11-year old in for double-murder.

[Aeradalia]

Well, apparently children don't need licenses to own 20-gauge shotguns. How ****ed-up is that?

Agrees... but irrelevant in this scenario... he could've grabbed a gun that belonged to his dad. Considering how this all played out... his dad probably would've bought a gun in his name and gave it to his son. So either way, a gun would've been available.

[Gigabitch]

IMO, his dad should go down for this every bit as much as his son. I find it absolutely infuriating when people aren't responsible with their weapons. You know, Aeradalia, you live in the southwest too. It's everywhere- rednecks acting like guns aren't dangerous.

We had guns in the house when I was growing up. Loaded guns. I learned how to shoot when I was 9, and I knew where they were kept. They weren't locked up like they should have been. Fortunately, neither my brother nor I had homicidal tendencies.

[Aeradalia]

I believe the father should be held accountable for the monster he created.

Although I was raised in the south... the guns were always locked up and away from the children. Even now... with just me and a roommate... my guns are still locked up. You just never know when you might have company come over with children.

[Gribble]

It's much easier to pull a trigger from a distance than it is to plunge a knife into someone's chest up close. Not to mention it's far easier to escape or resist someone who is wielding a knife.

Guns make it easy and impersonal. Remove the guns and there'd still be murder. Just less of it.

[DoesntMatter]

Children are just so precious

[vashti]

It's everywhere- rednecks acting like guns aren't dangerous.

We had guns in the house when I was growing up. Loaded guns. I learned how to shoot when I was 9, and I knew where they were kept. They weren't locked up like they should have been. Fortunately, neither my brother nor I had homicidal tendencies.

I swear, sometimes I think we grew up in the same house. My brother wasn't homicidal as a kid, but he sure loved to take those loaded rifles out of the closet to look at when my parents were out. It's a miracle he didn't kill anyone accidentally. Too many freakin' rednecks have guns, and their kids know just enough about them to be dangerous. The worst offenders I've known regarding proper storage are law enforcement personnel.

[misombra]

this little kid is going to be tried as an adult. and if bush wouldn't have passed that law it would only be a single homicide.

[Lipp]

Agrees... but irrelevant in this scenario... he could've grabbed a gun that belonged to his dad. Considering how this all played out... his dad probably would've bought a gun in his name and gave it to his son. So either way, a gun would've been available.

It's a kid we're talking about, not a fully reasoning adult. Just as he'd might not understand why it was wrong to brawl with another kid over a teddy bear he just as easily might not know the implications of aiming a gun and pulling the trigger, something that an older murderer would be fully aware of.
Designing, keeping and allowing kids to handle lethal weapons of that kind is just strange.

[Aeradalia]

It's a kid we're talking about, not a fully reasoning adult. Just as he'd might not understand why it was wrong to brawl with another kid over a teddy bear he just as easily might not know the implications of aiming a gun and pulling the trigger, something that an older murderer would be fully aware of.
Designing, keeping and allowing kids to handle lethal weapons of that kind is just strange.

Perhaps where you are from... but here it isn't strange at all. The strange thing is to not have parental supervision at all times with the weapon... to allow the child access to the gun and the ammunition when the parent is away.

Not only is it strange to allow a child access to a gun freely (without parental supervision)... but it is downright dangerous and blatantly stupid.

[DoesntMatter]

The chemical stockroom is also a massive arsenal of weapons if used properly, one far more dangerous than gunpowder and its projectiles

[tooxshort]

Two living souls are dead because of an 11 year old boy! The gun didn't aim itself and shoot... Once more, you miss the point.

Umm, no I didn't miss your point. I understand that if you take away the shooter, the gun won't fire. And if you take away the gun, the kid won't shoot anyone.

I've seen some f*cked up kids go through their f*cked up childhoods without killing anyone. But I guess I missed the point. Yes, proper parenting is involved, but I don't see "firearm instruction" as one of my objectives to parenting. The father is indeed an idiot for purchasing a hunting rifle for a child who doesn't even understand the value of life. Don't go on telling me that an 11 or 12 year old should understand empathy and such things.

I don't think the kid will do major time in prison or anything like that ... I don't like that he's being tried as an adult because there's so much more to learn at that age and beyond. But I do think the kid should be punished rather hard.

[Aeradalia]

Umm, no I didn't miss your point. I understand that if you take away the shooter, the gun won't fire. And if you take away the gun, the kid won't shoot anyone.

I've seen some f*cked up kids go through their f*cked up childhoods without killing anyone. But I guess I missed the point. Yes, proper parenting is involved, but I don't see "firearm instruction" as one of my objectives to parenting. The father is indeed an idiot for purchasing a hunting rifle for a child who doesn't even understand the value of life. Don't go on telling me that an 11 or 12 year old should understand empathy and such things.

I don't think the kid will do major time in prison or anything like that ... I don't like that he's being tried as an adult because there's so much more to learn at that age and beyond. But I do think the kid should be punished rather hard.

These ****ed up kids have the potential to be destructive... just because in the end they do not... does not mean an evaluation and observation of them is not necessary. That's like saying just because a bomb didn't go off yet... we shouldn't be afraid.

11 or 12 year olds can understand empathy... I know I was able to when I was that age. They learn it by associating the pain they feel with an understanding that others can feel that kind of pain too.

The kid is pretty much useless to society now... who could possibly feel safe around someone who killed another person in cold blood? Who killed a pregnant woman for christ sake! If not the long prison sentence... his life is ruined just by how people will treat him from now on.

[tooxshort]

The kid is pretty much useless to society now... who could possibly feel safe around someone who killed another person in cold blood? Who killed a pregnant woman for christ sake! If not the long prison sentence... his life is ruined just by how people will treat him from now on.

This is true. His teen years are pretty much over ...

Until he changes his identity, I suppose ...

[vashti]

According to scientific research, a person's brain development isn't complete until they are in their 20s. I don't know how anyone could entrust any person with an incompletely formed brain with a lethal weapon.

[misombra]

yeah, the fact that this kid had access to that weapon was really stupid.

deadly error.