Should I Tell His Parents?

[Snowshoe]

Gunfire next door yesterday turned out to be the 14 year old and his friend with a paintball gun. Considered a firearm and discharge in the village is prohibited. He quit when I told him discharge was not allowed. He seems to be a good kid, I thought I'd just leave it at that.

But I'm having second thoughts. The oldest kid, hers, the kid we didn't even know existed till a whole lot of police vehicles showed up last year, that kid is in prison right now for possession and trafficking of a controlled substance and possession and improper storage of a stolen, loaded firearm. After police left his parents found Another gun.

On the one hand I'm thinking the parents should know ( if they don't already) about the paintball gun being fired off. On the other hand I'm thinking what difference will it make? They seem to be pretty inept at parenting.

[Maxx&Emma]

I would, for my own peace of mind, not to have to someday wonder "if only I had said something". You can't fix stupid but you can at least sleep at night knowing you did the right thing if, God forbid, something happens. If it was my neighbor and it happened again I would not hesitate to call the police.

[Woody]

You could always say hey can you make sure you are firing the paintball guns away from my house I would hate to see the dogs get hurt by accident. On the other hand I have the same thing happen but with a pellet gun. I know the mother wouldn't put up with it. The kids put on loud music one day and she came out and took the kid by the ear into the house. I just waited to see if it happened again and it didn't so I didn't have to get involved.

[Snowshoe]

I just spoke to them and I'm glad 'cause it turns out the father told him he could shoot the gun in the backyard. He gave me a bit of an argument, saying he'd "never heard of that law" and that the boys had a target set up safely, which they did, as long as they didn't overshoot the target and get a kid in the park behind our houses. But the mother said she did know and if she'd known the father had given the kid the go ahead she would have corrected him. Oh, and the kid had not said anything to them about yesterday.

[smartrock]

A man who has a house at the beach next to where we stay has a target for his grandson to practice knife throwing in his front yard. I kept hearing this *thwack* *thwack* outside and didn't think much about it until I was walking the dogs by the house and saw what the kid was doing with this big a$$ knife. I only wish there was some regulation against throwing knives that I could whip out or that I could ask that they wait until my vacation is over before doing any more of that. Just because the grandparents are nice doesn't mean the kid might not be a psycho! Why do you have to go to the beach and stand around throwing knives?

[janedoe]

It was nice of you to go to the parents first. I do that then call the police if they do it again. Fair warning and all that. We have an unusual number of neighbors who say things like "I can do whatever I want" so we have to bring in the authorities. It's unfortunate but it works. People have been behaving for the better part of a year around here now.

[fan of fanboys]

bang bang

[Bamps]

I remember back to city days when my son had a friend who had cancer. He pulled up in front of my house, got out and was hit by a pellet gun, they saw the barrel in a window across the street so I went over there and saw the old man who denied there being a pellet gun in the house. I smelled BS and called the law. The law came out and it seems Johnny Jr across the street was a bad boy before and was headed to incarceration.
A couple hours later there's banging on my door and I looked out and it's a group of thugs. I put my wife and kids in the back, she got on the phone to get the law back out and grabbed the shot gun. When I opened the door, the guy says "why'd you get my little brother put in jail?!?" I said, "scuse me a minute" shut the door and racked the shot gun. I they they heard it because they got more "polite" and then a cop pulled up so I put the gun away.

The boy who was hit by the pellet died a year and a half later after fighting cancer.

[teej89]

I remember back to city days when my son had a friend who had cancer. He pulled up in front of my house, got out and was hit by a pellet gun, they saw the barrel in a window across the street so I went over there and saw the old man who denied there being a pellet gun in the house. I smelled BS and called the law. The law came out and it seems Johnny Jr across the street was a bad boy before and was headed to incarceration.
A couple hours later there's banging on my door and I looked out and it's a group of thugs. I put my wife and kids in the back, she got on the phone to get the law back out and grabbed the shot gun. When I opened the door, the guy says "why'd you get my little brother put in jail?!?" I said, "scuse me a minute" shut the door and racked the shot gun. I they they heard it because they got more "polite" and then a cop pulled up so I put the gun away.

The boy who was hit by the pellet died a year and a half later after fighting cancer.

Oh geeze... this makes me so thankful I never grew up in a city. We grew up with guns and most importantly gun safety, I was hunting squirrels by myself and with buddies when we were 8 years old. We shoot em, skin em, and bring em back home to be cooked. Just not the same in the cities....

However for the record we'd shoot the cats with BB guns b/c they'd stalk the blue birds that we had bird houses made for. It wouldn't kill em but it'd send them high tailing it home.

[POPTOP]

Glad you talked with the parents.

I too grew up around guns. With Dad in the Army he would take my brother to the firing range and taught him the correct and responsible way to handle it. As I got older, my brother and father taught me the same values. I'm not afraid of guns but there is a huge responsibility when you have one in hand.