News, 11-Year-Old West Virginia Girl Allegedly Uses Gun to Force 7-Year-Old Sister to Play. (custody, parents)

[John1960]

Police say an 11-year-old Martinsburg girl threatened her 7-year-old sister with a gun to force the younger child to play with her.

Newsvine - 11-Year-Old West Virginia Girl Allegedly Uses Gun to Force 7-Year-Old Sister to Play

[stormy night]

I'm wondering how the kid knew where the gun was in the first place.

[Pandamonium]

And place the 11 year old in a detention center to interact with other kids, some of whom are a lot more knowledgable about guns. Brilliance on both ends.

[stormy night]

I agree. She wants to be bad? Solution: Put her where all the bad kids are. Like THAT will fix anything.

[beverlysmithscott]

Originally Posted by John1960

Police say an 11-year-old Martinsburg girl threatened her 7-year-old sister with a gun to force the younger child to play with her.

Newsvine - 11-Year-Old West Virginia Girl Allegedly Uses Gun to Force 7-Year-Old Sister to Play

Just last week a 13 yr old Mississippi boy shot his 11 yr old brother over a video game.

[beverlysmithscott]

Originally Posted by stormy night

I agree. She wants to be bad? Solution: Put her where all the bad kids are. Like THAT will fix anything.

Whomever she was living with needs to be arrested and lose cutody of all the children in their possession. This is clearly neglect of parental duties. Who leaves weapon unsecured? Who leaves children unsupervised long enough to obtain unsecured weapons? There were always guns in the home that I grew up in, but they were always secured and I knew what the consequences were of trying to get my hands on one.

[Puru]

Originally Posted by beverlysmithscott

Whomever she was living with needs to be arrested and lose cutody of all the children in their possession. This is clearly neglect of parental duties. Who leaves weapon unsecured? Who leaves children unsupervised long enough to obtain unsecured weapons? There were always guns in the home that I grew up in, but they were always secured and I knew what the consequences were of trying to get my hands on one.

There were guns in the home I grew up in as well but they were always locked up and the only person with the key was my mother and only she knew where the key was (though I got a key when I turned 18). Plus, my mother made my siblings and I take some firearm safety courses.

Anyone who says that whomever is the parent needs to lose custody of the children is jumping to conclusions and should read the article a bit closer.

The article doesn't give much information, but my guess would be that the kids were visiting their grandmother who probably didn't know any better or think anything of it (or wasn't thinking at all) and probably just had the gun stashed in a drawer somewhere. While the child should have known better, the parents are not mentioned at all in the article and the readers are uninformed--which does not give you rights to make up your own information.

Also, I know plenty of people who don't lock up their firearms. My SO and his family just prop them up behind doors or leave them on gun racks in the living room. Mind you, there are no children in the house hold and they live out in the middle of no where. It only takes a minute to grab an unsecured weapon if you know where it is. Not to mention, when was the last time you were around a child? Did you watch them every second of every minute of every hour of every day? No, because it would be impossible and unrealistic.

[scarmig]

Children can be educated and trained to use a firearm. It appears that this girl was not instructed in the proper rules of gun safety and usage. *That* is the irresponsibility here. Not that the gun was available, or unsecured, but that the people who had access were not properly trained and educated.

[33458]

No excuses for allowing unsupervised access. Period.

Please, do not feed the Anti-Lobby with additional ignorance.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by scarmig

Children can be educated and trained to use a firearm. It appears that this girl was not instructed in the proper rules of gun safety and usage. *That* is the irresponsibility here. Not that the gun was available, or unsecured, but that the people who had access were not properly trained and educated.

Yes, it's weird -- my siblings and I grew up knowing where the gun and it wasn't locked up was but we also knew some rules. None of us ever played with the gun, but I remember a couple times opening the drawer and just looking at it.

Something is wrong in a family where one child would do this kind of thing.