Saturday, October 29, 2011

Washington 13-year-old Boy Shoots Dad



The teenage boy, who is accused of shooting his father Jimmy Asher in the back of the head with a .17-caliber bolt-action rifle, earlier told detectives the Sunday night shooting was an accident, police say.

But prosecutors say that doesn't match evidence that they are gathering.
At least they're charging the boy in juvenile court. Too bad he doesn't have the same lawyers as this lady.

Since hindsight is 20/20, it's easy to say the boy shouldn't have been allowed access to the gun, but how does that work as a general rule? Are 13-year-olds, generally speaking, not mature enough or responsible enough to handle guns safely?  Should safe storage at home be required by law?

Even some of the staunchest gun-rights supporters like Robert Farago say unless you have a gun on your person in the home, it should be locked up.  His motives are first to be able to fight off those
home invaders who might burst through the door at any moment, an idea which I love to make fun of, and only secondarily to keep guns out of the wrong hands.  But the truth is, I prefer his way to what many others do.

What's your opinion? Do you have any sympathy for the young shooter?  Wasn't the deck stacked against him, abusive dad, gun availability, society which teaches that gun violence is the answer?

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

No comments:

Post a Comment