 12-year-old seventh-grader armed with a shotgun, was taken into custody after he was confronted by a staff member and an off-duty police officer who was dropping off his child at the school, police said.

[GReedDiamond]

1. Gunboy? Gunchild? How about "shooter"?

..."shooter" seems to cover it.

[TroglodyteScholar]

6. I kinda like gunchild

Well, not like like

[Gormy Cuss]

19. Shooter doesn't presume adulthood, so that works. n/t

[cvoogt]

2. Gun-person, gunner, gun-guy, gun-slinger ..

gun-toter, gunman-in-training, it doesn't matter what it's called. Point is it's a deadly weapon being used when it shouldn't be. I don't care what we call it as long as the problem is addressed.

[Delphinus]

11. And that's the problem ...

the problem ISN'T being addressed.

[cvoogt]

12. I know

Instead America as a whole is hung up on working around the edges, discussing semantics, etc. It's really pretty simple though. There are too many lead-poisoning devices in our midst, and too many people getting killed, injured, and mentally/physically scarred as a result. It's like all of America has read Derrida and is deconstructing its language as it pertains to guns ... there we simply must have nuance and give the gun issue a wide berth ... but when it comes to rewarding crony capitalism, invading countries for fun and/or profit, preying on the poor and sick, denying reproductive rights, preventing gay marriage etc. etc. in THOSE cases nuance plays little to no role. I think guns have this 'special' status in the US because the nation was founded ON principles, but WITH guns. The French stormed the Bastille and guillotined thousands but I don't see them worshiping prisons and giving decapitation a wide berth.

I seriously feel like this country largely thinks "guns can do no wrong, but people on the other hand ....". The equation is skewed way too much in favor of death and destruction.

[xfundy]

3. How about "sad, indoctrinated into a culture of violence child."

[Hoyt]

4. Daddies everywhere think it's good parenting to induct little kids into gun culture.

[cvoogt]

14. I've seen that

Neighbor of mine down the street was letting his 13 year old do target practice in the back yard while about a dozen 4-8 year olds were still out back. His wife scolded him vigorously. I later also found out from my son that they have guns in the basement - not locked up, and that said 13 y.o. had shown off his rifle to my son. Needless to say I have not returned and don't plan to. Nice folks, but IDIOTS and dangerous.

[Hoyt]

15. I hear/read you. Your last line cracked me up.

Heck, we have people right here who think buying their kid a gun at 8 years old is a rite of passage, especially for boys.

Admittedly, most say they don't let a child that young use it without adult supervision; but darn, do we just have to ensure that the next generation will be as steeped in gunz as this one.

[cvoogt]

18. Adult supervision is overrated

One person's supervision is another's child endangerment or negligent homicide.
Rites of passage aren't holy... OK some are, like Aztec ritual sacrifices... but does that make them OK nowadays? Because in effect our gun culture winds up making sacrificial lambs of our children. Not all of them all the time, but some of them some of the time, and that is still more than anyone should care to bear. And every time it happens it's touted as a 'tragedy', an 'accident', and we should all pray and 'begin the healing'; I don't think so. These things are part of a pattern and are not just random isolated incidents, and are preventable. It just so happens that the people/powers that don't care about protecting kids from lead poisoning outweigh the sane. IOW: move on and accept the gun culture because it's going nowhere.

Sometimes it just takes a good guy with a pun.

[AgingAmerican]

5. There is something even more seriously wrong...

...when we have 12 year old gunmen.

[historylovr]

9. +1

[Vashta Nerada]

13. +1

[grantcart]

16. or have 12 year olds that can even get their hands on a gun.

[Journeyman]

7. The killer who pistol-whipped the woman who raised me, then shot her in the left eye, was 14 . . .

In my mind, he wasn't a gunman or a child or a misguided soul. He was a cold-blooded killer who used a gun in anger and wantonly murdered a woman for pocket change and the thrill of it.

That was 40 years ago last August. In my heart and mind, I believe when anyone picks up a weapon and uses it for random violence, they give up all claim to being a child.

[Gravitycollapse]

8. Sorry, but that's just a wrong interpretation of what constitutes adulthood.

To say that a child, here most likely meaning a human being with an immature physical and emotional state, couldn't also pick up a gun and use it to kill is unreasonable.

The gunman who shot your loved one may in fact have been a cold blooded killer for all I know. That doesn't mean such a person defines what it means to pick up a gun and shoot somebody.

Children are immature. Yet many of them possess the physical capability and cultural know-how to use a firearm. These three things often come together in the form of tragedy. But the shooters are still children.

[grantcart]

17. Sorry to hear about such a tragic incident, which obviously still causes you pain.

It reminds me that when we read of how many 'victims' the shooter has killed we should multiply that number by 100 for all the people that carry scars of a different kind.

[99Forever]

10. I am less concerned with the semantics...

... than the hard reality that a 12yo not only has access to and would bring a GUN to school, but then would actually use it in an attempt to kill others.

This is the direct result of GUN CULTURE.