10 year old shoots a home invader..

[virginia mountainman]

The two young children, a ten-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl, stood on the other side, terrified. "He told his sister to be quiet and seconds later, they started kicking on the door and finally kicked the door in," said Sheriff Mike Cazes. The two children ran to their mother's bedroom closet.

In a panic, the ten-year-old grabbed his mother's gun for protection. "He did what I told him to do. I never told him to get the gun, but thank God he did," she said. Once the two suspects opened the door, threatening the kids, deputies say the boy fired a bullet into the lip of Roderick Porter.

http://www.wafb.com/global/story.asp?s=10741492

[ecstatic]

1. Interesting result but I still don't think it's safe to give kids of that age

access to deadly weapons. Glad it worked out in their favor this time.

[glowing]

3. It really depends on education. If you own guns in your home, then education

as to the dangers and usage are very important. I know growing up in the country, in VT, many of my friends families hunted.. and actually ate what they caught. My friends, girls and boys, knew how to shoot and the details of hunting early on. One of my friends went turkey hunting with her dad every fall with bow and arrow.. She'd get a note exscusing her from classes for a couple of days to go out with her dad. She started going when she was 7. A better question, why is a 10 and 8 yr old alone in the house by themselves. Because daycare is expensive and the parents are cutting out costs they cannot afford, rather than having a daycare program that allows the kids to go to daycamp during the summer that doesn't strap the parents.

[virginia mountainman]

7. Yes, your right..

It is education....

Guns where always around when me and my sisters where growing up. All my neighbors had them too...the vast majority unlocked.

Today is not that much different.

It is always better to "gun proof" your kids, than "kid proof" your guns.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. Concur, start early and keep on it until they leave the house

[Name removed]

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[rrneck]

2. Glad it worked out.

Those kids live in a friggin' mine field. Unsecured firearms on the one hand, and assholes kicking in the door on the other.

[tridim]

4. Regardless of their luck, the parents should be arrested

For leaving a fucking loaded gun in the house with two kids. WTF?

[virginia mountainman]

5. heck yea....

After all, it would have been best, to leave them at he mercy of convicted felons that are smashing thru their house...

After all, home invasions always turn out ok....They will have the witnesses, I mean KIDS interests in mind...

:sarcasm:

[tridim]

9. So you think it's okay to arm kids?

10 year old and 8 year old kids?

Wow.

They could have just as easily been killed with that gun, or they could have shot the UPS guy.

[Katya Mullethov]

13. Some kids are extremely stunted

They have NEVER bagged their own supper , never skinned a catfish , nor plucked and gutted a chicken , butchered a hog , deer , or even a lowly rabbit . Having to deal with an entire cow NOW is a real learning experience to be sure .

It should come as no suprise , with such a disconnect that they are so suprised when they pull the trigger and a bullet comes flying out of the other end .... blowing their friends head off . Like WOW is THAT what these things do ?

[Howzit]

15. "shot the UPS guy"

Around here UPS drop off packages outside the door. They never come in uninvited and don't break through locked doors.

[Tim01]

16. YOUR kids could. Not mine. So you are going to tell everybody else how to raise their kids?

From what I am reading my kids are doing better than yours.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

18. Yeah every UPS guy I knows kicks down the door to leave a package. You fail miserably.

[tridim]

20. Leaving loaded weapons with young kids is more fail that I could ever muster. nt

[proteus_lives]

26. I grew up around loaded weapons.

I knew where they were and how to use them. But somehow my siblings and I managed to make it to adulthood without killing anyone.

It's about training, safety and taking away the "mystique" of guns. By the time I was age of the kids in the OP, I knew that guns were dangerous tools and not to touch them unless I was in an allowable situation.

[stray cat]

24. Safer than giving it to adults who have no training

[snappyturtle]

6. Times have changed I guess. My father was an FBI agent and his

service revolver was always loaded. We kids knew where it was and were told keep our hands off of it. We did.

[virginia mountainman]

8. My father..

Kept a loaded .45 on the chest of drawers in his bedroom...

It was ALWAYS their, and ALWAYS LOADED...

We never touched it.

