Hi, I'm new here and joined to share an incident that happened today to my 11-yr old - I'd like to hear other Moms' feedback.
A neighbor's 10 year old son owns an airgun and was playing with it in front of his home. Two teenagers (13 years old) stopped by and asked if they could see the gun. The boy hands it over to these much bigger boys with the admonition to only shoot at the ground and nothing else.
Of course this does not happen and instead one of the teens decide to take pot-shots at my son who was riding his bike home. He received a huge painful weIt on his back, a red graze on his left side and a smaller welt on his thigh. The most potentially serious injury on his back is right next to his spinal column!!! He was in some pain, but thankfully he's OK. I was livid - really upset!
My husband and I walked to the home where one of the teens live (friend who shot my son was visiting there) and confronted both boys & their parents with the evidence and our extreme indignation that this was even allowed to occur in the first place. I also spoke to the parents of the 10 year old about the unsupervised use of the airsoft gun. At first the teenage boy tried to say he didn't mean to shoot at my son but then changed his tune when I told him there were 3 distinct air gun welts on his body which I was going to show his parents and if necessary, the cops.
To make a long upsetting story short, the result was that everything got settled with apologies, and promises that it would never happen again by both the boys and their parents, without involving the cops. The thing is, I still feel knots in my stomach and really angry about the attitude of the teen who thought nothing of shooting at my son's back as he was passing them - my son who was simply minding his own business! We have witnesses to the whole incident.
Parents, please! Air guns are not harmless!! Nor are adult-rated video-games suitabIe for teens or younger children who then learn, in their ignorance of harsh reality, that shooting at humans and animals are nothing more than a fun game! What is happening to our society that our chiIdren aren't safe anymore from even neighborhood kids?? I'm thankful that my son was not shot in the eye or that there was no oncoming traffic, or that he didn't receive a direct paralyzing hit on his spine.
What would you have done?
Thanks for letting me get it off my chest.
Anne
Man - you are much more
Man - you are much more forgiving than I am.....if someone did that to my son, I would have been our for blood. Aside from raising hell, I probably would have called the cops on the teen punks and wanted to press charges for assault.
Those idiot parents who allowed a 10 year old to play with an air gun unsupervised have the amount of common sense God gave to a loaf of bread. I hope they learned something from this.
Sorry to hear about you son's injuries - I hope he is feeling better soon.
Hi, thanks for the
Hi, thanks for the well-wishes, and supportive words. If it was possible to breathe fire through one's ears and nostrils, then my state yesterday was firm proof!
Fortunately, my son is OK, just feeling a little bruised. It could have been a lot worse. It is the principle of the matter that irks me -- that a teenager (who should know better) thinks it is OK to point a gun (even if it is an airgun - it is still a strong projectile) at another child's back as he is riding his bike home simply boggles the mind. What on earth was he thinking? Oh wait, he wasn't thinking.
I am still boiling over the incident. I have photos of the welts on my son's back, got the parents phone-numbers and adresses, etc. I think my husband and I sufficiently put the fear of God into the two teen boys and their parents. They did not expect to be confronted immediately with the consequences of their maliciousness. Fortunately we were both at home at the time this happened so could immediately do something about it.
The teen who shot my son apologized, and seemed genuinely contrite, so we were willing to let it go.
The parents who allowed their 10 year old to play outside with the airgun like it was a water-pistol got a complete earful from me as well, and I think they got the message. At this point my husband was too angry and had to go and cool down. We could have had them charged with a fellony misdemeanor.
Anyway, I wanted to share my story as a cautionary tale to other parents. Airsoft guns are gaining popularity among younger children, and without proper supervision or training, these 'guns' can actually be very dangerous in the wrong hands, not to mention get otherwise respectable law-abiding people into trouble with the law.
I think, sadly, we will see
I think, sadly, we will see more stories like these. I would have called the police, the reason? More than anything chances are this is not the first time nor will it be the last they make these kind of bad choices. If it is documented then a pattern can be established. I know I am not giving these kids any room to breathe, but think about the next child who may lose an eye.
I agree that these air guns are bad. I know some people who let their children have them. You can bet they get into them without adult supervision and it only takes one time for someone to truly get hurt.
I do hope parents read your post and think twice about these weapons, asking themselves about the maturity that needs to go hand in hand with owning them.
KarilouMomof2 is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Tempe. Her daughters are 9 and 6.
I too would call the police
I too would call the police --- just to make sure the incident is 'on the record.' Unfortunately, people try to be 'nice' by not going to the authorities, so the teens get the idea that nothing is REALLY going to happen to them re: their violent behavior.
You can always ask the police to take a report but then not file charges. That way, there is evidence so it will raise a red flag if the teens ever do it again. But if this is a one=time event, the kids won't have to go through the judicial system for an error in judgment.
I agree the REAL problem is that kids today don't seem to have empathy for anyone or anything. Even kids who consider themselves "friends' of others will victimize those 'friends' without any pangs of guilt.
I think you did exactly the
I think you did exactly the right thing - confronting the kids and the parents was important. And I agree about the air guns - they are dangerous. All of this violence in our world today is so scary for kids.
Susie is a discussion leader in the east valley for arizonamoms.com. She has two sons, ages 6 and 2.
Thanks for all of your
Thanks for all of your feedback, I appreciate it. My first instinct was to call the police - there were a few factors to consider though and I think we ended up doing the right thing.
The boy who shot at my son was not the owner of the gun, and while his behaviour was disturbing and shows a child that clearly needs some firm direction , we felt assured that his parents were sufficiently concerned about the incident and that it was indeed a wake-up call for them. They also were made very aware of just how close it came to the police being involved.
The child who owns the gun is 10 years old and has a good character, he simply made a mistake and due to his small size likely felt intimidatedby the older kids which is why he let this teen use his gun. The blame goes squarely on the shoulders of the parents, in both cases.