Posted on 01/13/2006 9:46:28 AM PST by OXENinFLA
Too true. I guess they just figured that scared high-schoolers hiding in closets and crouching under desks were better suited to deal with armed gunman than officers with weapons, tactical training, and body armor. (sarcasm/off)
If any started school one year later than usual, they'd be 19 in high school, which would make them look like flunkies.
Regardless of this student's particulars, he is (was) at the right age to have been held back at the kindergarten level. Many schools file children (esp. boys) off into "early k" programs because at aged five, the little tikes are considered too squirmy to sit in a regular classroom environment.
I suspect that most are perfectly ready to start kindergarten, but the schools want to milk another year out of the taxpayer, and/or the teachers are not competent to teach the average squirmy 5-year-old boy. There was a reason that way back when, most kindergarten teachers seemed to have different personalities than other teachers. That is, loving, patient, sweet... older ones were downright grandmotherly. IOW, personalities that knew how to properly handle the little ones.
I had a neighbor who had a quiet, polite, and very bright young son. The parents understandably were irked that the school pushed for early k. There seemed to be no reason for it other than to fill a quota.
I encouraged her to insist that he attend the regular kindergarten class, or that she could homeschool him (she was home with him already and had no other children).
Alas, the parents didn't want to rock the boat, figured the school officials were probably wiser, and homeschooling seemed too extreme, etc.
Needless to say, their bright, eager learner spent his days bored out of his mind, hating school. They spent most of their family time teaching him anyway. The kid was playing chess in his free time, yet he was one school year behind his age group.
This kid who suicided-by-cop, however, was apparently a flunkie in more ways than one.
Were snipers deployed to this incident? It's not like snipers go out to every single call. I'm guessing that the sniper route might have eventually happened, but some event forced the officers to shoot the way they did.
You can look at it two ways and figure out logically which one makes the most sense.
1. ALL teenagers have easy access to guns, which allows for "all these" disturbed teens to actually use them. Or.....
2. Of all teens, disturbed ones are most likely to seek access to guns, which may not necessarily be easy but perseverance often is rewarded with success. Or...
My vote is number 2. Even if a responsible parent stores their guns in a locked safe, the average 15 year old kid is more than smart enough to find the key and access the safe without permission, not that safe storage is the case even most of the time. To me it's pretty obvious that you can leave loaded unlocked firearms around well trained and grounded teenagers and they will not use them for evil. A disturbed teen is a different answer entirely.
The other thread on this said a SWAT team responded.
...or stolen
...or one of his friend's
...or bought on the street
hey, at least he wasn't having sex with his teacher.
(that we know of)
Strangely, that has been done. A sniper shot the pistol out of a suicidal man's hand a few years ago, but the man had been sitting motionless on a chair for quite a while so there was time to line up the shot.
I doubt if the deputy shot to kill. Besides, the gun is a VERY small target, and if the kid was holding up near his head, it would have been dangerous to try to shoot the gun; they could definitely have missed and shot the kid in the head. Shooting him in the leg would have distracted him sufficiently, and would be less likely to cause a mortal wound.
You got THAT right? Have you tried to hire an electrician or a plumber lately? There must not be enough of them because most won't even bother returning calls!
I saw a documentary about that event. It showed the bad guy's gun mounted on a plaque in the Police Department. It was a revolver, and the sniper actually hit it in the barrel. That was one amazing shot.
But I'm sure there wasn't a sniper in the bathroom, so no one was going to try for a hand shot. Police officers are trained to shoot center of mass and that's all.
Bottom line? Another Darwin Award winner.
Shoot the gun? What the hell are you talking about?
That was a CRIME. Everyone involved should have been fired, from the leaders that made the decision to the officers that should have gone in anyway.
Hey! The Lone Ranger, Aurty, Hoppie, and even Barnaby jones can shoot a gun out of someone's hands. If Buddy Ebsen can do it, and I think you may have noticed he is not the most athletic individual in the world (hence no speedo calender), then anyone can.
I remember seeing somehting like that on the news once. It was pretty darn cool, and it looked like it hurt like heck.
I had a guy like that in 9th grade (it was still a junior high until 10th grade). In High School we had a senior who was old enough to drink.
I tend to agree, but I have been shot at too (USMC), and it can really rattle you. I think we all play a little arm chair qb here. Yes, you can teach most folks to be good marksmen on the range, but being accurate in a tense situation is tough. You know that well.
Why doesnt the title say "8th grade gunman subdued by Law enforcement" or something?
Gotta love the spin. Kids are the victims.
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