Even here in Hawaii, a child was reported to have brought a handgun into school and it went off, nearly hitting one of his friends. He was a 14 year old middle schooler. He said he found the handgun in a secluded area of the school and took it. When he later showed it to his friends, he aimed it playfully at one of them. Another friend knocked the gun away and it discharged. It put a hole in the jacket of one of his friends and ricocheted on a wall causing fragments to injure another friend.
It makes me mad that we can't have stricter guns laws in the U.S. I mean seriously, come on! What will it take?
This reminds of a 20/20 or Dateline show where they hid a gun in the boys and girls locker rooms with a hidden camera. They interviewed parents asking what they thought their kids (I think they were grade school children) would do. The parents all said their kids knew better and would inform authorities.
The hidden cameras showed that the parents of girls were right. Their daughters informed adults right away.
Now the boys; that's a different story. Their parents were shocked to see them take the gun out of the locker, hold it and play with it.
I know my daughter would have done the right thing and called a teacher. My son? I don't even want to guess. I don't even want to know. Well, I would, but I'm sort of afraid of what I might find out.
Is it the testosterone thing? Movies? Underdeveloped male brains? Lack of male common sense?
Sigh...
Oh dear, I fear that my sons would have found it very tempting; I think it's a boy thing, machismo runs rife even in young children. I know that some areas of the UK have problems with gun and knife crime, but thankfully it's in isolated pockets. Our gun laws are pretty strict and well enforced; they were tightened even more after the dreadful shootings at the infant school in Dunblane some years ago.
ReplyDeleteyoung males play with toy guns such as water pistols, so they're more mentally familiar with a firearm, and far likely to repulsed as would be young females in general. Of course, real guns aren't safe in the hands of young kids.
ReplyDeleteIt is the same when they grow up. It's not usually the girls who start gang fights with guns. I agree that we need to do something with gun control. I am not surprised at all by what the hidden camera uncovered.
ReplyDeleteYes ,boys are always fascinated by arms ,gadgets,cars etc.Moreover tv cartoons ,superheroes -movies too encourage this tendency in them.A law controlling owning arms is much needed.
ReplyDeleteI had four sons and didn't want them to play with guns but they will if only pretending a stick is a gun. They are from MARS!
ReplyDeleteMy boys have never had any curiosity about guns, but their Dad was a member of the Pentathlon team who won a silver medal in the 64 Olympics and they participate in five different events one of which is target shooting and we had at least one gun around the house. But he taught all of our kids -- and me, about the guns, how to take them apart and put them back together and he taught us all how to shoot. Consequently I think we all developed a respect and caution where guns were concerned. But I do hate to see guns so freely available to those who haven't been taught to appreciate what a deadly instrument they can be. Great post for the day as always, Kay!
ReplyDeleteSylvia
I agree with you! It's been a problem dating back to when my kids were in high school. The answer? I don't know. I grew up in a house where there were guns -- my dad liked to hunting -- and I knew it was worth my life to go near them. Somehow parents don't seem to teach their children that anymore. My brother the soldier is a hunter, too, and he took both of my nephews to the NRA's gun safety classes (about the only thing I like about the NRA) before they were allowed to learn to hunt. Banning guns is not the answer -- mostly because it's impossible to enforce. Responsibility and vigilance is.
ReplyDeleteIt sure is a tough question, Kay.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, we all had toy guns, cap-guns, etc., and we played with them until we outgrew them. The first thing my father taught us, however, was "do not point any gun, not even a toy, at anyone."
None of the kids from my old neighborhood became obsessed with guns at any time.
There is a big right-wing movement now in Canada to make gun-owning easier. These people even go to the length of saying "our right to bear arms" as if it were written into the Canadian constitution when actually it is American. Obviously they're not too smart. And that is scary. Wide-open gun laws for people who can't tell what nationality they are? Not a safe bet.
— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
I would hope that my grandson would know better!
ReplyDeleteMy son was cured of interest in guns when his good friend killed himself (suicide) with a gun when they were sophomores in high school. It was just too easy to pull the trigger and - GONE!
ReplyDeleteI think it's testosterone. You should see my son driving...so aggressive.
ReplyDeleteIt´s a boy/guy thing for sure! I think it´s like when woman see shoes....ok not quite since they are not deadly weapons, but they could be. haha
ReplyDeleteProbably all of the above. Guns are such a macho symbol.
ReplyDeleteI am with you completely on tighter gun laws.
