Rant On I have a few questions for the Parents of Ethan Song who was killed while at a friends House, unsupervised, messing with a handgun... 1. Why did his parents not teach him Safe FireArms Handing Practices? 2. Why did the Friends Parents not teach their children Safe FireArms Handling Practices? 3. Why did Ethan’s Parents allow him to go to his friends house, where the Adults allowed these children to be unsupervised? 4. Why should they advocate removing my Self-Defense Rights, in my own Home, because they are irresponcible in the education of their child, in Safe FireArms Hanling Practices? We raised three Children, and 10 Grandchildren in a Home with FireArms available for use, just like many other tools, that can be dangerious, when used by unsupervised children... I taught, and teach, ALL CHILDREN, that live, or visit, my residence, SafeFireArms Handling Practices from the time they are toddlers... until they are responcible for their own actions... They ALL get the same lesson, when they arrive, each time, and have never had an issue with Safe FireArms Handling Practices... We also supervise children that are in our care... Rant Off
I have to agree with BTPost. When are we demand that parents take responsibility for their children and teach them? And why aren't the parents being held responsible if the issue it to punish? Accidents happen but as adults its our job to raise our offspring and help them make it to adult hood with a few rules.
I had to look this up. The boy killed was 15 years old. These were not little kids. From the article I read, the gun was in the parents closet. The guns had gun locks on them. Very strange story. Juvenile charged with manslaughter in Guilford teen Ethan Song's death
If these either of parents had taught their kid, about firearms from the beginning, likely they would not be in this fix... Did they teach their kids about “ Hot Stoves, Boiling Water, and other household dangerious items” ? Why did they ignore the dangerious tool, that according to them needs to be “Locked up, unloaded, and totally secured”... Hmmm, Inquiring minds want to know....
No matter what kids are taught or how early they start learning, sooner or later they're going to look to break the rules. And even if a parent is so astonishingly out of touch that they actually believe their little angels would never dare drift away from what mommy and daddy taught them, the kids probably have friends who are not so disciplined. I mean for f**k's sake, when I was fifteen me and Jeff went outside and shot off Roman candles...at each other! We thought it was hilarious, and it was, but not as much as our "cherry bomb war". To this day my parents still don't know. I'm sure at some point they told me not to shoot Roman candles or throw cherry bombs at my friends, but fifteen year old boys are more impressed by fireworks than what their parents say. Hey, at least we were "mature" enough to do it outside! There is plenty of blame to go around on the Ethan Song case, but most of it lies with the adults for being stupid enough to think their kids would never do it.
Parents aren't allowed to discipline the(ir) children anymore. They are property of the state. The state decides what is right and what they should be taught.
Truer words were not typed here @Tempstar ... Both my Brother and I would never want all our Teenage Stunts to be made Public... especially to our children... or Grandchildren... These accounts need to stay in our memories, of the Good Old Days... However, because we lived thru those experiences, they made us stronger, and better, Parents, in that we knew that these type things need to addressed with our children, and grandchildren... While they were growing up, and making their way to adulthood... Not in my world, does the State decide ANYTHING about how I rasied my Children... Ask any of my childrens School Principles... They ALL were introduced to My World, before I ever allowed them into my children’s. world, and the few that ran afowl of my World, never wanted to have me come back and remind them, a second time... These were MY Children, and they were educated in My World, by Us, first, and their teachers, as supplimentary Educators.... I put up with NO BS from NEA Twerps, and they ALL knew. where that line was, and the consequences of crossing that line... long before they ever meet my kids... A few teachers, they had over the years, let us know the rumors about that Mr. Gordon fellow, and his World...
When I was twelve, I had the family shotguns in my bedroom closet, along with my first .22 rifle and a cardboard box full of ammo for all. I was the "family armorer", cleaning and oiling the guns regularly. I never even considered taking one to school. I dealt with bullies the best way. I knocked 'em to the ground. Being the biggest kid in school helped.
Well I little known fact about me I was shot in the head by my cousin while squirrel hunting with a 22 I was lucky enough to only be grazed on the right side of my head it knocked me out lot of blood we were not aloud to be hunting together with 22 at the time but we snuck them out and if it would have hit me a 1/8 to the left I mostly would not be here told my parents I was running and had a stick stabme in the head and both my parents took that story to there grave fact is accidents happen we were both well trained at handleing guns we just did know what the other one had seen
we cousins did bottle rocket wars... I'm not gonna say who won but I will say I don't have any burns from them
Teaching is the start. I was raised around guns , raised to respect them , and use them . They are tools for survival , safety and food , and recreational enjoyment. But their dangers were taught as well. Parents know their kids , they mostly , know if they have a wild , curious side . And parents should take precautions for that. The 1st thing I taught my daughter about guns was the dangers , and always treat them as they are loaded. And not to handle them without " ME " around . She knew where my guns were in the house , knew not to mess with them , and knew to keep her friends away from them if I wasn't in the house. And luckily , she listened. She even told me once when one of her friends found one in the drawer of the end table were I sat at home. She told her not to mess with it , and when she told me this , I moved it. In my opinion , parents aren't being parents these days. They're letting everyone else raise their kids , and if something bad happens , they won't accept responsibility for their own lack of parental guidance. And they won't blame the ones that were teaching their kids , schools , etc . They'll blame the tool , or the manufacturer or owners of those tools that hurt their kid. Because of their own lack of parenting , and knowledge.
