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11 year old PA boy shoots and kills fathers fiance

Nice. So now what? Would you even love your kid after something like that? Why are people so careless with children and firearms. If he didn't have access to a gun, would he have murdered her someother way??
 
Why does an 11 year old even have such easy access to a firearm??? Legislation really needs to be put into place that requires firearms to be locked in a cabinet with trigger locks also installed. The right to bear arms should have certain requirements attached. These incidents might just happen less frequently IMHO.
 
What a horrible tragedy. I just get ill hearing about this stuff... and it happens somewhere just about every single day.
 
That's horrible, but an 11 year old knows right from wrong. A lot of children that live on farms probably have access to fire arms. He could have killed her with a knife if he didn't have a rifle. Almost everyone has access to knives.

At that age I was thinking riding my horse and hanging out with friend. I would never have dreamed of killing someone.

The only positive I can think of is the fact he shot her when she was sleeping. She never knew it was coming. I really feel horrible for the kids father. He lost his love, his son and his unborn child in one day. I don't know how I would cope with that. :(
 
From the article:
"He actually told my son that he wanted to do that to her," said Houk's brother-in-law, Jason Kraner. "There was an issue with jealousy."
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Was this before or after the incident? If you're paying attention to your children, there are usually signs "something" is brewing in their brains. You just can't take the signs for granted.

Just tragic.
 
I grew up with access to firearms and never thought about shooting someone. I don't know PA gun laws, but here in Maryland they have to be unloaded and have a trigger lock which at 11 you can easily get off and load anyway. It's hard to point fingers at the parents and honestly at that age a child does know right from wrong unless they have serious mental issues which is unclear here. I would still love my child, but I would blame myself for missing such signs as well.
 
Before I comment, this is a total tragedy. Things like this, should never happen. I am aware of my children, their moods and what they are doing. There are usually signs that something is about to happen. It's the people that have that "it won't happen to me" mentality, that usually get it in the end.

ComoxCorn said:
Why does an 11 year old even have such easy access to a firearm??? Legislation really needs to be put into place that requires firearms to be locked in a cabinet with trigger locks also installed. The right to bear arms should have certain requirements attached. These incidents might just happen less frequently IMHO.
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Everything points to how a child was brought up. If you create limits and boundaries, teach respect and understanding, having a "unlocked" firearm isn't all that unsafe. I keep an accessible firearm, just in case the scenario arises that I may need one in a hurry. Granted, I don't run over and point it out to my children. But, if the need arises, I don't want to fiddling with safes, lock boxes or trigger locks while either I or my family is being attacked in my own home. Police can't be at my house at the drop of a dime. Plus, my kids know better than to touch a firearm, when I am not present. They realize the consequences and repercussions of their actions.


danielle said:
I grew up with access to firearms and never thought about shooting someone. I don't know PA gun laws, but here in Maryland they have to be unloaded and have a trigger lock which at 11 you can easily get off and load anyway. It's hard to point fingers at the parents and honestly at that age a child does know right from wrong unless they have serious mental issues which is unclear here. I would still love my child, but I would blame myself for missing such signs as well.
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Well said to a point. The issue isn't the gun! It's the action of the child and whether some other mitigating factor was involved.

Wayne
 
danielle said:
I don't know PA gun laws, but here in Maryland they have to be unloaded and have a trigger lock which at 11 you can easily get off and load anyway.
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No such laws exist in PA.

My husbands gun collection is locked up barring his Glock which is loaded, for protection. When our son is old enough to walk it will start being locked up in its case. Their are right and wrong ways to go about things...From the tone of the article, it sounds like the kid would have done it by some other method if the shotgun was unavailable to him.
 
I agree with Steph. It sounds like there were other issues with this child before this incident. Was counseling considered or implemented? I mean, does it really happen that a child goes out and commits MURDER without ANY telling warning signs prior? If I even say my child doing something cruel to an animal, I think there are enough studies done that people know that that behavior can lead to other, more extreme actions. I don't mean to sound harsh or unsympathetic, but like posted above, it's so easy to think "oh, not MY kids". Then they look back at other behaviors and think "geez, if only I'd taken that sign more seriously!"
 
ComoxCorn said:
Why does an 11 year old even have such easy access to a firearm??? Legislation really needs to be put into place that requires firearms to be locked in a cabinet with trigger locks also installed. The right to bear arms should have certain requirements attached. These incidents might just happen less frequently IMHO.
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We should also make murder and assault illegal so those don't happen any more either. :D
 
danielle said:
To add here most crimes involving shootings are done so with illegal firearms and not those responsibly registered ones!
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So true, because people who are not supposed to keep firearms aren't going to care about breaking any law regardless of how severe the punishment will be!!

Wayne
 
danielle said:
To add here most crimes involving shootings are done so with illegal firearms and not those responsibly registered ones!
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In PA, only handguns need registered...



You know what bothers me the most from the article? The fact that the shotgun (even though a "youth" model) was kept in a 11 year olds room, unlocked. What kind of parent allows that?
 
He admitted to shooting the chick, isn't that guilty? I feel sorry for all the parties involved here. I don't know if this kid was ever evaluated for mental illness through his school or family, but even then child psychiatry is a very uncertain field. I got my first bachelors in psychology and have two children myself. My son is 4 and has been diagnosed with two different disorders by 4 different places none of which completely agree with each other. As a parent that has been run through the loop I can tell you between the school, doctors, and insurance companies getting help for your kid can be very hard.
 
ComoxCorn said:
Why does an 11 year old even have such easy access to a firearm??? Legislation really needs to be put into place that requires firearms to be locked in a cabinet with trigger locks also installed. The right to bear arms should have certain requirements attached. These incidents might just happen less frequently IMHO.
Click to expand...

The problem with this statement is that back in "the day," as recent as the late part of the 19th century, MOST Americans kept a loaded gun for home safety. And yet the number of murders by children was most assuredly not as high as it is now. The number of mass murders and killing sprees a la Virginia Tech and Columbine was way, way lower than it is today.

We are MORE careful and MORE cautious with firearms today than at any point in past history, and yet these crimes are increasing rapidly-- like someone said, one per day.

So it's not access to guns, loaded or unloaded, locked or unlocked, that is causing this.

Look deeper, folks.
 
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