The reason I feel the parents need to be looked at in cases like this, is not because I think they could actually be charged with something, although that could be the case in some places due to laws about keeping guns safely away from kids, but my main idea is that the fault lies in the education these young shooters receive at home. This is an area which could use improvement.
A ninth-grade student was in custody Saturday and charged with murder after he allegedly shot a classmate in the back of the head at their northern Alabama middle school, authorities said.The shooting happened during a class change around 1:45 p.m. Friday at Discovery Middle School in Madison, just west of Huntsville.
Ninth-grade student Todd Brown, 14, died after being taken to a hospital in Huntsville, Madison Police Chief Larry Muncey said. No one else was hurt.
Police said it was an isolated incident between Brown and the alleged shooter, though they said the motive was still unclear. One student, however, said he may know the reason.
"It was some discussion about gang-related things and the shooter just got fed up with it."
The idea that a gun is the answer is a dangerous message that is all too prevalent in the gun community. Often it's a tacit message passed from father to son. Many young boys want to imitate their dads or even outdo them. This is the tragedy of the gun rights movement.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
"Gun free zone fails to prevent gang related shooting in school"
ReplyDeleteHow about that for a headline?
Another perfect example of the abject failure of gun control.
ReplyDeleteHow'd that gun control protect the kids at this middle school MikeB?
Mikeb says:
ReplyDeleteThe reason I feel the parents need to be looked at in cases like this, is not because I think they could actually be charged with something, although that could be the case in some places due to laws about keeping guns safely away from kids, but my main idea is that the fault lies in the education these young shooters receive at home.
I'm glad to see you've finally changed your tune and backed off from talk of arresting the parents for instilling in their children values that you consider to be icky, but you still haven't backed off far enough.
Who would conduct this "investigation" of the parents? How much authority would the investigating agency have to compel cooperation (i.e., what questions could they ask, whom could they question, could they impose penalties for refusal to answer, etc.)? Finally, if it is determined that the parents taught the child the "wrong" things, what then? Take any other kids away from them?
Wouldn't it be simpler to just have the government confiscate all babies, and do all the child-rearing, to ensure that children get a government-approved upbringing?
Zorro, You're right, I need to back off even more. We can't arrest the parents and we can't even investigate them. You're right. But where does that leave us? Can't we at least try to learn something from these incidents? Can't we at least talk about the possibility that the wrong lessons passed from father to son are often the real root problem? Not in every case, no, but all too often. Don't you agree?
ReplyDeleteLet me ask you this. Didn't you learn some wrong lessons from your own dad that you've decided not to pass on to your kids?
That's what we're talking about here. Remember these guys?
Fair enough, Mikeb. As long as you leave the coercive power of government out of it, I have no objection to you drawing lessons (and couldn't stop you, obviously, even if I did object).
ReplyDeleteAs for lessons from my father that I don't intend to pass on--sure (my Dad, believe it or not, self-identifies as a Socialist, and holds many values that I've rejected). My problem wasn't with finding fault with some kinds of parenting, it was with siccing the government on those whose parenting you find objectionable.