Stick me in the "guns per se aren't the problem, people are" camp.
ReplyDeleteIt is a cultural matter, nothing more.
Unfamiliarity with firearms, and abscence of a culture of intense respect for them is behind most of the fear of what is essentially an inanimate object. "Gun --- Boo!"
At primary school some of us occassionally carried ammunition (mostly because dad was running low & asked us to get some while we were in town)
We all shot at home after school, & on weekend visits to a friend we would almost always go shooting.
Once at high school all this stopped, as we were too far from home (boarding school).
I used to keep ammunition at boarding school, & some kids kept a rifle, though that practice was quietly ended after a rifle was discharged in a dormitory.
The school had a shooting club, & we shot competitively every second weekend.
Little boys aren't complete without a gun!
Strange as it may seem, the most distressing aspect was the stern lectures we'd receive from the grown-ups. We were well able to tell the difference between a toy gun & a real one. Being endlessly lectured in stern undertones because we did not treat a toy gun as if it were real - well that was embarrassing, & humiliating - we knew the difference between a deadly firearm and a piece of plastic.
Rule #1 of real guns: A gun is ALWAYS loaded.
Rule #2: NEVER point (at any time, for any reason) a gun at something you are not prepared to hit with a bullet.
Rule #3: Never PLAY with a gun, it is not a toy.
(informal rule #4:) Do not mix guns & liquor.
Stick to those rules and you will have many happy years with what is a very useful work and/or recreational instrument.
Yes, many males are fascinated by guns. I hate the things. My first husband had his hunting rifles in the house, and I hated the thought of them being in the house.
ReplyDeleteI work at a gas station in Mililani. An adult male customer brought in a gun and showed it off to the girl at the counter. She called the cops after he left. The next time he came into the store, the cops met him there and issued a warning because "no one could prove that what he had at the time of the incident was a real gun" because the girl at the counter didn't see the bullets and didn't touch the gun herself. Seriously? A warning? He brings a weapon into a gas station (a place targeted for armed robbery) and only got a warning. That's the kind of lax laws that let these kind of things happen.
ReplyDeleteThe dateline show saddens me. Kids are so nonchalant about violence now. It's scary to think about a child holding a weapon so easily.
Not sure what it is, Kay. I just know that until someone shoots the entire NRA lobby we're stuck with this. I'm for stricter laws, too.
ReplyDeleteOH PULEEEEEZZZ!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAs everyone knows, males have an innate knowledge and ability to instantly understand the inner workings of any firearm. This knowledge is derived genetically. Sadly, females have a specific site inhibitor so are lacking in this knowledge. Further, this site inhibitor appears to also cloud their judgment when it comes to reasonable formulation of policy with regard to anything firearms related.
ahem.
Knowledge and familiarity are the keys. If you put a black box in front of a child, he will open it. It’s unavoidable. So will she. We wouldn’t be shaved apes if we didn’t have a modicum of curiosity. A black box in Honolulu might have a toy in it, or a hamburger. But a black box in Afghanistan might have a grenade in it. We all train our children according to the risks that are predominant in the area we reside in and which they will likely encounter, whether it be cars coming at them in a crosswalk or grenades in black boxes. To shy away from a topic and not warn or teach children about the dangers simply because we have a personal distaste for any given topic is not going to help anyone, least of all a child who may benefit from knowing how to stay safe around sharp needles possibly infected with toxins or virulent materials like HIV, or knowing when firearms are safe or unsafe to handle. You can’t watch over them forever, much as we all might want to. You give them the tools they need to develop their own safeguards to keep themselves safe, and this always begins with knowledge.
Aloha,
walt
As a little girl I played cowboys with a holster and capgun pistol and we played soldier with my toy rifle and bazooka. At age 11 or 12 my father in Miami taught me target practice with real guns.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, the love of guns and the misuse of them is mostly a guy thing, I'd have to agree with you.
I wish we were more like England on this one..too many easily attainable guns..I hate it..
ReplyDeleteI just found you today,, I'm a newbie blogger from Canada ,, sitting here reading post after post of your blog,, you make me smile,, you make me think and you make wonder,, I will become a follower so I can come back and read more,, I'm going cross eyed from reading so much,,
ReplyDeleteHi Laurie! It's always so nice to meet a fellow blogger. If you've read my posts, you'll know that I LOVE Canadians. We've traveled through Canada several times and felt you guys were the nicest people in the world.
ReplyDelete