Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

weapons in the house?

Mar 13, 2005 12:46PM PST
4-year-old boy shoots brother in Houston

In a shocking incident in Houston, a 4-year-old boy shot his 2-year-old brother with a gun taken from his mother's purse. The 2-year-old, suffered a single gunshot wound to the temple, and is in critical condition at Ben Taub Hospital. The incident took place at around 4:20 p.m. at a home in the 5500 block of Gatewood near South Post Oak Boulevard.

Sgt. Cameron Grysen of the Houston Police Department Homicide Division said that the boys had an argument & the 2-year-old threw a toy at his brother after which the shooting took place. ?The 4-year-old was angry, he went and got the gun, put it to his brother's head and shot the gun," Grysen said.

The mother of the children told authorities that she had the gun to protect her family after a spate of recent neighborhood burglaries, but Saturday was the one-day that she did not secure the weapon.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
thats not the prob some states like nj, ny
Mar 15, 2005 5:41AM PST

only the cops, and criminals have guns

and some pvt people

but like i said i live in a civilized state

and in some states you dont need a permit.

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) Who wants to know?
Mar 15, 2005 8:39PM PST
- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) What permits are you talkin' about?
Mar 25, 2005 6:37PM PST
- Collapse -
There are 500 things in the house
Mar 13, 2005 7:10PM PST

that can kill a child just as easy. Take for instance the chemicals under the sink in the kitchen and the drugs (even OTC Aspirin)in the bathroom and all the stuff in the laundry room, and that's just ingestion. Add to that lethal cocktail all the pointy things and falling hazards and scalding hazards and falling/crushing hazards and you have your typical home.

Singling out a gun accident (the millions of others don't get national press) shows big time bias and does no good. The anti-gun people that want my gun taken away are to the point of nagging now.

- Collapse -
This wasn't exactly an accident ......
Mar 14, 2005 12:21AM PST

Gun, knife, bow and arrow, wooden stake ... whatever. It was deliberate. That's what so sad and scary.


Sad

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) baseball bat, strangulation ,etc.
Mar 14, 2005 12:38AM PST
- Collapse -
Right!
Mar 14, 2005 12:43AM PST
Sad
- Collapse -
Yes ...
Mar 14, 2005 2:06AM PST

... the scary part was a FOUR year old's desire to kill (or seriously harm) his TWO year old brother over a toy. Something VERY wrong there Sad

- Collapse -
Evie, I think it goes beyond that...
Mar 15, 2005 1:59AM PST

One of the reports I read indicated that the 4-year old had no idea of what he was doing or what he had done. After the whole process was all over and the kid was back home, he wondered where his little brother was and when he would be coming home. I don't think there was a desire to kill, just the usual spat over a toy between little kids. I think what is different here is (and I'm speculating, trying to fit an adult analysis into a child's mind) that the older brother acted out the "standard" resolution of such disputes as shown on TV (both cartoons and dramas with live actors) - just get a gun and shoot the person you don't like. Except that on TV, there are no real consequences, including the high probability in cartoons that the dead character will be back in tomorrow's episode.

dw

- Collapse -
There's not much that adds up here ...
Mar 15, 2005 2:19AM PST

... my brother was two years older than me and suffice it to say we fought all the time. We had cap guns and bow and arrows with metal tips, etc. etc. I can't imagine him even pointing one of those fake guns at my head. Have kids changed that much since "my day"?? Haven't observed it with my friends', neighbors' and family's kids.

Evie Happy

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) selective memory?
Mar 15, 2005 2:34AM PST
- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) No
Mar 15, 2005 2:47AM PST
- Collapse -
agree...
Mar 15, 2005 2:48AM PST

there isn't much here that adds up to sanity. And yes, I think things are both the same and different. My brothers and I "fought" too, sometimes because one of us was pissed about something and sometimes just because we liked wrasslin' or cowboys'n'injuns or playing Army. We "shot" each other with those cap guns all the time. Except my mother forbid the caps or any that shot a projectile of any sort. Note that the games in those days were re-enactments of glorious battles between the forces of good and evil that were important to our national sense of ourselves, but which wouldn't pass muster in today's PC - the Allies vs. the Axis (and I, being the younger, was always the German or Nip or Korean) or western pioneer vs. marauding redskin (and likewise, I was always the Indian - perhaps that should qualify me for a prestigious tenured professorship at the university of one of our western states?). But now the violence ingrained in popular culture is not so much for the resolution of good vs. evil, but gratuitous for the sake of keeping the action flowing (and therefore eyeballs glued to the screen long enough for the next commercial) or portrayed as the means by which one attains/maintains the "respect" of one's peers in the course of daily life - e.g., Dirty Harry. That poor kid is not some warped social misfit, but rather is the epitome of our current popular culture, albeit unwittingly so.

dw

- Collapse -
I need to distinguish here ...
Mar 15, 2005 4:45AM PST

... as kids we "shot" at each other all the time -- in role playing games. We had bows with metal tipped arrows and we lined up on opposite sides of the lawn and launched them at each other. Man o' man can you imagine we all still have our eyesight?

