7-Year-Old Brings Gun To School

[alp227]

Source: NYT

A handgun was found in the backpack of a 7-year-old student at a public elementary school in Queens on Thursday morning, New York City officials said, leading to a tense few hours as the school was placed on lockdown while the police made sure there was no danger.

It remained unclear how the gun, a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol, ended up in the boy’s backpack. The police said that a magazine, separated from the pistol but loaded with 10 bullets, and a plastic bag with 7 to 10 additional rounds of ammunition were also found in the boy’s bag. Officials had yet to determine whether there was a bullet in the gun’s chamber, Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said on Thursday, but the weapon was not fired.

“The question of whether the child saw” the gun and ammunition “and put it in his backpack, or an older brother hid it there, is still under investigation,” Mr. Browne said.

The boy, a second grader, arrived at Wave Preparatory Elementary School in Far Rockaway at about 7:30 a.m. About two hours later, the boy’s mother learned that he had the gun and she raced to the school. She told administrators that she needed to take him out of school for a dentist appointment, Mr. Browne said.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/nyregion/gun-found-in-childs-backpack-at-queens-elementary-school.html

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Shortly after the Sandy Hook school shooting, an 11-year-old boy in Utah also brought an UNLOADED gun to school, citing fear of another shooting (since the gun wasn't even loaded, that story sounds bunk). Yet this NY story mentions nothing about the boy fearing another Sandy Hook. The NYPD spokesperson is quoted: "Initially, it would appear that (the mother's) intention was just to get the gun back and get it out of the school." However, the boy had GIVEN the gun to a classmate. So there's gotta be more to this story.

[slackmaster]

1. Did the kid in Queens have a permit for the gun?

[BainsBane]

16. The NRA s working on that

Gun permits for children. How else can they defend themselves?

[wordpix]

2. there's no metal detector at that school, apparently - there should be

Most people don't think elem. schools need metal detectors like inner city high schools do but these times call for different measures than those used in the past.

[libdem4life]

6. They had security guards.

[bowens43]

3. This is a good thing , right?

More guns more safety, right? All children over the age of 5 should be armed. Right gun advocates?

[hack89]

12. Only gun control advocates ever mention arming kids

it is a strawman argument that border on the childish.

If you can't make you point in a mature and rational manner, why bother? It is not like you will influence the discussion. Adults solve problems.

[libdem4life]

4. Even with two school security guards? The whole student body was traumatized. Kids think and

process information differently. At some level, he was scared... kids watch the news...they hear adults talking like on here, yet without the maturity or developed intellect to process it at an adult level.

Surely if his parents kept guns, even legally...out of fear or whatever reason, it passed on down to him and he likely felt the need, again at some level, to protect himself...at 7 years old. And every incident frightens parents and kids more ... and calls for more guns out of protection and fear ... it's a negative sum situation.

God help us.

[Walk away]

5. Apparently, the boy still had the gun and several clips in his bag. He may have given...

a flare gun to the other boy. That was found in his bag. Was this gun legal? Probably not. It's more likely one of the thousands of guns brought from Pennsylvania or the Carolinas that are easily bought in NYC. Either way it is obsene.

What a shame that children are so frightened that they believe the rightwing call for guns in schools.

I get the feeling that now that the NRA can't hide the facts from America anymore, people are going to turn away from guns. It's time to shrink the 2nd Amendment so small that we can finally drown it in a bathtub.

[Politicub]

8. +1

[defacto7]

9. +100

[underpants]

14. Virginia

the "Iron pipeline" runs from VA to DC Philly NYC and Boston on I95 and Amtrak

[Politicub]

7. It's his right. He may need to fend off the gubmint at recess.

Suffer the little children.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Handgun found in school bag of New York seven-year-old

17 January 2013 Last updated at 20:20 ET
Handgun found in school bag of New York seven-year-old

A handgun has been discovered in the school bag of a seven-year-old boy in New York City, prompting a temporary lockdown at his elementary school.

The weapon was not fired and no-one was hurt, police said.

The Wave Preparatory Elementary School in Queens was locked down for less than an hour, police said.

The incident comes days after New York State passed a sweeping gun control law, in the wake of a school schooting that killed 27 people in Connecticut.

More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21071439

[Pterodactyl]

11. The kid's parents are idiots.

If you have a gun in your house, you have to keep it safe and be responsible. That's safety 101! We have kids and we've talked about what guns are and how to be safe if they ever encounter one.

[Agschmid]

13. What are the consequences of this for the parents?

Just wondering...

[Pterodactyl]

15. Still under review

From the article:

Investigators were trying to determine exactly how the pistol ended up in the boy’s backpack and how his mother learned it was there. Mr. Browne said that whether the boy’s mother would face charges was “still under review.”

[Agschmid]

17. Thanks, I'll follow it... always curious about what

consequences would be involved with something like this.

[Walk away]

19. Do you honestly think this is some sort of outlier?

3,000,000 guns!!!!!!!!!! And that the legal ones. How many do you think are not secured? 10% that would be 300,000 guns in anyone's hands. Kids, the depressed, the angry drunks. I find it completely laughable that people feel safer with a gun and even more ridiculous to expose your children to them.

[Pterodactyl]

20. My dad was an avid gun owner and we were always totally safe.

He explained them to us when we were kids and let us watch when he cleaned them. They were kept totally locked up and we understood they were off limits when he didn't authorize access. The family in this news story is in some serious need of gun safety training. And a smack upside their heads.

[NBachers]

18. Mom tries to sneak it back out of the school without telling anyone

[Crepuscular]

21. Illegally owned

Another report said that the kids Mom put the gun, which she owned illegally, into the kids back pack and took it with her the previous night when she went out. The next morning the kid took his backpack to school, not knowing the gun was in it. Mom realizes her Kid has her gun, goes to the school, tells them she has to take the kid to the dentist, asks the kid where the gun is and he says he gave it to a friend. The kid was talking about an unloaded flare gun that was also in the backpack, Mom thinks he's talking about her pistol, she admits to the school that her son gave another kid a gun, school searches other kid and finds flare gun, the Mom's pistol is still in her sons backpack.

When they searched her apartment, the cops also found 7 bags of weed. Mom has been charged with illegal possession of a firearm and possession of drugs, should probably be charged with chlld endangerment, kids have been removed to social services.

Not sure how any of the recently proposed laws would have impacted this situation, the gun was illegally owned and prohibition sure didn't stop her from having the weed.

[Walk away]

23. All illegal guns were once legal. Someone bought it somewhere unless gun manufacturers....

are giving them away in bags of Cracker Jacks.

[DallasNina]

22. Software company in Dallas sends their employees to CHL training

Another "perk" to working in IT I guess. Here's the link: http://www.carillonerp.com/blog/2ndamendment