[Katya Mullethov]

11. Did you spend your days stoned

On ritalin , prozac , zoloft , paxil or whatever the hell else was deemed neccesary for you to sit through yet another day in school ?

[virginia mountainman]

17. Nope....

My parents, and most of my freinds parents, had a sure-fire way to keep us in line when we was young...

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

19. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

[Katya Mullethov]

22. Doping kids and horses

Is big business . But the thing is , horses never decide to kill everyone they meet( or just themselves ) when their 'bute blood level gets too low .

The subthread was going along the lines of "what happened along the way ? " and state sanctioned doping is simply one more thing that changed the dynamic . And it might be a big thing . But not big enough it cant be glossed over or obfuscated with a hue and cry for common sense gun control legislation .

After all , that's all we really need . Right ? And then this shit would just ....stop .


Me ? I just say no .

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

30. Ok I thought you were accusing his parents of something. Thx.

[proteus_lives]

27. My father...

Kept a pistol in his bedroom and one in his car. My mom had one in her purse. And I had access to the vault area where he kept the rest of his guns. My parents weapons were always there and always loaded.

But we never screwed with them.

[horsefly]

10. I'm lucky to be alive.

I grew up in a household with half a dozen firearms that weren't locked up. Some of the guns were loaded, some weren't, to access them all I had to do was open a drawer or a closet door. Oh the horror. :sarcasm:

None of the guns were mystical or magical, they didn't hold any wonderment for me. They mean more to me now than they ever did then, because they are reminders of my childhood and of times spent with my Grandfather out on the farm, my first bullseye and my first hunting trip where I learned about life and death and the benefits we all yield through managing our wildlife resources. All of those guns sit in a safe behind me as I type this.

I hate what this country has become.

[snappyturtle]

12. Me too. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[stray cat]

25. My nephews are more responsible gun handlers at the age of 10 then most adults

[iverglas]

37. how are they with cars?

I mean, if they're being taught to handle guns, surely they're being taught to handle cars. I can't think of any reason they wouldn't be handed either one, myself.

[X_Digger]

38. I was driving at 10, on our back field.

Driving the tractor to mow the hay, then driving the bailer, then driving the truck while the guys pitched the bales onto the trailer. I also carried a gun in the tractor to pick off rabbits and copperheads as I mowed. :)

[stray cat]

23. sounds like the kids understood how to use the guns - ie well trained by the parents

people have a right to defend themselves and I don't think the people who broke in would have taken a coffee break to let the kid load the gun. If the gun were not loaded you might have a dead family.

[slackmaster]

31. Here's a link to Lousiana statutes online...

Please tell us which one you think the parents violated.

http://www.legis.state.la.us/

[Libertyfirst]

21. I would have been proud of my son if he had acted in the same way.

Sure, there are a lot of pros and cons here. But by God he protected his sister the best and only way he could.Get me his name and address and I will personally send him a gold medal.

[proteus_lives]

28. It's awful that it come to this but...

That boy did the right thing.

[iverglas]

29. good fucking christ

A ten-year-old boy left home alone with his <eight-year-old> sister

and a gun.

How many things are wrong with this picture ...

[spin]

33. I thought the same thing when I read the article...

fortunately it worked out well.

But I remember many of my friends grew up in houses with unsecured firearms. (I didn't. My dad wouldn't allow a working firearm in the house.) None of those friends ever had an accident or misused the firearm.

Of course, the time frame was the late 50's and early 60's.

[Pavulon]

32. Head shot...

in the lip and lived. That is one lucky piece of shit criminal. Mommy must have had some 22 or 25 cal auto. Regretfully mommy did not have a j frame 357 or XD in 45acp.

[iverglas]

36. really?

Regretfully mommy did not have a j frame 357 or XD in 45acp.

Because ... ?

Because only the unnecessary death of a human being will satisfy your blood lust?

Because you would like to have seen a 10-yr-old kid live the rest of his life with the experience of having KILLED A HUMAN BEING? Is your blood lust really that insatiable?

[Name removed]

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[Glory89fan]

39. The kid was smart

However, kids in general should NOT be allowed any where near a gun.