Kids size anyone?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/21/boy.homicide/index.html

In this day and age we accept that there are always going to be killings, people are dying all around us for many different reasons. One of the reasons we might not expect is for someone to be killed by an 11 year old boy. According to this article this young boy used a "Youth model 20-gauge shotgun to shoot his fathers pregnant girlfriend point blank. Now I don't know what is more wrong with that sentence, the fact that an 11 year old would shoot anyone, let alone his fathers girl friend, or the fact that there is such a thing as a youth shotgun designed for children? Most people might jump to the conclusion that the media and violence from movies and games are what lead this child to do such a horrific crime, but I feel this is just more evidence that it is the parents that are leading our children down these violent roads. Who in their right mind would buy a child size gun for their kid, let alone a shotgun? I oppose guns, and feel that they are unnecessary unless you hunt. However I do not disagree with the rights of people to own them, that is your choice. I think that no one should think that it is right for a kid to own a gun capable of killing someone at such a young age. When they become mature enough to understand what could happen that is fine, but if you are not old enough to drive why have a gun? Now this 11 year old is facing life in prison, and life in prison is extra long when you are starting off at the ripe old age of 11. Maybe we should start looking at how we are raising our kids before we start blaming our problems with violent kids on other sources.

This is seriously disturbing and I think that you’re right the most disturbing part is who buys their 11 year old a gun. I have a hard time believing that the media or music or whatever teaches kids to use guns. I agree with you that it’s negligence of the parents. This is why instances like kids bringing guns to school or kids accidently killing themselves floods the newspaper headlines. Parents are to careless to lock up their guns If you’re going to own a gun for goodness sake take the necessary precautions to protect it so that your children, or anyone else for that matter, can’t get a hold of it.

I thought that this was a pretty shocking news article, you would never expect an 11 year old to be capable of something like this. I agree with you that most of these types of crimes probably have to do with poor parenting as oppose to violent music or movies. I am pretty sure the legal age to start hunting is 10 in Michigan so I am not surprised that he had a youth model shotgun. I am more shocked about how some parents can be so careless. I think that if the father would have had any common sense he would have put the gun in a case where only he could access it. The 11 year old should never have had the ability to get a gun whenever he felt like it. In my opinion there’s nothing wrong with letting a kid go hunting or to go shooting but until they reach a responsible age adult supervision should always be required.

This is a crazy story. The gun was the 11 year old boys?? what that crazy to me that an eleven year old has a gun, and it wasnt locked up or put some where.... This kid is only like in the fifth grade and has a gun. I think maybe strickter gun laws should be put into place so this type of thing dosent happen! I think also that the state law of prosicuting anyone over the age of ten as an adult is a little crazy too. I think that ten, and eleven, year olds are still young enough to maybe not fully relize the consequences of some actions, and even though this boy did kill a women, and it may have been on pupose i dont think he should be in prison for life. I dont fully blame the boy though some of the blame could be put on his father. -Sad story-

I find it very shocking that a kid that age would go and shoot his fathers girlfriend and yet I don’t. I do think that how the child is raised has a huge part to do with what a child does, but I actually would also blame it on the television or other outside sources. If a child sees violent actions being taken without much punishment to the person doing it a child can learn that if they can do that then why can’t they. I would like to know what the kid’s side of the story is. Why did he shoot her? Was it on accident or purposely? Who else was around to see this happen? Did the girlfriend evoke this kid to get mad or angry? I think that if the kid does get life in jail that they would just stink. If I was the kid and understood what was going to happen then why would you really even want to live. I don’t agree with the kid killing, but I don’t know if it is right to give him life in jail either.

It is seriously a sad world we live in. I mean there is so much violence and crimes happening. The worst part is that the people doing most the crimes are young children or teens. This fact really worries me, I am afraid to have any children one day. Sometimes I really wonder if it is worth it to bring a child into this world, I mean it is really bad. It used to be you only had to worry about adults, and now you gotta worry that some little kid is going to kill you. Something is seriously wrong with that. I totally agree with you that it is sickening and completely wrong for anyone to buy an 11 year old a shotgun. I understand if the dad buys a son a gun to going hunting with, and the gun is SAFELY PUT AWAY until they go hunting together, that's a little different. This kid had easy access to his gun, and he was able to find bullets and load it. What kind of parent would leave the gun in a place where the kid can find it, and not only that but what kind of parent would leave ammo in it or around? I think that this was partly the parents fault because obviously if the kid didn't have access to the gun then his dad's girlfriend couldn't have gotten shot. Whatever the case, it is just shocking and saddening. In a way I feel bad for the 11 year old, not that what he did wasn't wrong, it was and I DO blame him, but now he has to face life in prison and honestly I would say he probably didn't even fully understand the consequences of his actions. HE IS 11. Unnacceptable. Sad.