One of the big stories this year was the rash of teen deaths in Chicago. Murders sadly are an accepted part of life in America. I was the victim of my own father’s murder when I was 10.
Tonight my 12 year old son Daniel came back from a sleep over. Everyone was in the living room and he was hiding out in his room. I went to check out what was up. I could tell he was sad about something. I have never hit my kids and I let them get away with STUFF on the condition that they tell me about something that’s bothering them or the TRUTH when it’s serious. So my son told me that when they were over his friends house they were playing with a real BB gun and that he thought it wasn’t loaded and he shot the younger brother right in the FACE. He said he didn’t mean it and lucky for Danny he has been friends with the family since he was little so they know Danny is a good kid and that it was a real accident. The kid was struck in the cheek and the ambulance had to come. Danny said it bleed ALOT.
I was glad to think that I do have a honest bond with my son and that he can talk to me. Since I was looking at a few toy guns around his room and he was so upset about this accident , I used it as an opportunity to reinforce to my son about how dangerous they are. I told him if you don’t need one for work or the military you shouldn’t have one. Of course when he is an adult he can do whatever he wants but as a young man in the city of San Antonio he will see violence and guns around I’m sure, I only hope that tonight’s “accident” embeds a real respect for just what guns can do. Thank God it was only a BB and that my son will hopefully learn a serious lesson.
What is it was 22 ? or a 38 in his Mom’s draw ? Scary
Some stats from Google about Teen violence : (
In 2005, males ages 15 to 19 were four times more likely to commit suicide, six and a half times more likely to be victims of homicide, and nine times more likely to be involved in a firearm-related death than were females of the same age.
Homicide and suicide are the second and third leading causes of death among teens ages 15 to 19, after unintentional injury.1 Firearms were the instrument of death in over 80 percent of teen homicides and about half of teen suicides in 2005.2 While almost one in four youth firearm injuries results in death, non-firearm injuries result in death in only one out of every 760 cases.
As someone who grew up in NYC when guns were all over and was shot two times and luckily they were small caliber and didn’t even penetrate my awesomeness I’m not a FAN OF GUNS unless you need them for work or have a legit reason to have one. I’m not saying to collect them all or that you shouldn’t be able to have one but I’m saying that I don’t need one nor do I wish to live in a world where people kill each other for the stupidest reasons.
Are the young people good kids where you live or are they out of Control ?
Do you have teens in your house ? Do you worry about their safety where you live ?
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There is so much of violence around the world. I heard that few native americans targeted asian peoples as well. It is shocking that teens are involved in such violence. Get drunk,smoke ****, make friends.
Holy crap, thank goodness he didn’t put that kid’s eyeball out, and that it was just an accident! I’m sure he’ll never touch a gun again…..
We are living in precarious times. With the current trends of violence being exhibited to our youths thru news, social trends and entertainment, it’s no wonder our teens become violent. A sad fact of our present.
Hi John. I’m glad to hear that things turned out as well as they did out of a bad situation. It is a really good thing that you have such an open and honest relationship with your son. Not everyone has that luxury.
Gun ownership is a touchy subject for people, and one that people aren’t going to be able to agree on anytime soon. I do, however, think that using a gun should be a last resort in ANY situation, and should never be in the possession of people that aren’t mentally prepared to handle them. Most kids fall into this category.
There’s a lot of bad kids in my area, but there’s good ones too. There’s been mounting racial tensions, because this is a predominately white, christian area, and there’s been issues with the way the police has interacted with black and latin teenagers. I can definitely see the violence getting worse around here.
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There is so much of violence around the world. I heard that few native americans targeted asian peoples as well. It is shocking that teens are involved in such violence.
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I live in Chicago and after 25 years of having a gun ban, crime and murder continue to rise. This is true with the kids as well, many of them in gangs. It’s not the guns that are the problem, for they have been banned for 25 years, it’s the people.
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