'I just knew it was the wrong thing to do' ... stopping plot to shoot girl

[Ediacara]

'I just knew it was the wrong thing to do'; Forsyth boy, 8, given credit for stopping plot to shoot girl


Second-grader Alex Dye, 8, and his mother, Sabrina
Schenk, sit in his Forsyth school Tuesday. Dye told
his principal about a gun hidden by a classmate in
the playground in March.

Associated Press

FORSYTH - Sometimes, doing the right thing has a price.

On March 17, 8-year-old Alex Dye came to Forsyth Elementary expecting just another day at school. He planned to spend the morning recess with his pals, playing in the sand and jumping from one giant tractor tire to another - something they did almost every day.

But that morning, one of his best friends showed him a .22-caliber pistol the friend had brought from home. Alex watched as his buddies buried the gun in the sand by the tires. His friends told Alex that they planned to use the weapon to "shoot a third-grade girl in the leg" during lunch recess, he said.

Dye came in from the before-school recess with the gun weighing heavy on his mind. Loyalty to his friends struggled against an overwhelming feeling that what they were planning was wrong.

"I just knew it was the wrong thing to do," he said during an interview with The Independent Press.

More at the Billings Gazette

[central scrutinizer]

1. When will Charlton Heston and the NRA show up

to stage a rally in this town?

[demdave]

2. It sounds like they already were there. The NRA agrees with what he did.

NRA's Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program has been hailed for its effectiveness since the program's inception in 1988. Eddie Eagle teaches children in pre-K through the third grades that, if they find a gun, they should: "STOP! Don't Touch. Leave the Area. Tell an Adult."

[noonwitch]

3. Gun Safety is a very important issue and the NRA could be helpful

If they wanted to, that is. They should put their money where their mouth is and expand their Eddie Eagle program to be offered for free in poor neighborhoods, and distribute free trigger locks. I'd have a little more respect for them if they took these two steps.

[demdave]

4. I think it should be mandatory in public schools. That would help.

Don't you agree? Why just poor neighborhoods? If it is beneficial, let all children benefit.

[SemperEadem]

7. yeah... poor children aren't the only one who have delusions

of grandeur when it comes to guns.

Most shootings in the past few years that have made news haven't been at rundown, inner city schools full of poor, minority children... they've been kids from relatively comfortable homes, in good school districts in the wide open suburbs of manicured lawns who've been bringing guns to school to kill other children.

Funny how they've mostly been white boys from 'good' 2 parent homes that bring guns to school to kill a girl who hurt their feelings.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. Oh, but then it wouldn't sound macho, now, would it? (nt)

[kittykitty]

6. It breaks my heart that innocence is taken from young children

so early. This child did the right thing. But it is so sad that 8 year olds today must think about guns in their schools, abduction from their own yards, etc. when they should be thinking about jumping in the sand, and childhood games.