8 year old shoots father dead on purpose

[MamaBear]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/us/11child.html?hp
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27600105/

Wow. Just wow.

You guys think it's a good idea for an 8 year old boy to know how to load a rifle? This is an interesting question, because, if this boy was defending himself from some kind of horrible abuse then, yes, maybe it was good he knew how to load a rifle. But if he did this, for some minimal reason or no reason at all (as that second link implies)...wow, NOT a good thing that he knew how to load that rifle! What do you guys say?

[UOK]

I read about this. Pretty messed up stuff.

[gaba]

That's seriously disturbing. I have a feeling there's more to this story. I don't really want to know though.

[Boris13c]

and of course the legal system shows its sad ugly side in this:

The boy had gone to a neighbour's house and said he "believed that his father was dead", Apache County prosecutor Brad Carlyon said. Police later obtained a confession from the boy for the two killings.

His defense lawyer, Benjamin Brewer, said police had overreached in questioning him without representation from a parent or a lawyer, and that they had not advised him of his rights.

so, the dead parent should have been consulted BEFORE the child who killed said parent should have been asked about it?

gotta love our legal system ... someone needs to buy this lawyer douche bag's kid a .357 and turn him loose

[Otis Day]

Not that this is IL, but in IL, kids charged or questioned about certain offenses, if under the age of 13, are required to be represented by attorneys. It is the law and the police should know this. They avoid it most of the time.

[Otis Day]

Most of the offenses are sex related (sexual exploitation, Criminal Sexual Assaualt, Criminal Sexual abuse, both of the previous when they fall into the Aggravated stages), murder of course and Involuntary Manslaughter or Reckless Homicide

[DaDitka]

Sorry but this is why you don't teach an 8 year old how do use a weapon they couldn't possibly comprehend the 'powers' of. There is no way this child could understand how they just ruined so many lives forever (including theirs). It's a 'final' and 'everlasting' consequence. It is impossible for a child that age to truly understand all of that no matter how well you parent them and that’s why you should avoid the situation completely.

Sad that this story comes right on the heels of another in which a parent was letting his son (I believe 11 or 12) fire an Uzi at a shooting range and the ‘action’ raised the gun in the Childs arm until he shot himself in the head.

If you though the incoming regime was going to crack down on gun control before, you can believe they are going to ride these two stories into the dirt.
This isn’t a ‘gun control’ issue, it’s a stupid f*cking parent issue. I wonder if the government can protect children from that?

[Rockbear99]

I began shooting at age 5 with my dad. We had a single shot .22 That he would shoot with me. I was taught the right way to handle a rifle. We also had a 12 gauge shotgun that I begged my dad to shoot but he said I was too small. When I turned 9 and just a year before he passed away from cancer he took me out and let me shoot the shot gun. THe first time it put me on my butt. Then he showed me the right way. My opinion on gun control is no matter what happens the goverment cant fix stupid.

[DaDitka]

My opinion on gun control is no matter what happens the goverment cant fix stupid.

Truer words have never been spoken! (or posted in this case)

[gaba]

Well, you CAN but you're not gonna like the solution.

Sterilizing stupid people would help, but it'd still leave us with a HUGE population of hopelessly stupid people. That's a ton of meat. Just think of what it could to do fend of world hunger.