Got my first weapon on my 10th birthday, a little revolver that fired .22 shorts. It was a tool no different that a the box of stuff to put together trot lines or a fishing pole. This tool just happened to be for dispatching coons, fox, possum, etc in traps. At 12 I got a 20 gauge side by side and was the terror of the quail and rabbits. At 13 my collection doubled with a .380 auto and .22 Mag bolt action rifle. At 14 grandpa handed off his browning lever action 30-30 to me and 12 gauge pump slug pusher. Didn't get another firearm for 10 years after that and then developed a fetish for Russian SKS's that evolved into a romance with Galils. Picked up other wheel guns during that time......... Who can pass up a good deal on Colt Python or a .700NitroExpress that is pretty much only good for killing T Rex's From 1989 to present I had twin sons that NEVER touched the Firearms without permission. I never kept them locked up or out of their reach. They were just there and a part of every day life. There was nothing special or mysterious about them. Sure there were rules for them just like there were rules for the knives, nail guns, table and circular saws etc. They got their first guns when they were 14, the world and their lifestyle was much different than mine and a gun at a young age did not enhance or improve their lives earlier. They started out with .20 gauge single barrel H&Rs with a smooth bore and a slug barrel. There were only 2 accidents over the last 40 years a bounce back with the .22 Mag when I was a kit........ Hit a rock and the bullet came right back at me and took a chunk out of my cheek and went on to shatter Mom and Dads big picture window That one really hurt! By the time Dad was done beating my ass for not observing what was behind what I was shooting at, it was a week before I could sit down The Chunk out of my cheek paled in comparison. The second involved my sons and the nail guns, which they thought would be a good idea to disable the safety so they would shoot nails without being pressed against wood. So they were in the shop shooting nails at each other and it was all fun until one came running in screaming he shot his brother and he was dying. Get out to the shop and he has a hole in his stomach the size of a nail and then it dawns on me he got shot with a nail not a bullet. The nail of course was still floating around in his abdomen and he was out cold. 7 hours of surgery repairing the torn up intestine and getting the nail out of his kidney. Punishment was difficult on that one, the uninjured son was required to be the 24/7 nurse for his brother until he was healed and the injured one had a year of triple chores once he was healed and they both spent the next year polishing my tools and keeping the shop floor clean enough to eat off of. They also learned a lesson about guns in general, that was just a nail gun with a nail being pushed with 180 pounds of air behind it. That is Nothing compared to a bullet from a real gun, and the nail does not fragment or expand on impact. Hard lesson for both of them and for me if truth be told. I would never have though a simple nail gun could cause so much internal damage. But to this day they are both extreme fanatics about not pointing things that push projectiles at anything they don't want to kill or break. Seems to me the more things are kept away from kids the more they want to handle and play with them. My guns never locked up and just sitting on racks in a walk in closet and the wood shop locked up tight and begging for two industrious young men to find a way to break in to and get hurt. Something sorely lacking in much of todays youth is gaining experience and common sense over time by handling and using tools that can be dangerous. There is a real lack of understanding in cause and effect and the world of natural consequences. Where as in my world as a youth these things were drilled into you from birth and you obtained more things and freedoms by demonstrating responsibility and loosing things and taking a ass whooping when you demonstrated a lack of responsibility. Sure I did some stupid stuff and the question always asked was NOT "Who's Fault was it?" But " What could or should you have done to not get in that situation to start with?" as it should be.
The issues seem to go pretty deep let me see if I can put my spin of logic on this. We take child gun safety out of schools, we then pass laws to punish Parent who do not practice gun safety. What we fail to do it address the child issue and only teach them to fear it. Ever watch a kid at a campfire, no matter how many times you tell them its hot they still mess with it until they get hurt. But if you teach them how to use fire they wont be taught fear, but respect of fire. Kids each year drown in the ocean many times due to the same practice teaching fear, not respect. When we stop teaching and only provide enforcement learning stops. I am going to guess theses kids were told how dangerous mom and dads guns were, but were never taken to learn safety and respect. So curiosity will teach its own lesson, sometimes fatally.
Makes good sense Salted Weapon. I think you have a point there. I'm going to advocate we drain the oceans because of the beach drownings and shark attacks.
I agree, I was raised in a house were a rifle or shotgun was always to hand, along with ammo. we knew better. My Dad always shaved with a straight razor, we knew better, his axe was always so sharp you could shave with it, we knew better. There was no change in his rules, and we were taught to handle firearms and gun safety very young. I started splitting kindling for my Mom when I was about 5 years old, we were taught responsibility. I raised my 4 kids the same way.
and the state don't care what you think... it will hammer you for such... long time back a friend of mine got wall slammed by cops over disciplining a child... this was around 1978 or so... and things have only gotten stricter... the state is now involved in everything... and it will only get worse...
