Karen Rhodes wrote:

> At 10:37 AM 12/4/02 -0800, Wingling wrote:
>
> >Spanaway Jr. High is the next school over from the one where I teach;
> >this really hits home.
>
> Indeed.  We had a youngster shot in "drive-by" style at a
high school in
> Jacksonville where Keys used to teach.  Before he left that school and left
> teaching, Keys warned the principal that his attitude toward kids with guns
> (which was just too laissez-faire to be believed) would lead to tragedy one
> day.  O my husband's prophetic soul!

How can you be laissez-faire about GUNS in SCHOOL? Criminy!

> >Lissa Can'tTheyJustLockTheDamnThingsUp? Wingling
>
> Ya gotta wonder, don't'cha, about some people!  Ain't got brains God gave a
> gnat.

Or a moth.  Moths, at least, are attracted to something pretty (flame); these
folks are attracted to something very ugly (an instrument designed specifically
for the taking of lives).  Not that I'm anti-gun--but still, that's what a gun
was designed to do, and it does it very efficiently.

> These parents don't even take the time to teach their young'uns the basic
> principle of firearms:  THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN
"UNLOADED" GUN!  They
> should ALL be treated as if they were loaded.

We had a good discussion about this in my 4th-5th period block yesterday.  And
I got quite a demonstration in person, a few years ago; when my friend
Shere'e's then-fiance' was teaching me to shoot, he was about to give me the
"gun safety" lecture.  He took the clip out of his .22 pistol, emptied the
chamber, and dry-fired it at the seat of the couch. Except he didn't, quite,
pull the barrel back far enough to actually empty the chamber, so a bullet went
through the couch and into the floor beneath. Yikes.  Brought it home to *me*,
yupyupyup.

> And then they leave the damned things lying around where anyone, including
> youngsters, can get at 'em.  Some people got no business being parents.

Lots of people, imho. But I'm becoming increasingly intolerant as I meet the
fruits of their labors in my classroom.

> >  The latest shooting comes only two weeks after a
> >  12-year-old Tacoma boy accidentally shot
> >  his best friend while the boys were handling a
> >  revolver at home on the city's East Side. No
> >  adult was home at the time. The gun belonged to the
> >  brother of the surviving boy, police have said.
>
> One thing my daughters definitely learned is to learn not only from their
> own mistakes, but also from the mistakes of others.  Clearly, these parents
> have not done ANY teaching whatsoever.  Except by apparently BAD example.

The kid died, btw.  Late yesterday afternoon.  Gonna mention it to my kids
again today--it's just scary.

> In Florida, it is law that guns kept in a home where there are children
> present must have locking trigger guards on them.  It is also Florida law
> that if something like this does happen, the parents are held legally
> accountable.  The law has been enforced.  When people go around acting like
> they don't have the above-referenced brains God gave a gnat, society (i.e.,
> the people through the government) has to step in and say, "You're going to
> be held liable for this!"  Sad, isn't it?

It is--sad that the people have to go to those lengths, I mean.  You'd think
folks would realize that a GUN is not a TOY, and should be locked in a safe
and/or trigger-locked (my brother-in-law, a police officer, does both to his
guns). I don't know if we have such a law--though if we don't, we should.

On a positive note, though, a whole *bunch* of my own students told me
yesterday that their parents have never let them have toy guns, because they
(the parents) don't want their kids to think of guns as toys.  So maybe there
is hope out there, somewhere. I just wish it would get to the rest of the
idiots.

Lissa LeavingGunsOutShouldBeConsideredChildAbuse Wingling

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