Still, I can't recall getting in a fight with my brother or sister and going to find one of those weapons in the deliberate attempt to do harm. Rather I was on the receiving end of more than a few "dead legs" and "dead arms". Again, I don't have kids, but I am around them quite a bit. They argue and the fur flies, one doesn't take the time to "go get" something to role play killing them. I wonder if the gun wasn't even more accessible than in her purse and she is covering?

Evie Happy

- Collapse -
yes...
Mar 15, 2005 6:07AM PST

Oh my, bow and arrow "games" - we never were allowed to shoot any sort of projectiles at each other, just thrown dirt clods and stick spears or imaginary "shooting" with the play guns, at which time you were bound by the honor system to fall down and "die" when told that you had just been "hit."

When it came to real sibling scuffling, weapons were uncommon in the comparatively rare outbreak of fisticuffs, but rather it was a process of escalating taunts and retorts with actions that are known to irritate the opponent over whole afternoons until somebody tattles "Mommy, he won't leave me alone." All sorts of otherwise innocuous little things would come out during those exchanges. And thirty years later, it was deja vu all over again with my 2 boys.

I think you've hit on one of the missing pieces, though... "she is covering" something for her own culpability in this tragedy.

dw

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT)Didn't say we were ALLOWED to fling 'em at each other ;)
Mar 15, 2005 8:27AM PST
- Collapse -
There are 500 things in the house that can kill a child.
Mar 15, 2005 11:06AM PST

is that not enugh?

fy

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) and i guess you would remove all from house
Mar 15, 2005 11:44AM PST
- Collapse -
you missunderstood me mark
Mar 15, 2005 1:47PM PST

maybe i wasnt clear mark. sorry.

what i mean is if there is 500 thing that can kill a child (many of them need for a normal life like knifes) why add a thing that isn't needed for a normal life? i know many people without guns or firearms in there homes. firearm isn't a basic need (if you are not a person who use it in your job) and not a toy.

- Collapse -
If it is a basic need or not
Mar 15, 2005 7:30PM PST

isn't for you to decide, IT'S MY RIGHT. I was in Detroit during the riots when the armed Police Officers 'pulled back' for their own safety. The people were left to defend themselves against fire and criminals. Does that make it a basic need? Your call.

Didn't they do the same thing in California in Watts and again when Reginald Denny was drug out of his truck and left for dead? And again when ...

I know my basic needs, even if you don't know when the riots will start again, or the cops will have the blue flu or ordred to 'pull back' from protecting the citizens. The fact that many criminals don't know which home owner has a gun, is protecting you too.

The gun that was used in Atlanta was taken from a 51 year old female that had a basic need.

- Collapse -
The gun that was used in Atlanta was taken from a 51 y/o
Mar 15, 2005 8:26PM PST

If she wasn't having it, what will happen? Maybe no killing.

- Collapse -
Actually it was taken from her locker after ...
Mar 15, 2005 8:29PM PST

... he overpowered her. There should have been a minimum of two guards with him at all times, and if one had a gun on their person it would be the one standing at a short distance.

- Collapse -
if noone had gun
Mar 15, 2005 8:30PM PST

what would happen if noone had a gun?

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) then we be victims
Mar 15, 2005 10:18PM PST
- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) And the shiv or two found on him?
Mar 16, 2005 12:40AM PST
- Collapse -
Hey lookie, another VICTIM DISARMER!
Mar 16, 2005 9:32AM PST

All Women, note that this person would deprive you of access to The Great Equalizer. Thereby leaving you at the mercy of any physically stronger (male) rapist or murderer.

All (single) Mothers, note that this person would deprive you of access to The Great Equalizer. Thereby leaving you unable to protect your children, should a convicted sex offender move in next door.

All Men, is this the situation you want for you wives and daughters?

"if noone had gun" - Mark

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) mark you can see him for the person he is
Mar 16, 2005 10:08AM PST
- Collapse -
if she had no gun.
Mar 15, 2005 8:33PM PST

what will happen if she has no gun to steel?

- Collapse -
She didn't. That's the problem.
Mar 16, 2005 9:37AM PST

Had she been armed, it's quite likely that this would've gone down differently, if at all.

And how do you propose that the police enforce the law if they themselves are unarmed?

Mark

- Collapse -
Think lot's of bench presses, pull ups, wind sprints, and
Mar 19, 2005 4:00AM PST

maybe steroids to bulk up a bit. They'll need to be BIG and STRONG to overpower the criminals.

Too bad about anyone who does not have those physical attributes, but at least the police won't legally have guns.