There has been a lot of interest in the D.C./Baltimore area about a terrible incident on Tuesday of this week, when an 8-year-old boy shot and wounded a 7-year-old girl at a day-care center. On Thursday, there were further details about how the boy’s father showed the boy how to handle and fire the .38 revolver that was used in the incident.
Let’s compare two press accounts. Here is The Baltimore Sun‘s story, which is pretty straightforward:
The father of an 8-year-old boy charged with shooting and wounding a 7-year-old girl in a Germantown day care center showed his son “in great detail” how to handle, load and fire a .38-caliber revolver the night before the child smuggled the gun into the day care center, the Montgomery County state’s attorney said yesterday.
Here is how The Washington Post‘s begins:
The father of an 8-year-old boy arrested in the shooting of a 7-year-old girl at their Germantown day-care center provided his son with violent video games and showed him how to cock and release a gun hammer the day before the boy pulled the trigger, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Not that I’m in favor on 8-year-olds playing Half-Life 2, but what was the problem here? That the guy gave his son violent video games or a fucking gun?
You decide.
One Response
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Steve Says:
When I was a boy, my father ingrained in me gun safety. I was not allowed to even play with toy guns, especially if I pointed them at others. I was taught gun safety very early in life and those lessons stayed with me even when I joined the Army. I feel that parents are responsible for children’s actions in such situations. The father in this incident should be held responsible however I’m concerned that the child will be the one who pays the price.